How to recover a file lost on your computer (06/01/2013)

Pen Drives and Computers - not always a match made in heaven

No matter how complex and impressive computers become; they still find new and imaginative ways to lose your files (especially the ones you really need!).

Today I was using an older version of windows (Vista) to cut and paste some PDF files from the C: drive to a pen drive. The computer froze during the transfer and so I had to close the transfer window. I then discovered that the files I was trying to transfer were no longer in their previous folder on the computer and weren't on the pen drive. Disaster!

As I had cut the documents from the C: drive and failed to paste them on to the pen drive; they seemed to have disappeared into the ether.

When this happens to you:

1. Don't panic!
2. Remember, when a file is deleted or lost, it is still on your hard drive. 

Let me explain the second one in detail.

The icon that represents your file (e.g. the item you click to open your file) is in fact a pretty cover for a computer code. This code remembers where the data from your file is saved on the computer's hard drive and tells your computer where to find the data when you request it (e.g. by clicking the icon).  

When your file is deleted or lost what in fact happens is this link is deleted so that, although the data in your file is still on the hard drive, you no longer have the link to find the data (so is, effectively, 'deleted'). 

Also, your computer will mark up the space on the hard drive where your data is currently being stored as free to be written over with new data if and when the computer needs to use the space (e.g. the space is no longer occupied by data as far as your computer is concerned). So when you 'delete' a file and then carry on installing programs and creating new files on your computer; eventually the space where your data was stored on the hard drive will be taken by these new programs and files.

This is good news - because, if you act swiftly, it means you may be able to recover your data (if you are lucky!).

So I would suggest the first steps after deleting/losing a file are:

Showing you the way to go

1. Use your computer as little as possible (to try and avoid your computer saving new data over your old data);
2. Search in 'my computer' for the files (they may still be there, or may have accidently  been moved to another location);
3. Search for your files in 'temp files' (click 'start' then search for '%temp%' which will bring up the 'temp files' folder in which you can search for your files);
4. Check the 'recycle bin' (you may just have accidently deleted the files, in which case you can simply restore them from the recycle bin); and if all these fail then...
5. Find a good piece of software to try and save the day.

Now, there are many pieces of software out there that promise to recover your files (as you will see below; I went through several on this occasion and have used other software in the past when I have accidently deleted files).

The key is to google the exact problem you have (in my case "lost file when cut and paste vista" - the operating system is relevant to recovery of files - especially on older systems). Then read what others have been through, programs they recommend and whether they worked. Trust me; you will find someone who has faced the same problem!

Then it is just a case of trying out the recommended software and keeping your fingers firmly crossed. It is worth pointing out that different software works in different ways and some software is more suited to recovering files lost in certain ways than others so the process of finding the right program for you can be a bit 'hit and miss'. 

To assist, here is the process that I went through (and programs I tried) to recover my files:

ShadowExplorer - my saviour!

1. Google directed me to a youtube video "Restore Deleted Files(VISTA & WINDOWS 7)";
2. This recommended a program called Restoration which I downloaded and ran. Unfortunately, the program, whilst it found many deleted files on the C: drive, didn't find the files I was looking for;  
3. At this stage, I wasn't sure if the files had transferred to my pen drive (and therefore I had lost them because my pen drive corrupted) or not. So I ran Restoration on my pen drive but this just caused Restoration to crash;
4. As I couldn't get anywhere with this approach, I then wondered whether the separate Zip file stored on my pen drive was causing problems, as I couldn't open it anymore (when going through the recovery of files process it is important to identify all the possible problems that caused the file to be deleted and then try and fix them);
5. So I installed Disk Internals Zip Repair - which recovered the zip, but I still couldn't use it and so I concluded that this was probably not the problem;
6. Next I tried NTFS Undelete. However this wouldn't work on my pen drive as my pen drive wasn't NTFS and I couldn't get it working on the C: drive (it said there were no files and a warning message came up about restoring damaged files to the C: drive); and
7. Finally, thanks to this wonderfully helpful link I found what was to turn out to be my saviour - ShadowExplorer.

ShadowExplorer

Click 'ok' and relax....

ShadowExplorer effectively allows you to 'time travel' back to various times and dates in your computer's history.

So once you have installed it, open the program, select the drive you want to explore (in my case; C:) and then select the time and date point from the options available (which will depend on how many time/date points the program can recover from your computer). Select a time and date point when you know for sure the files existed on your computer.

In the panel on the left you can navigate to the folder that the files were saved in and (fingers crossed!) you will find the missing files. You then need to right click on the file and select 'Export...' and then export to a folder of your choice.

Hey-presto! Files recovered and nervous breakdown postponed to a later date!

This is my blog, my attempt to document one new thing I have learnt everyday. We learn so much and it is easy to overlook just how much we do learn. Any of the products or websites mentioned in my blog are ones I have found useful. I have no link to these websites (unless otherwise stated) and do not receive any benefit from linking to them. I am not an expert in any of the products I mention so you will have to do your own research and reach your own conclusions.