Recovering Deleted Files

[2.2 Straight six]

From what i've heard, when you delete a file, it's not always "deleted" completely. and i deleted a folder some time back and because i'm stupid, i now need it.

it's a file full of photos, and i don't remember the name of the file.

is there any way to recover the photos?

[drunken monkey]

how easy it will be depends on

i) how much money you have
ii) how long ago you deleted the file/folder
iii) how often you defrag your drive.

i've used a couple of free programs to recover files that i accidentally deleted (folder too big for trash can and all that) and it got back maybe 80% of the folder by searching for the file names.

i'll see if i can find it again.
in the meantime, someone who better professional knowledge might chime in.

back later.

[l_eclipse_l]

A lot depends on how long ago you deleted it. Try this program:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html

[Gohan Ryu]

Have you already checked the Recycle Bin?

[Oz]

Depends how long ago you deleted them. If it's longer than a week or two, I would give up now.

Otherwise, try GetDataBackforNTFS.
http://www.runtime.org/

It will recover files based on extension (*.JPG) but probably won't have the correct file names, or directory structure, so you'll probably have to recover all trashed JPGs from your drive then sort through them.

[2.2 Straight six]

it was more than a week ago and it's been defragged since they were deleted.

so they're gone for good?

[Oz]

They're not gone for good until you use 2 or 3 data recovery programs. After that, it's $$$ for a specialist - and then not guaranteed. Don't forget when trying to recover data you can't save onto the same drive you're trying to recover. I wouldn't use your computer for anything until you try data recovery - every write to the disk decreases your chances of getting the data back.