Restoring Deleted Files
By Sandy Berger
Every now and then I find that my fingers work faster than my
mind. This is especially true when working on the computer. I
sometimes click the mouse without thinking through the options.
The worse outcome of this behavior is to inadvertantly delete a
file.
In most cases, it's fairly easy to retrieve a deleted file
because, by default, most deleted files are stored in the Recycle
Bin. To retrieve a file that's been sent to the Recycle Bin, just
double-click on the Recycle Bin icon located on your computer's
desktop, right-click on the item you want to retrieve, then choose
Restore. You may want to read "How
To Use Windows' Recycle Bin" for more information on how the
Windows' Recycle Bin works.
Restored files will automatically be restored to their previous
location. Even if you restore a file that was originally located
in a folder that you subsequently deleted, the folder is recreated
and the file is restored into that folder in its original
location.
A much bigger problem occurs when a deleted file does not go
into the Recycle Bin. As I previously stated, most deleted files
are stored in the Recycle Bin by default, but there four instances
when a deleted file is actually deleted rather than sent to your
computer's Recycle Bin:
- Items deleted from network directories are not sent to the
Recycle Bin.
- Items larger than the storage capacity of the Recycle Bin
cannot be stored in the Recycle Bin.
- Items deleted from removable media such as floppy disks,
CD/DVDs, and USB hard drives are deleted rather than sent to the
Recycle Bin.
- Items deleted by a virus or lost through a power glitch will
not appear in the Recycle Bin.
Also remember that when the Recycle Bin is emptied, the files
that were in it are not recoverable.
If a deleted file is no longer in the Recycle Bin, you can
restore it from your backup. Even without a backup, the file can
still be retrieved using a dedicated file recovery program — as
long as the file or hard drive has not been overwritten.
When you delete a file, the operating system marks that file
for deletion rather than actually remove it and makes the space it
occupies available to the operating system. If you save new data
to the hard drive, the operating system may use all or a portion
of the space occupied by files marked for deletion. When the space
occupied by files marked for deletion is overwritten, deleted file
are no longer retrievable. Thus, if the deleted file is important,
there is one vital thing that you should do to increase the
possibility that the file can be retrieved — don't save any files
to the hard drive before you attempt to retrieve the lost file.
This is important when looking for good file retrieval program
because you don't want to download or install a program that may
overwrite your data. So, look for a program that you can run from
a floppy disk or USB drive. You could also have a friend download
such a program for you and run it on your computer from a floppy
disk. Two such programs are
Fast File
Undelete and
Smart Undelete.
There are several precautions that you can take to protect your
files and make them easier to retrieve if they are accidentally
deleted. Most of these are a part of good computer habits.
- Backup all important files so that you can retrieve them
from that backup if necessary;
- Get a good antivirus program and update it regularly to
prevent a virus from infiltrating your computer and deleting
important files;
- Be sure to
defrag your hard disk often. Defragging rearranges a data
file back into a contiguous space, which makes file retrieval
and recovery easier and quicker; and,
- Last but not least, get control of that trigger finger and
make sure you read the screen before you click so you won't
accidentally delete a file (I'm still working on that one!).
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