Restore Permanently Deleted Files

December 24, 2009 by admin
Filed under Computer Tips

Nearly every computer user has accidentally hit the “Delete” button and lost a critical file that he needed for work or personal use. Even if you’ve emptied the computer’s Recycle Bin and permanently deleted the files, it is still possible to recover all of the data you’ve lost.
All you need to do is download a file recovery program that searches the data on your hard drive and recreates the deleted files.

Instructions

Step 1

The Recover My Files program

Open your computer’s Web browsing program and navigate to the “GetData Recover My Files” website (see Resources). Access the downloads section of the website and then click on the “Download” link. Install the recovery program once the installation file has finished downloading to your computer. Open the Recover My Files program once it has been installed.
Step 2

The “Fast File Search” button

Close the “Tips” window that will pop up on the screen. Click on the blue button at the top of the window labeled “Fast File Search.” Click on the “Next” button located at the lower left side of the program to advance to the next screen.
Step 3

The list of drives

Scroll through the list of folders and drives on your computer and locate the area where your deleted files were originally stored. Click on the check box next to the folder or drive. Click each of the check boxes to indicate that you want the program to search the entire computer if you aren’t sure where the files were originally located. Click on the “Next” button to go to the next screen.
Step 4

The File Types menu

Use the scroll bar at the left side of the screen to navigate through the different types of files that you want the program to recover. Click on the check box next to the type of file that you deleted such as “Bitmaps” or “Microsoft Word Document.” Click on all of the check boxes if you don’t know what type of file was deleted or if there are multiple files types that need to be recovered.
Step 5

Click on the “Start” button at the lower right side of the window to begin the recovery process. Wait for the recovery program to finish running and then click on the “Save Files” button at the top of the window. Locate the folder where you want the recovered files to be saved and click on it.
Click on “OK” to finish the file recovery process.

Tips & Warnings

Your computer’s hard drive doesn’t actually “delete” any files; it simply writes over old data with new data whenever you make changes. A file recovery program has a much greater chance of being able to recover all of your permanently deleted files if you stop saving, modifying or deleting any other files once you realize that a file you still want was deleted.

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