So you weren’t satisfied deleting that project you’ve been working on for 3 days to the Recycle bin you had to choose Empty Recycle Bin too?
Now what? Another embarrassing call to the helpdesk? Or do you just start over?
Don’t worry, you can now have a backup plan.
For those who are in the PC/Server support industry – or people who find themselves accidentally deleting files and emptying the recycle bin, it’s always nice to have a good file recovery software on hand. But you need more than just recovery software. You need to know how to use it.
Recovery software can be confusing to someone who has never used it. So I will cover 5 expert tricks that will make you an expert at data recovery in no time – and I’ll also point you in the direction of some good file recovery software you can get for free – but today only. Soon you’ll be turning back the hands of time and amazing your friends and neighbors with your ability to bring back files from the dead….
First the free software:
Over at GiveAwayofTheDay, they have a program called EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard that will do the trick. If you miss this give away, you can get the Recuva which is freeware all day every day.
A few notes on file recovery from someone who has been doing it for years:
1. Names of the file can change - For instance you might have a report called “2008 Cease and Desist Proclamation”. Yet when you search for it in the file recovery, you don’t find it. That’s because it’s either reverted to it’s DOS alias name or – heck I don’t know.. Some of the names are just plain weird. 
When you delete a file Instead try searching for dates you last accessed it. You can also search for filetype. (like *.doc) for Word documents.
2. Deep Search for Prior File Edits - Have you ever worked a day on a project and realized you overwrote 2 days worth of good work? It’s happened to us all. When you wish you had a backup, this could be your safety net. Deep search will list multiple files of the same name but prior dates. So you can go back to Tuesday’s build.
I did this once for a software development project. I back up every day, but found my backup was corrupted, so I used my other file recovery software to go back 2 days and I recovered that build. – Saved me not only time, but the headache of tracking back what I had changed.
3. File Recovery on RAID Disks Requires Special Care - Listen up Network Admins. If you attempt to recover files on a server or workstation with RAID arrays or mirroring, you need to take special care.
Disconnect the server from the network
Turn off disk shadowing
Turn off virtual memory or move it to another (separate) disk
What happens if you attempt file recovery on an array that is currently accessed and written to is you get garbage results. It can also cause for more lost files. And in some cases death from angry clients… I’m kidding!
The key point is you want only the recovery software to access your array – nothing else.
4. Restore Files to DIFFERENT Drives - When performing a file recovery, never restore a file to the same drive it came from. In other words, restore a file off a C: drive to a memory stick or out to a server. Why? Because when recovering multiple files, you could actually be overwriting files you are trying to recover.
Look at it this way – when you restore a file, it requires hard drive space. You don’t know which hard drive space it will use. Since prior files were deleted, that hard drive space becomes available for use if needed. Supposed you are trying to restore files 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and when you get to file #4 it overwrites #5? Then you’d lose the ability to restore file 5 forever.
So always restore to a hard drive or disk other than the one you are recovering.
5. Back Up Your Files! - File Recovery is your last hope when everything else has failed. It is not a replacement for backing up your files. Make sure you back up regularly. The way to think about it is this – which would take you longer, to recreate a file or restore it from backup to CD, DVD, Tape, Memory Stick or separate hard drive? Typical restores take 15 minutes for an expert. So can you rebuild from scratch what you are working on in 15 minutes or less? If not get to backing up!
Backing up is also a good habit to develop for computer use. As the sheer data increases, the tendency to lose files and misplace them becomes easier. A backup lets you sleep better knowing that you can get the important stuff back if and when you lose it.
What if I can’t recover?
Hopefully, this will help you get back your files. But if not, treat it as a learning experience. If you feel enough pain of having to create or buy the files again, you are more likely to backup in the future. Backing up is a good thing and it’s no longer just for geeks in the back office anymore. We all should backup and backup frequently.
Good luck in getting your files back .
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