System Restore and Deleted Files

shirley

Hi,

I accidentally deleted some very important files today. If I go back and do
a system restore will the files be retrieved? I've read the other posts
about these "undelete" programs, but since the language tends to get a bit
technical for me, I'm hesitant to try them.

Thanks,
shirley

dobey

"shirley" <shirley@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0032F0C3-366C-4545-8199-B020D5E7269E@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> I accidentally deleted some very important files today. If I go back and
> do
> a system restore will the files be retrieved? I've read the other posts
> about these "undelete" programs, but since the language tends to get a bit
> technical for me, I'm hesitant to try them.
>
> Thanks,
> shirley

If they were your personal files, system restore won't help. That only works
for restoring system files.

To increase your chances of retrieving the files, you should stop using the
partition where the files were stored. If it was on the d:\ drive. It is
probably safe to use your PC. If it was the C:\ drive, you should not use
the PC al all.

You need something like GetDataBack, which I have used, or you could try
this.

http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html

Restoration is freeware and I haven't used it so don't know how well it
works,but others have recommended it.

P.S. I've done a quick test, and it seems to work, but the filenames came up
differently, (that is to say I wouldn't have found my deleted file based on
its name before it was deleted), so it might be best to retreive all the
files with the same extention as the ones you lost, or based on date
modified.

Don't be afraid to have a look at programs. Just make sure you don't make
changes or "OK" something you don't understand.

dobey

"shirley" <shirley@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0032F0C3-366C-4545-8199-B020D5E7269E@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> I accidentally deleted some very important files today. If I go back and
> do
> a system restore will the files be retrieved? I've read the other posts
> about these "undelete" programs, but since the language tends to get a bit
> technical for me, I'm hesitant to try them.
>
> Thanks,
> shirley

If they were your personal files, system restore won't help. That only works
for restoring system files.

To increase your chances of retrieving the files, you should stop using the
partition where the files were stored. If it was on the d:\ drive. It is
probably safe to use your PC. If it was the C:\ drive, you should not use
the PC al all.

You need something like GetDataBack, which I have used, or you could try
this.

http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html

Restoration is freeware and I haven't used it so don't know how well it
works,but others have recommended it.

P.S. I've done a quick test, and it seems to work, but the filenames came up
differently, (that is to say I wouldn't have found my deleted file based on
its name before it was deleted), so it might be best to retreive all the
files with the same extention as the ones you lost, or based on date
modified.

Don't be afraid to have a look at programs. Just make sure you don't make
changes or "OK" something you don't understand.

PA Bear

See http://bertk.mvps.org/html/filesfolders.html
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)
AumHa VSOP & Admin; DTS-L.org

shirley wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I accidentally deleted some very important files today. If I go back and
> do
> a system restore will the files be retrieved? I've read the other posts
> about these "undelete" programs, but since the language tends to get a bit
> technical for me, I'm hesitant to try them.
>
> Thanks,
> shirley

PA Bear

See http://bertk.mvps.org/html/filesfolders.html
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)
AumHa VSOP & Admin; DTS-L.org

shirley wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I accidentally deleted some very important files today. If I go back and
> do
> a system restore will the files be retrieved? I've read the other posts
> about these "undelete" programs, but since the language tends to get a bit
> technical for me, I'm hesitant to try them.
>
> Thanks,
> shirley

dobey

The authour could have saved himself a whole lot of time and just listed
what system restore does monitor... ;-)


"PA Bear" <PABearMVP@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:eWSAsiw3HHA.5740@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> See http://bertk.mvps.org/html/filesfolders.html
> --
> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)
> AumHa VSOP & Admin; DTS-L.org
>
> shirley wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I accidentally deleted some very important files today. If I go back and
>> do
>> a system restore will the files be retrieved? I've read the other posts
>> about these "undelete" programs, but since the language tends to get a
>> bit
>> technical for me, I'm hesitant to try them.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> shirley
>

dobey

The authour could have saved himself a whole lot of time and just listed
what system restore does monitor... ;-)


"PA Bear" <PABearMVP@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:eWSAsiw3HHA.5740@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> See http://bertk.mvps.org/html/filesfolders.html
> --
> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)
> AumHa VSOP & Admin; DTS-L.org
>
> shirley wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I accidentally deleted some very important files today. If I go back and
>> do
>> a system restore will the files be retrieved? I've read the other posts
>> about these "undelete" programs, but since the language tends to get a
>> bit
>> technical for me, I'm hesitant to try them.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> shirley
>

Ken Blake, MVP

On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:50:01 -0700, shirley
<shirley@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:


> I accidentally deleted some very important files today. If I go back and do
> a system restore will the files be retrieved?


No. System Restore is not meant to be a backup for your data. It
monitors system files only, not data files.

I assume that you've already tried the Recycle Bin, and they aren't
there?


> I've read the other posts
> about these "undelete" programs, but since the language tends to get a bit
> technical for me, I'm hesitant to try them.


That's your only choice. Read below:

"Deleting" a file doesn't actually delete it; it just marks the space
as available to be used. There are third-party programs that can
sometimes recover deleted files. The problem is that the space used by
the file is likely to become overwritten very quickly, and this makes
the file unrecoverable.

So your chances of successfully recovering this file are decent if you
try recovering it immediately after deleting it, and rapidly go
downhill from there. If you've been using the computer since then (for
example to write this question and read this answer), your chances are
probably very poor by now.

But if the file is important enough, it's worth a try anyway. Stop
using the computer in question immediately, if you haven't done so
already. Download an undelete program (here's one:
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html but there are several
others to choose from; do a Google search) on a friend's computer and
bring it to yours on a floppy to try.

If this fails, your only other recourse is to take the drive to a
professional file recovery company. This kind of service is very
expensive and may or may not work in your case.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Ken Blake, MVP

On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:50:01 -0700, shirley
<shirley@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:


> I accidentally deleted some very important files today. If I go back and do
> a system restore will the files be retrieved?


No. System Restore is not meant to be a backup for your data. It
monitors system files only, not data files.

I assume that you've already tried the Recycle Bin, and they aren't
there?


> I've read the other posts
> about these "undelete" programs, but since the language tends to get a bit
> technical for me, I'm hesitant to try them.


That's your only choice. Read below:

"Deleting" a file doesn't actually delete it; it just marks the space
as available to be used. There are third-party programs that can
sometimes recover deleted files. The problem is that the space used by
the file is likely to become overwritten very quickly, and this makes
the file unrecoverable.

So your chances of successfully recovering this file are decent if you
try recovering it immediately after deleting it, and rapidly go
downhill from there. If you've been using the computer since then (for
example to write this question and read this answer), your chances are
probably very poor by now.

But if the file is important enough, it's worth a try anyway. Stop
using the computer in question immediately, if you haven't done so
already. Download an undelete program (here's one:
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html but there are several
others to choose from; do a Google search) on a friend's computer and
bring it to yours on a floppy to try.

If this fails, your only other recourse is to take the drive to a
professional file recovery company. This kind of service is very
expensive and may or may not work in your case.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

shirley

Thank you dobey, PA Bear and Ken--
Unfortunately, I didn't realize right away that I'd deleted the folder, so I
did continue to work--I was actually trying to make some space and zipped a
bunch of files, etc.

I'll go ahead and give one of the recovery tools a shot--I had loaded PC
Inspector last night and ran it, but didn't quite know yet what to do with
all the files it had recovered, so this afternoon, I'll sort through it and
hope for the best. Is it possible that this one
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html that you cited might be
better than the PC Inspector?

I might be back for further questioning--
thanks again,
shirley



"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:

> On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:50:01 -0700, shirley
> <shirley@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
>
> > I accidentally deleted some very important files today. If I go back and do
> > a system restore will the files be retrieved?
>
>
> No. System Restore is not meant to be a backup for your data. It
> monitors system files only, not data files.
>
> I assume that you've already tried the Recycle Bin, and they aren't
> there?
>
>
> > I've read the other posts
> > about these "undelete" programs, but since the language tends to get a bit
> > technical for me, I'm hesitant to try them.
>
>
> That's your only choice. Read below:
>
> "Deleting" a file doesn't actually delete it; it just marks the space
> as available to be used. There are third-party programs that can
> sometimes recover deleted files. The problem is that the space used by
> the file is likely to become overwritten very quickly, and this makes
> the file unrecoverable.
>
> So your chances of successfully recovering this file are decent if you
> try recovering it immediately after deleting it, and rapidly go
> downhill from there. If you've been using the computer since then (for
> example to write this question and read this answer), your chances are
> probably very poor by now.
>
> But if the file is important enough, it's worth a try anyway. Stop
> using the computer in question immediately, if you haven't done so
> already. Download an undelete program (here's one:
> http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html but there are several
> others to choose from; do a Google search) on a friend's computer and
> bring it to yours on a floppy to try.
>
> If this fails, your only other recourse is to take the drive to a
> professional file recovery company. This kind of service is very
> expensive and may or may not work in your case.
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup
>