Computer File Recovery

and free Open Source file recovery utilities.  If the file was accidentally deleted you should protect the drive by not installing or copying files to the drive.

Undeleting Files

When a file is deleted, only the name is modified to allow new files to be copied over the deleted file.  The deleted files are still on the hard drive and can be recovered using file recovery utilities.  It would be best to run the computer from a different drive or CDROM.  This way you prevent the accidental over writing and destroying the files.  You should first install on a separate drive either a trial commercial version or free Open Source utility to see if the utility can find and recover the file.  There are good free utilities that will restore most deleted files.

Using a Live CD

Live CD’s run an operating system from the CDROM and do not affect the hard drive.  The CD allows you to scan the hard drive and recover files quickly and copy them to an external device.   Live CD’s are usually Linux distributions, but there are some [...]]]> It is quick and easy to recover files using computer file recovery utilities.  You can find both commercial

Computer File Recovery

and free Open Source file recovery utilities.  If the file was accidentally deleted you should protect the drive by not installing or copying files to the drive.

Undeleting Files

When a file is deleted, only the name is modified to allow new files to be copied over the deleted file.  The deleted files are still on the hard drive and can be recovered using file recovery utilities.  It would be best to run the computer from a different drive or CDROM.  This way you prevent the accidental over writing and destroying the files.  You should first install on a separate drive either a trial commercial version or free Open Source utility to see if the utility can find and recover the file.  There are good free utilities that will restore most deleted files.

Using a Live CD

Live CD’s run an operating system from the CDROM and do not affect the hard drive.  The CD allows you to scan the hard drive and recover files quickly and copy them to an external device.   Live CD’s are usually Linux distributions, but there are some Windows PE versions that provide a small Windows XP environment.

Hard Drive Failure

If you have a hard drive failure or hardware component failure you will need the help of a recovery service center.  They will charge several hundred dollars depending on the component that failed and the amount of data to be recovered.

The ComputerRepairTraining website has additional information that you might find useful.