How can I recover deleted folders/files once Recycle Bin has been emptied? I'm on XP professional. Please!

Question

Defragmentation of C drive has since taken place. Is there any hope?

Answer 1

Nope - sorry.

Answer 2

Windows genrally deletes the files by marking the storage memory of the file as writable on the hard disk. The data is usually available unless the sector of the memory is overwritten. Generally this takes place over a long time as the probability of the files written on the very sector is very less compared to the enormous size of todays disks.

This is valid only if you have used the general del or shift + del method without employing any secure shredders.

But since you have defragmented your drive the chances of recovery using softwares like "Recovery"/ "Undelete" narrow down still further.

But you can give it a try and recover atleast some files.

Answer 3

Your only hope is to use a data recovery program by something like Norton, but , essentially, you have not only marked space on your hard drive as suitable to be deleted (this is what putting stuff in the bin is doing). and you have then defragmented the files, which means, almost certainly, you have written over some of the material you hope to recover. But there is always hope. Do nothing on your computer until you run data recovery, as everything you do is liable to make recovery even harder.

Good luck.

Answer 4

You will have little or no hope of recovering the files as you have de-fragged the drive, sorry.

You could try using recovery software, just type undelete into a search engine and you will have tons to choose from, but it depends on how much you want the files back whether or not you are willing to fork out for software on the off chance.

Answer 5

Any Data can be recovered from any drive, simply remove the drive and attach it to another computer as the "slave" drive, ensure the computer you fit it to has a larger drive than the one to be recovered. Install "Final Data" and scan the "slave drive", this could take anything from 10 mins to 12 hours to complete, just leave it on and let it do its thing, presto when it finishes the recovery save it to a folder on the "master drive" and bingo your data is back.
This will work on a formated drive, so don't worry its all still there, when a file is deleted its entry to the "Table of Contents " (T.O.C.) is removed from the file system but the data is still there. Final Data is your salvation, I lost all my child's pics from birth to present and was able to recover them all from a formated drive, if the drive is fully formated the chances of recovery are slim but it can be done.

Answer 6

The files are gone, no more...

The defrag hasn't helped because it will have moved all the original file clusters.

I'm afraid the chances of getting those files back (without some SERIOUSLY expensive software are next to nil) sorry matey.

Your only hope it that if you ran a 'ghost' or similar back up program to the hard drive...

Answer 7

Firstly, do you do a back up before ? You can retrieve from there if you are lucky to save them. Once you clear from recycle bin, you can't retrieve files anymore. If you click start button on the bottom left, click documents & try if you can retrieve.

Answer 8

There are all kinds of recovery software packages out there. However the more you use your computer the more likely the data will be unrecoverable. Ontrack has a fairly inexpensive recovery program that you may want to give a try, but whatever you do, do it quickly or it may not be recoverable.

Answer 9

To get for free Recuva you can simply click here http://bit.ly/1rmtjMJ

It is a very useful program that allows you to restore deleted files from your computer, USB or from many other devices.

Answer 10

Here is a free undelete application I have never used it I just bookmarked it some time back in case I ever needed it.

http://www.undelete-plus.com/

Good Luck.

Answer 11

you can't recover any files that were deleted from the recycle bin.