Data Recovery

Get back the files you thought were gone forever

Okay. Don't panic. Presumably you are here because you have lost an important file - a manuscript, a graphics image you've been crafting for weeks, the company books, or whatever - and you want to try recover it. Well, the first thing to know is that even deleted or overwritten files can often be recovered, even if the Recycle Bin has been emptied. But quit surfing already, because with every new page you open you risk losing your precious file forever.

Let me explain. A file is written to the hard drive by writing magnetic patterns into sectors of the disk. When a file is deleted those patterns are not lost. All that happens is the file name is removed from the folder directory and the sectors that were allocated to that file become free to be used for other files. The sectors still contain the information, the information is not lost until that sector is reused for another file. When you surf the web, your browser is continually creating files of every page and image visited. The more you surf, the more likely some or all of your file information may be irretrievably lost. If you want to maximize your chances of getting the file back, stay here, finish reading this page and follow the procedure for recovering your data.

File Undelete Programs

File undelete software has been around since the earliest days of Norton Utilities. The undelete program searches the free portions of the hard drive for sectors containing the file you want, using information you provide to help identify it. If the file was very recently deleted you will stand an excellent chance of being able to recover all of it. If some time has passed, some parts of the file may have been lost, but other parts may be okay. You won't really know how much of the file may be recoverable until you try it.

So there's a rub. You can buy an undelete utility, but there's no guarantee that you will be able to get your valuable information back. There are one or two free programs too, but we don't recommend them - they are not reliable, and as you know you may have to download and test several programs to find one that works acceptably, and with each download you could lose your data forever. If your lost file is anything important it's not worth the risk.

So, here is something you might like better. We've located a quality commercial grade program that can be freely downloaded and used to locate deleted files. It will show you exactly what is recoverable. Then, only if enough of the important file is recoverable to make it worth the price, you can register the software and recover the lost file. Seems to be an ideal combination - commercial grade data recovery, but you don't have to pay if the file isn't recoverable anyway.

Data Recovery is a program developed by ParetoLogic Corporation in Victoria, Canada. ParetoLogic employs over 100 people and has won many awards for software innovation and business excellence.

But before you download Data Recovery, read and follow Data Recovery Process below, there are a few preparatory steps to do to maximize your chances of recovering the file.

What to Look for in an Undelete Program

A small footprint (uses fewer disk sectors, minimizing chances that important data might be lost when downloading it)
Works on numerous file systems. Windows uses a variety of file systems, make sure the software works with the file system your computer uses before paying for it.
Ability to scan old file partitions, if the lost file was on a hard drive partition that was moved or deleted.

Data Recovery meets all these criteria.

Data Recovery Process

Here is a simple sequence of steps for recovering your deleted, damaged or lost data.

Avoid running a disk defragmentation until the recovery is complete. If defragmentation is scheduled to run automatically, turn it off temporarily. Defragmenting a disk greatly reduces the chances of recovering a deleted file.
Check the Recycle Bin, if you haven't already done so. If you are in luck, it may be there, which means restoring it is easy.
Look for an automatic backup copy. Many programs will automatically save the previous version of a file as a backup before overwriting it with the most recent changes. Check the Help for the program to get more information on where and how backup copies are stored.
Look for temporary files. Some programs such as MS Word, will save temporary backups periodically, in case the program crashes. Depending on the circumstances of the data loss, a temporary backup file may have been saved.
Before downloading Data Recovery and starting the recovery process, let's free up some disk space. This will reduce the likelihood that your important files might be damaged by the recovery process itself. From the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, choose Internet Options and find the button for deleting temporary internet files and click it. Repeat this step for any other browsers installed on the computer. If the Recycle Bin is quite full and you know your file isn't in there, empty the bin.
Download Data Recovery - if you have more than one hard drive or partition on your computer, download to a different drive or partition than the one the deleted file is on.
Install Data Recovery - to a different partition, if possible - and run the scan.
Try to search for the file by some unique string in its content and not just by file name. There may be copy of the file on the drive under a system-generated name.
Review the scan results, register the software and save the undeleted files!
Make backup copies.