Hi,

My son has accidentally delate some important files a few weeks ago can
anyone please tell me if I can restore those files?
Thanks
John

john wrote:

> Hi,
>
> My son has accidentally delate some important files a few weeks ago
> can anyone please tell me if I can restore those files?
> Thanks
> John

It depends, although since you've been continually using the computer
you've lowered the chance of recovery considerably. There are numerous
free and low-cost data recovery programs (see links). If the files are
really important, I would suggest contacting a professional computer
repair shop that has professional data recovery software (quite
expensive). If they can't get it, you might try DriveSavers
(www.drivesavers.com), a professional data recovery firm. DriveSavers
are not inexpensive but only you can determine the worth of your data.

http://www.collina.us/files/REST2514.htm
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
PCInspector File Recovery -
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/welcome.htm
Executive Software “Undelete” -
http://www.execsoft.com/undelete/undelete.asp
Recover and Restore Deleted Files (Line 36) -
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
File Saver Pro - Recover Deleted Files -
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_u.htm#xp_util
www.recovermyfiles.com

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

john wrote:

> My son has accidentally delate some important files a few weeks ago
> can anyone please tell me if I can restore those files?


Are they no longer in the recycle bin?

If they are no longer in the recycle bin, and it's been several weeks, it's
highly unlikely that you can restore them, but read my standard answer to
this question, 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

John

How do you know the files were important? Were they data or system files?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"john" <john@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4DDB9DF6-9B64-4443-AD89-086E3F79D7A6@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> My son has accidentally delate some important files a few weeks ago can
> anyone please tell me if I can restore those files?
> Thanks
> John