Recover missing, lost, or deleted files

How to recover missing, lost, or deleted files

Before reviewing the below recommendations and suggestions, verify that the files have been deleted; in some cases the files may have been moved. You can search the hard drive for the files you believe to be missing by running find or search on the computer.

Recover file from backup

If the file has been backed up to floppy disk or other medium it is recommended that the file be restored from that backup if the file cannot be found.

Restore from Recycling Bin or Trash

If you are running Apple MacOS or MicrosoftWindows and the file has been recently deleted it may still be in the Trash or Recycle Bin. If present within this area it can be recovered.

• Recovering a deleted file from the Windows Recycle Bin.

Download freeware program or purchase a program

When a file is deleted (even when removed from the Recycle Bin) the files are marked as deleted, however it is not removed from the hard drive. Assuming no other file has overwritten the deleted file on the hard drive a recovery program can be used to recover deleted files. Below is a list of freeware file recovery programs that can be used freely to recover lost data.

1. Recuva
2. Restoration
3. Undelete Plus
4. FreeUndelete
5. Photorec
6. PC Inspector File Recover *Not compatible with Vista/7

Tip: When running a program such as Restoration in Windows Vista or 7 and prompted to run as administrator, right-click on the executable and choose the option to run as administrator.

In addition to the above freeware programs there are also several companies who have created programs designed to recover your lost data. For example, PowerQuest makes the utility Drive Image that in some cases can be used to recover data from a hard drive.

Utilize a service from a company that specializes in recovering lost data

Utilize the service of a local data recovery company or an out of state data recovery company. One word of caution is that these services can sometimes be very expensive. It is only recommended they be used if the data is extremely important or data cannot be read from hard drive. Below is a listing of a few major data recovery companies.

1. Action Front Data Recovery
2. CBL Data Recovery Technologies Inc.
3. Doctor Byte
4. DriveSavers Data Recovery
5. Kroll Ontrack
6. Lazarus Data Recovery
7. Virtual Data Recovery
8. Stellar Data Recovery
9. DataCent Professional Data Recovery

There are also several companies that specialize in the service of recovering files or documents that are password protected. Below is a listing of some of the companies that provide this service.

1. Passwordcrackers
2. Passwordservices.com
3. Password Recovery software

Additional information

• When I delete a file on my computer, where does it go?
• See our data recovery definition for additional information on this term and related links.