How to recover missing, lost, or deleted files.

Issue

How to recover missing, lost, or deleted files.

Cause

Lost files can occur because of any of the below possibilities.

1. File was mistakenly deleted.
2. File was corrupt and deleted by scandisk.
3. Another program deleted the file.
4. File is password protected.

Solution

Before reviewing the below recommendations and suggestions, verify that the files have actually been deleted; in some cases the files may have been moved. You can search the hard disk 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, Microsoft Windows 95, NT, 98, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, or later operating system and the file has been recently deleted it is possible that the file 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

Below is a list of freeware file recovery programs that can be used freely to recover lost data.

1. PC Inspector File Recover
2. Restoration
3. Recuva
4. Undelete Plus
5. FreeUndelete
6. Photorec

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 Imagethat 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. 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. Lazarus Data Recovery
6. Ontrack
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