# Could some smart person please help me find this file ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2003, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660 "2003-11-22T11:08:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dragongirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@dragongirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragongirl)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660/1 "2003-11-22T11:08:55Z")
I accidently deleted a very important file. Not only did I bring it to the recycling bin, but I deleted it from there too. Please tell me if I can get it back in some way and how ? Please,please,please ! Thank you. I’m desperate. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660/2 "2003-11-22T11:20:12Z")
Well… perhaps. But we need more info. Your OS, filesystem type, and whether you’ve done much since then would help. If it’s 'doze on FAT32, you could try something like Drive Rescue 1.9b (later versions are not free, this one is). If you’re using NTFS though I’m pretty sure you’re SOL. There is stuff out there that might help, but it costs $$$. In any case, if you plan to try getting it back, it’s a good idea to stop using the machine in question, lest you overwrite the meagre data that is left. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660/3 "2003-11-22T11:20:53Z")
Did you save anything or create a new file after you removed it from the Recycle Bin? If not, there’s a good chance you can get it back. If yes, there still is hope. What operating system are you using? ---
**Author:** ![dragongirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@dragongirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragongirl)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660/4 "2003-11-22T11:21:56Z")
I’m not really sure what a lot of those words are, but I have windows 98 if that helps. ---
**Author:** ![dragongirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@dragongirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragongirl)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660/5 "2003-11-22T11:35:30Z")
I don’t think I created a new file. The file had two word documents in it. I deleted it yesterday morning, but didn’t realize what I did until I went looking for it late last night. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660/6 "2003-11-22T12:15:54Z")
See [Recovering deleted files](http://www.geekgirls.com/windows_recycle_bin.htm). At this stage you’re pretty much screwed without a file recovery utility, and the more you continue to use your PC (and the hard disk by extension) the greater the chance the data will be overwritten, and the less the chance the file can be recovered. If the file is critical you need to stop using the PC for anything but mission critical tasks, and get one of the recommended recovery utilities ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660/7 "2003-11-22T12:23:36Z")
I was gonna recommend that you [download](http://home.arcor.de/bodowolff/) Drive Rescue 1.9b (Diverse Tools-\>Datei Tools) as per advice above, but I can’t be sure the downloaded software won’t overwrite the deleted file :smack: Anyone with a clue? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660/8 "2003-11-22T13:07:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gyan9 \* > \*\*I was gonna recommend that you [download](http://home.arcor.de/bodowolff/) Drive Rescue 1.9b (Diverse Tools-\>Datei Tools) as per advice above, but I can’t be sure the downloaded software won’t overwrite the deleted file :smack: > > Anyone with a clue? \*\* Her best bet would be to shut the PC down, remove the hard drive and load the recovery software on another PC with the file deleted hard drive attached as a slave and then attempt recovery on that drive. This would minimize the chance of the data being overwritten (if it hasn’t been already). ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660/9 "2003-11-22T13:20:25Z")
Or, if her computer has more than one logical drive, save the recovery software to the drive on which the file **wasn’t** (so - if the file was someplace under D:, save to C:, or _vice versa_). If the Recovery Software isn’t too large (under 1.4 MB, duh!), it may even be possible to save it directly to a diskette (A: ), and run it from there. All this assuming attaching the disk to a different computer is not feasible. The **very best** idea, as already mentioned, is to remove the disk the file is on, take it to a computer all set up to do recovery, attach it as a slave and immediately run the recovery software. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660/10 "2003-11-22T14:48:06Z")
Sure: undelete windows 98 free. VirtualLab™: www.actionfront.biz/undelete-windows-98-free.html That lets you see if you can find your file first. Other software to do things like this try: [download.com](http://download.com) search for say: undelete. ---
**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660/11 "2003-11-22T18:08:58Z")
actually, IIRC, you can acquire Microsoft’s Undelete from an old DOS 6 (maybe even DOS 5) or higher or Windows 3.x disks, copy it to the c:\windows folder, reboot the machine in MS-DOS mode and then run undelete - that would be the least-destructive way other than swapping the hard drive completely as **astro** suggested. However, I don’t remember if it works on FAT32 partitions or not, or if it even cares. critter42 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-some-smart-person-please-help-me-find-this-file/214660/12 "2003-11-23T23:46:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by critter42 \* > \*\*actually, IIRC, you can acquire Microsoft’s Undelete from an old DOS 6 (maybe even DOS 5) or higher or Windows 3.x disks, copy it to the c:\windows folder, reboot the machine in MS-DOS mode and then run undelete - that would be the least-destructive way other than swapping the hard drive completely as **astro** suggested. However, I don’t remember if it works on FAT32 partitions or not, or if it even cares. > > critter42 \*\* If the hard drive is above a certain size (forget what size limit precisely) I think DOS 5 or 6 will have a heart attack with larger modern drives.