# OMG! All my files are gone (accidentally) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144 "2007-10-09T22:26:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EverLearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@EverLearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EverLearner)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/1 "2007-10-09T22:26:55Z")
Usually when I delete a large amount of data willingly, It takes the computer many seconds to completely get rid of it. But now when I accidentally deleted the folder that contained all my files and that occupied half the space of my drive, it deleted the folder in a blink. I didn’t even notice the folder was gone. I wasn’t sure until I checked the remaining space on my PC. I checked the recycle bin, but the folder wasn’t there(may be because it was bigger than the space allocated for the recycle bin to hold.) I tried to recover my files using the Check Desk utility, but I didn’t work. Now, I’m guessing my folder is not completely deleted since the computer hid it in a blink of an eye and I’m hoping there is a way to easily recover it. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/2 "2007-10-09T23:11:49Z")
Is it possible it wasn’t a folder, but maybe a shortcut to a folder? In any case, if you can think of some of the file names within the folder, I would suggest doing a search on those names to see if the computer can find them. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/3 "2007-10-09T23:14:10Z")
First off, do not use the computer for anything! If you are posting to the SDMB with this computer, stop it. When Windows deletes files and folders, most of the time it only changes the pointer to the file or folder, and nothing more. The data is still there, but the operating system has “permission” to write new data over the old data. That’s why if you accidentally delete files and folders and then have an OMG moment, you must stop everything you are doing on the computer to increase the changes you can recover the lost data. See if this article helps —\> [http://geekgirls.com/windows\_recycle\_bin.htm](http://geekgirls.com/windows_recycle_bin.htm) ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/4 "2007-10-09T23:25:07Z")
[QUOTE=Duckster] First off, do not use the computer for anything! If you are posting to the SDMB with this computer, stop it. [/QUOTE] Seconded, if you nuked a file and got the “too large for recycle bin” prompt and said di it anyway you nuked them hard. Perfect world you need another machine to mount your hard drive to and recover to (or at least an external drive) and software like [this](http://www.file-recovery.net/) to recover the files. ---
**Author:** ![EverLearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@EverLearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EverLearner)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/5 "2007-10-10T00:22:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Seconded, if you nuked a file and got the “too large for recycle bin” prompt and said di it anyway you nuked them hard Strangely, I didn’t get this prompt and I didn’t find the folder in the recycle bin. It’s very confusing how it disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/6 "2007-10-10T01:17:52Z")
If you right-click in the top level directory where the folder used to be, do you get an “undo delete” option? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/7 "2007-10-10T06:04:14Z")
I just want to mention again that maybe your could try using Windows’ seach function and searching for one of the files (if you know one by name), you might find that the folder just got moved somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/8 "2007-10-10T15:12:42Z")
[QUOTE=EverLearner] I accidentally deleted the folder that contained all my files and that occupied half the space of my drive, [/QUOTE] Ditto what JoeyP said. Take a look at the free space in that drive. If you now have over 50% free, yeah, maybe it’s gone. But if the free space is similar to what you had prior to this incident, then you probably just moved it (=dragged it to some unknown folder) by mistake. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/9 "2007-10-12T02:13:51Z")
There are also plenty of freeware appz out there for file recovery. Windows doesn’t actually delete data - it breaks the references to it and makes the space available for use. Or, my practice offers recovery services… for a fee… [evil cackle] ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/10 "2007-10-12T12:33:22Z")
I had a similar problem about a week ago. Here’s my panicked thread on it, and I did recover the files: > **[Help! What happened to the files I was just working on?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=438828)** > > What the hell? I was working on a website, so I had dreamweaver and adobe illustrator open, and most of the files related to the website were in one folder, which was open in DW. My computer, which is a bit elderly (3ish years?) but very rarely locks... ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/11 "2007-10-12T12:41:57Z")
Just recover from your backup. Don’t have a backup? What a time to learn! ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/12 "2007-10-12T15:41:10Z")
What OS is the OP using? If windows Xp or Vista, they may be able to roll the computer back to a previous state. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/13 "2007-10-12T16:02:29Z")
[QUOTE=Dorjän] What OS is the OP using? If windows Xp or Vista, they may be able to roll the computer back to a previous state. [/QUOTE] Doesn’t system restore only roll back the registry and stuff like that, not actual user documents and things like that? ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-all-my-files-are-gone-accidentally/422144/14 "2007-10-12T16:14:34Z")
Hmm you might be right, I haven’t used that feature in a while.