computer files

[wireball]

Hope I don't know the answer already, but hey, if you don't ask
you never quit wondering. I had two small hard drives on
my "only use it when my main pc blows" computer. They
are only 5 gigs each, one day the master was full so I
stupidly transfered my big electronics folder with all my
amp schematics and layouts, pdf tube docs and just a wealth
of tube info in general (I am going to sorely miss that folder),
anyway I right clicked and copied the folder then pasted it
to the slave HD and then I think I deleted it from the master.

Two days later the slave (the one with all my info) went south
(mechanical failure, with noise but no smoke), is there any way
to restore the folder? I have used about five different undelete
programs but cannot find the folder, I never registered any of them
because the folder did not show up on any of the searches so
why spend the money? The net being what it is I keep thinking
there is freeware out there that would pull the folder out of
limbo and plaster a big smile on my face. I have a sharp learning
curve with tube electronics (or any other math for that matter) and
the loss of this folder will set me back quite a long way because
I had "decoded" (put into lay terms AMAP) many tube theory artiles.

I would darn near hook a choice body part to a tesla coil and
flip the switch on if I thought it would help,

any thoughts?

[Sock Puppet]

Hi,
A few weeks ago deleted a 50-odd gig folder (NTFS) on one of my drives full of older junk to free up some space.
I bought a large external drive for backup and decided to try to recover some of my deleted files as an experiment (I hadn't saved anything onto the old drive nor defragmented during this time). Anyway, I found I could recover everything - including files that were deleted many months ago by using File Rescue Plus.
I would imagine that it could get at least some of your files back even if the folder is missing but don't flick the switch on that.
Years ago, PCtools could find deleted files and you needed just to "unflag" them for recovery.
Maybe someone else could be of more help,
S.

[dai h.]

have you tried getdataback for (NTFS/FAT32)? The demo version worked for me, but since it was the demo version, you couldn't just copy/paste en masse and I had to rename the files manually IIRC (yes, too cheap to buy it).

[Just Bob]

If the drive has major mechanical problems (i.e. the drive will not spin up), recovery software won't work. There are many companies that can take apart the drive and read the data for you. Not cheap. Usually $500 (and up. Mostly up.) Do a search on hard drive data recovery. Or look at http://www.eprovided.com/data-recove...-recovery.html. Never used them, but they claim a flat-rate fee of $420. Relatively cheap. I've had to get this done at work and paid $ thousands.

[wireball]

Yes, the slave has mechanical problems, but the folder was originaly
on the master which still works fine. $420 is a small wad but if you spend
that much, for a bit more you could just buy the data recovery hardware
oughtright. I was hoping for a freebee here because I just started a new
project and don't want to wait, or maybe I am just cheap.

[wireball]

So one could download the trial version and still recover files, just not
en mass? But one file at a time?

[wireball]

Thans for your response guys, I have checked all the software mentioned
in your responses and I am going to try the GetDataBack trial version.

If I have any luck I will put my project on hold and register the software.

[Ray Ivers]

If you're using WinXP, any chance you could try using System Restore? I've had very good luck with it, but YMMV.

Ray

[Just Bob]

Originally Posted by wireball

... for a bit more you could just buy the data recovery hardware
oughtright. ....

Nope. That particular hardware costs more than my house. Lets you read the bits on the surface of the bare disk. But, you may have decent luck with one of the recovery packages if there's enough of the file fragments still on the other disk. Definitely way cheaper. So long as you haven't done a disk defrag, a lot of the pieces will be there. Best to do nothing on that computer until you run the software. Every extra thing you put on disk will eat more of your file fragments.

[dai h.]

Originally Posted by wireball

So one could download the trial version and still recover files, just not
en mass? But one file at a time?

yes, IIRC (and you had to rename it back to the original name one by one--you could copy/paste the name). re: what Just Bob mentions w/the mechanical probs, I tried recovering on some old faulty disks, and the ones making weird noises wouldn't recover at all. I don7t remember exactly but I have read some off the wall techniques of freezing or giving the HD a shock by dropping it etc. to get the head to move, then if that works you copy everything you can right away but I've never tried anything that drastic. I don't remember their names but I tried some other freeware recov. programs, and I guess GetDataBack was the one that worked. It's a pain to have to wait for it to index? the disk or whatever but worth a shot if you have something important in there. Next time though, make sure to make some backups!