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How to recover deleted files?

  • Thread starter mindydee113 via WindowsKB.com
  • Start date
M

mindydee113 via WindowsKB.com

Flightless Bird
HELP!!! I messed up big time! I am running out of disk space on my laptop.
I wanted to download a movie from UTorrent and was told I did not have enough
space. I figured I would move some of my files onto a flash drive to free up
space & then I would have room for the movie. Once I watched the movie, I
was going to delete it. I share my laptop with my 3 children. There are 3
accounts on my laptop (my youngest child is 6, so he does not have his own
account yet), mine and one each for my son and my daughter. I moved the "my
documents" folder for both my children onto a flash drive. This folder
includes the music, pictures, videos, downloads, etc. Then deleted the
original two files to free up space. I did not delete the "my documents"
folder under my account as I am the main administrator of the computer. So...
I thought all the data was safe and backed up onto the flash drive. To my
horror, I checked the flash drive today and I have two short-cuts to "my
documents" folders that are empty! Both these folders had my children's i-
tunes accounts in them. The kids are 9 and 15. My 15 year old daughter had
bought some of the songs in her i-tunes account, others were gotten off of
Limewire. Of course, the Limewire folder was also under "my documents", so
that is also gone. The music is still on their ipod's at this point. (There
was more music in the I-tunes library than what they actually have on the
ipods). I'm afraid if they were to plug in the ipod with an empty I-tunes
account, something would go wrong. My question is.....does anybody know how
I can restore these two lost folders? They are not in the recycle bin. I
emptied that as I was trying to free up space in system C and I figured even
things in the recycle bin would take up space. I have no other back up than
what I put on the flash drive. I tried the system restore feature but it did
not restore the two lost folders. I was reading about something on my
computer called the "backup and restore wizard" but I am not sure how to use
it. Of course, now that it is too late, I have discovered a function under
system tools called "backup" but I never used it as I did not realize it was
there, dummy me! My operating system is Windows XP Media Center Edition
version 5.1/service pack 3 and my computer is a Compaq Presario R3000, if
that information is of any use. Thanks in advance for any help I can get.
My 15 year old daughter is going threw one of those bitchy phases where she
seems like she hates her parents and she is really not going to be happy with
me if I loose all her I-tunes library! (She also had a bunch of pictures,
but I have a feeling she may have put them on a site called Flicker, so we
may be ok in that respect).

--
Message posted via http://www.windowskb.com
 
B

Bill in Co.

Flightless Bird
There are some file recovery programs out there that *might* be able to
recover at least some of the files. A good one (not free) is EASEUS Data
Recovery Wizard, and it works much better than the freebie ones, although
you have to be careful in how you use it.

System Restore doesn't restore personal folders, and the fact that you ran
that complicates the issue even more, since more data on your hard drive has
been overwritten. The more you use the computer the lower your chances of
recovery become. I think the chances of recovering most of the music and
video files are pretty low right now, but it might be worth trying out that
program. That program might at least show some of what it could recover if
you purchase it. Just be careful on how you use it (or any such program).


mindydee113 via WindowsKB.com wrote:
> HELP!!! I messed up big time! I am running out of disk space on my
> laptop.
> I wanted to download a movie from UTorrent and was told I did not have
> enough
> space. I figured I would move some of my files onto a flash drive to free
> up
> space & then I would have room for the movie. Once I watched the movie, I
> was going to delete it. I share my laptop with my 3 children. There are
> 3
> accounts on my laptop (my youngest child is 6, so he does not have his own
> account yet), mine and one each for my son and my daughter. I moved the
> "my
> documents" folder for both my children onto a flash drive. This folder
> includes the music, pictures, videos, downloads, etc. Then deleted the
> original two files to free up space. I did not delete the "my documents"
> folder under my account as I am the main administrator of the computer.
> So...
> I thought all the data was safe and backed up onto the flash drive. To my
> horror, I checked the flash drive today and I have two short-cuts to "my
> documents" folders that are empty! Both these folders had my children's
> i-
> tunes accounts in them. The kids are 9 and 15. My 15 year old daughter
> had
> bought some of the songs in her i-tunes account, others were gotten off of
> Limewire. Of course, the Limewire folder was also under "my documents",
> so
> that is also gone. The music is still on their ipod's at this point.
> (There
> was more music in the I-tunes library than what they actually have on the
> ipods). I'm afraid if they were to plug in the ipod with an empty I-tunes
> account, something would go wrong. My question is.....does anybody know
> how
> I can restore these two lost folders? They are not in the recycle bin. I
> emptied that as I was trying to free up space in system C and I figured
> even
> things in the recycle bin would take up space. I have no other back up
> than
> what I put on the flash drive. I tried the system restore feature but it
> did
> not restore the two lost folders. I was reading about something on my
> computer called the "backup and restore wizard" but I am not sure how to
> use
> it. Of course, now that it is too late, I have discovered a function
> under
> system tools called "backup" but I never used it as I did not realize it
> was
> there, dummy me! My operating system is Windows XP Media Center Edition
> version 5.1/service pack 3 and my computer is a Compaq Presario R3000, if
> that information is of any use. Thanks in advance for any help I can get.
> My 15 year old daughter is going threw one of those bitchy phases where
> she
> seems like she hates her parents and she is really not going to be happy
> with
> me if I loose all her I-tunes library! (She also had a bunch of pictures,
> but I have a feeling she may have put them on a site called Flicker, so we
> may be ok in that respect).
>
> --
> Message posted via http://www.windowskb.com
 
B

Bill in Co.

Flightless Bird
Addended..

There are some file recovery programs out there that *might* be able to
recover at least some of the files. A good one (not free) is EASEUS Data
Recovery Wizard, and it works much better than the freebie ones, although
you have to be careful in how you use it.

OR "Recover My Files", which also has a good review.

System Restore doesn't restore personal folders, and the fact that you ran
that complicates the issue even more, since more data on your hard drive has
been overwritten. The more you use the computer the lower your chances of
recovery become. I think the chances of recovering most of the music and
video files are pretty low right now, but it might be worth trying out that
program. That program might at least show some of what it could recover if
you purchase it. Just be careful on how you use it (or any such program).


> mindydee113 via WindowsKB.com wrote:
> HELP!!! I messed up big time! I am running out of disk space on my
> laptop.
> I wanted to download a movie from UTorrent and was told I did not have
> enough
> space. I figured I would move some of my files onto a flash drive to free
> up
> space & then I would have room for the movie. Once I watched the movie, I
> was going to delete it. I share my laptop with my 3 children. There are
> 3
> accounts on my laptop (my youngest child is 6, so he does not have his own
> account yet), mine and one each for my son and my daughter. I moved the
> "my documents" folder for both my children onto a flash drive. This
> folder
> includes the music, pictures, videos, downloads, etc. Then deleted the
> original two files to free up space. I did not delete the "my documents"
> folder under my account as I am the main administrator of the computer.
> So...
> I thought all the data was safe and backed up onto the flash drive. To my
> horror, I checked the flash drive today and I have two short-cuts to "my
> documents" folders that are empty! Both these folders had my children's
> i-tunes accounts in them. The kids are 9 and 15. My 15 year old daughter
> had bought some of the songs in her i-tunes account, others were gotten
> off of
> Limewire. Of course, the Limewire folder was also under "my documents",
> so that is also gone. The music is still on their ipod's at this point.
> (There
> was more music in the I-tunes library than what they actually have on the
> ipods). I'm afraid if they were to plug in the ipod with an empty I-tunes
> account, something would go wrong. My question is.....does anybody know
> how I can restore these two lost folders? They are not in the recycle
> bin. I
> emptied that as I was trying to free up space in system C and I figured
> even
> things in the recycle bin would take up space. I have no other back up
> than
> what I put on the flash drive. I tried the system restore feature but it
> did
> not restore the two lost folders. I was reading about something on my
> computer called the "backup and restore wizard" but I am not sure how to
> use it. Of course, now that it is too late, I have discovered a function
> under
> system tools called "backup" but I never used it as I did not realize it
> was
> there, dummy me! My operating system is Windows XP Media Center Edition
> version 5.1/service pack 3 and my computer is a Compaq Presario R3000, if
> that information is of any use. Thanks in advance for any help I can get.
> My 15 year old daughter is going threw one of those bitchy phases where
> she seems like she hates her parents and she is really not going to be
> happy
> with me if I loose all her I-tunes library! (She also had a bunch of
> pictures,
> but I have a feeling she may have put them on a site called Flicker, so we
> may be ok in that respect).
>
> --
> Message posted via http://www.windowskb.com
 
H

HeyBub

Flightless Bird
mindydee113 via WindowsKB.com wrote:
> HELP!!! I messed up big time! I am running out of disk space on my
> laptop. I wanted to download a movie from UTorrent and was told I did
> not have enough space. I figured I would move some of my files onto
> a flash drive to free up space & then I would have room for the
> movie. Once I watched the movie, I was going to delete it. I share
> my laptop with my 3 children. There are 3 accounts on my laptop (my
> youngest child is 6, so he does not have his own account yet), mine
> and one each for my son and my daughter. I moved the "my documents"
> folder for both my children onto a flash drive. This folder includes
> the music, pictures, videos, downloads, etc. Then deleted the
> original two files to free up space. I did not delete the "my
> documents" folder under my account as I am the main administrator of
> the computer. So... I thought all the data was safe and backed up
> onto the flash drive. To my horror, I checked the flash drive today
> and I have two short-cuts to "my documents" folders that are empty!
> Both these folders had my children's i- tunes accounts in them. The
> kids are 9 and 15. My 15 year old daughter had bought some of the
> songs in her i-tunes account, others were gotten off of Limewire. Of
> course, the Limewire folder was also under "my documents", so that is
> also gone. The music is still on their ipod's at this point. (There
> was more music in the I-tunes library than what they actually have on
> the ipods). I'm afraid if they were to plug in the ipod with an
> empty I-tunes account, something would go wrong. My question
> is.....does anybody know how I can restore these two lost folders?
> They are not in the recycle bin. I emptied that as I was trying to
> free up space in system C and I figured even things in the recycle
> bin would take up space. I have no other back up than what I put on
> the flash drive. I tried the system restore feature but it did not
> restore the two lost folders. I was reading about something on my
> computer called the "backup and restore wizard" but I am not sure how
> to use it. Of course, now that it is too late, I have discovered a
> function under system tools called "backup" but I never used it as I
> did not realize it was there, dummy me! My operating system is
> Windows XP Media Center Edition version 5.1/service pack 3 and my
> computer is a Compaq Presario R3000, if that information is of any
> use. Thanks in advance for any help I can get.
> My 15 year old daughter is going threw one of those bitchy phases
> where she seems like she hates her parents and she is really not
> going to be happy with me if I loose all her I-tunes library! (She
> also had a bunch of pictures, but I have a feeling she may have put
> them on a site called Flicker, so we may be ok in that respect).

FYI: The Recycle Bin takes up no space (to speak of). It consists merely of
pointers to where the files USED to be after their directory entries were
wiped.
 
T

T Shadow

Flightless Bird
"HeyBub" <heybub@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:eGLLSoM6KHA.5476@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> mindydee113 via WindowsKB.com wrote:
>> HELP!!! I messed up big time! I am running out of disk space on my
>> laptop. I wanted to download a movie from UTorrent and was told I did
>> not have enough space. I figured I would move some of my files onto
>> a flash drive to free up space & then I would have room for the
>> movie. Once I watched the movie, I was going to delete it. I share
>> my laptop with my 3 children. There are 3 accounts on my laptop (my
>> youngest child is 6, so he does not have his own account yet), mine
>> and one each for my son and my daughter. I moved the "my documents"
>> folder for both my children onto a flash drive. This folder includes
>> the music, pictures, videos, downloads, etc. Then deleted the
>> original two files to free up space. I did not delete the "my
>> documents" folder under my account as I am the main administrator of
>> the computer. So... I thought all the data was safe and backed up
>> onto the flash drive. To my horror, I checked the flash drive today
>> and I have two short-cuts to "my documents" folders that are empty!
>> Both these folders had my children's i- tunes accounts in them. The
>> kids are 9 and 15. My 15 year old daughter had bought some of the
>> songs in her i-tunes account, others were gotten off of Limewire. Of
>> course, the Limewire folder was also under "my documents", so that is
>> also gone. The music is still on their ipod's at this point. (There
>> was more music in the I-tunes library than what they actually have on
>> the ipods). I'm afraid if they were to plug in the ipod with an
>> empty I-tunes account, something would go wrong. My question
>> is.....does anybody know how I can restore these two lost folders?
>> They are not in the recycle bin. I emptied that as I was trying to
>> free up space in system C and I figured even things in the recycle
>> bin would take up space. I have no other back up than what I put on
>> the flash drive. I tried the system restore feature but it did not
>> restore the two lost folders. I was reading about something on my
>> computer called the "backup and restore wizard" but I am not sure how
>> to use it. Of course, now that it is too late, I have discovered a
>> function under system tools called "backup" but I never used it as I
>> did not realize it was there, dummy me! My operating system is
>> Windows XP Media Center Edition version 5.1/service pack 3 and my
>> computer is a Compaq Presario R3000, if that information is of any
>> use. Thanks in advance for any help I can get.
>> My 15 year old daughter is going threw one of those bitchy phases
>> where she seems like she hates her parents and she is really not
>> going to be happy with me if I loose all her I-tunes library! (She
>> also had a bunch of pictures, but I have a feeling she may have put
>> them on a site called Flicker, so we may be ok in that respect).
>
> FYI: The Recycle Bin takes up no space (to speak of). It consists merely
> of pointers to where the files USED to be after their directory entries
> were wiped.

Nope! The file are still there, if options have been left at default. Just
look at the drive(s) free space before and after emptying the bin. If you
delete files that are too big(~4G8) for the bin, then it'll ask if you want
to actually delete them. Has always worked that way for me. That's why it a
recycle bin and not a black hole :-Ob.
 
L

LD5SZRA

Flightless Bird
You need to attend a suitable course similar to this one:

<http://www.learningtree.co.uk/courses/uk150.htm>

You will be taught the best technique currently available to do
the following:

Hands-On Training
Extensive hands-on exercises provide the skills to recover lost
data, manage memory and improve PC performance. Exercises include:

* Recovering erased files and directories
* Reviving nonbootable discs
* Repartitioning and "cloning" a disc partition
* Detecting and preventing virus infections
* Troubleshooting with the Windows Recovery Console
* Building a customised Bart PE emergency repair disc
* Editing the Windows Registry
* Installing and configuring a TCP/IP network
* Implementing firewall programs

By attending this course, you don't have to put up with Pig-Bear
or his untried and untested techniques to solve PC problems!!!

hth


"mindydee113 via WindowsKB.com" wrote:
>
> HELP!!! I messed up big time! I am running out of disk space on my laptop.
> I wanted to download a movie from UTorrent and was told I did not have enough
> space. I figured I would move some of my files onto a flash drive to free up
> space & then I would have room for the movie. Once I watched the movie, I
> was going to delete it. I share my laptop with my 3 children. There are 3
> accounts on my laptop (my youngest child is 6, so he does not have his own
> account yet), mine and one each for my son and my daughter. I moved the "my
> documents" folder for both my children onto a flash drive. This folder
> includes the music, pictures, videos, downloads, etc. Then deleted the
> original two files to free up space. I did not delete the "my documents"
> folder under my account as I am the main administrator of the computer. So...
> I thought all the data was safe and backed up onto the flash drive. To my
> horror, I checked the flash drive today and I have two short-cuts to "my
> documents" folders that are empty! Both these folders had my children's i-
> tunes accounts in them. The kids are 9 and 15. My 15 year old daughter had
> bought some of the songs in her i-tunes account, others were gotten off of
> Limewire. Of course, the Limewire folder was also under "my documents", so
> that is also gone. The music is still on their ipod's at this point. (There
> was more music in the I-tunes library than what they actually have on the
> ipods). I'm afraid if they were to plug in the ipod with an empty I-tunes
> account, something would go wrong. My question is.....does anybody know how
> I can restore these two lost folders? They are not in the recycle bin. I
> emptied that as I was trying to free up space in system C and I figured even
> things in the recycle bin would take up space. I have no other back up than
> what I put on the flash drive. I tried the system restore feature but it did
> not restore the two lost folders. I was reading about something on my
> computer called the "backup and restore wizard" but I am not sure how to use
> it. Of course, now that it is too late, I have discovered a function under
> system tools called "backup" but I never used it as I did not realize it was
> there, dummy me! My operating system is Windows XP Media Center Edition
> version 5.1/service pack 3 and my computer is a Compaq Presario R3000, if
> that information is of any use. Thanks in advance for any help I can get.
> My 15 year old daughter is going threw one of those bitchy phases where she
> seems like she hates her parents and she is really not going to be happy with
> me if I loose all her I-tunes library! (She also had a bunch of pictures,
> but I have a feeling she may have put them on a site called Flicker, so we
> may be ok in that respect).
>
> --
> Message posted via http://www.windowskb.com

--
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KIND. LD5SZRA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL LD5SZRA
OR ITS ASSOCIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER
INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF
BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF LD5SZRA OR ITS
ASSOCIATES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL
DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Copyright LD5SZRA 2010.
 
M

mindydee113 via WindowsKB.com

Flightless Bird
HeyBub: Thanks for the reply. That is good to know, I always thought the
recycle bin took up needed space. I was always quick to delete anything I
put in there simply due to the fact that my C drive is low on space. Now I
know I can leave things in there just in case I change my mind at a later
time and need to get them back. You learn something new everyday! Have a
great day friend! :)

HeyBub wrote:
>> HELP!!! I messed up big time! I am running out of disk space on my
>> laptop. I wanted to download a movie from UTorrent and was told I did
>[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
>> also had a bunch of pictures, but I have a feeling she may have put
>> them on a site called Flicker, so we may be ok in that respect).
>
>FYI: The Recycle Bin takes up no space (to speak of). It consists merely of
>pointers to where the files USED to be after their directory entries were
>wiped.

--
Message posted via WindowsKB.com
http://www.windowskb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/windowsxp/201005/1
 
B

Billns

Flightless Bird
On 4/30/2010 10:56 AM, mindydee113 via WindowsKB.com wrote:
> HELP!!! I messed up big time! I am running out of disk space on my laptop.
> I wanted to download a movie from UTorrent and was told I did not have enough
> space. I figured I would move some of my files onto a flash drive to free up
> space& then I would have room for the movie. Once I watched the movie, I
> was going to delete it. I share my laptop with my 3 children. There are 3
> accounts on my laptop (my youngest child is 6, so he does not have his own
> account yet), mine and one each for my son and my daughter. I moved the "my
> documents" folder for both my children onto a flash drive. This folder
> includes the music, pictures, videos, downloads, etc. Then deleted the
> original two files to free up space. I did not delete the "my documents"
> folder under my account as I am the main administrator of the computer. So...
> I thought all the data was safe and backed up onto the flash drive. To my
> horror, I checked the flash drive today and I have two short-cuts to "my
> documents" folders that are empty! Both these folders had my children's i-
> tunes accounts in them. The kids are 9 and 15. My 15 year old daughter had
> bought some of the songs in her i-tunes account, others were gotten off of
> Limewire. Of course, the Limewire folder was also under "my documents", so
> that is also gone. The music is still on their ipod's at this point. (There
> was more music in the I-tunes library than what they actually have on the
> ipods). I'm afraid if they were to plug in the ipod with an empty I-tunes
> account, something would go wrong. My question is.....does anybody know how
> I can restore these two lost folders? They are not in the recycle bin. I
> emptied that as I was trying to free up space in system C and I figured even
> things in the recycle bin would take up space. I have no other back up than
> what I put on the flash drive. I tried the system restore feature but it did
> not restore the two lost folders. I was reading about something on my
> computer called the "backup and restore wizard" but I am not sure how to use
> it. Of course, now that it is too late, I have discovered a function under
> system tools called "backup" but I never used it as I did not realize it was
> there, dummy me! My operating system is Windows XP Media Center Edition
> version 5.1/service pack 3 and my computer is a Compaq Presario R3000, if
> that information is of any use. Thanks in advance for any help I can get.
> My 15 year old daughter is going threw one of those bitchy phases where she
> seems like she hates her parents and she is really not going to be happy with
> me if I loose all her I-tunes library! (She also had a bunch of pictures,
> but I have a feeling she may have put them on a site called Flicker, so we
> may be ok in that respect).
>

Once you get this all straightened out consider getting an external hard
drive where you can move (or better, backup) your data.

Usually it's the kids that screw up the parents' computer, not the other
way around.

Bill
 
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