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Help! I am an idiot and deleted my entire pictures file!
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Bunnyinthelights
Posts: 15,278 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
god, I really should not be let loose on a laptop-in an effort to get some more memory space I inadvertantly DELETED my entire file of pictures! *but saved the link to an empty file* clever eh???
PLEASE PLEASE can anyone help me?????
Oh, and before you ask, I emptied the recycling bin.
*bangs head on desk*
PLEASE PLEASE can anyone help me?????
Oh, and before you ask, I emptied the recycling bin.
*bangs head on desk*
Empty pockets never held anyone back, only empty heads and empty hearts can do that -Peale
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Comments
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You need to get some undelete software which will scan your system to find deleted files and recover what you can. Not sure what's best. I have something called Recuva on my PC.
However I guess this also means that don't have a backup. So go and buy an external drive and backup all important files and do that today if possible. Or at least copy them onto a cd/dvd disc.0 -
We have an external drive-just hadn't done it yet (so clever) and my disk drive doesnt work, hence why I havent put them all on a disk.
that was the only important on my laptop...!!!!!!. Numpty of the highest order.Empty pockets never held anyone back, only empty heads and empty hearts can do that -Peale0 -
Can you download a recover program?Empty pockets never held anyone back, only empty heads and empty hearts can do that -Peale0
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If you want to preserve as many files as possible stop using the laptop now. Whatever you are doing will create new files which get written to free space. Right now your pictures are "free space".
Best recovery tool for photos that I know of is http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
You ideally need to download this using another machine. Certainly save it to a USB key if you only have the laptop.0 -
ok, should I switch it off? I will download it to my husbands laptop and usb it to mine.Empty pockets never held anyone back, only empty heads and empty hearts can do that -Peale0
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I've used Recuva in the past
piriform.com/recuva
Its free and always worked for me
Documentation is here
docs.piriform.com/recuva0 -
Bunnyinthelights wrote: »Can you download a recover program?
http://www.piriform.com/recuva
You are going to need another computer to carry out the recovery process though, as well as a suitable amount of free space on the drive that is going to be storing the recovered data.
I would also stop using the drive that you deleted the files from until you have recovered what you need, because the more you use it (and that includes turning the computer on), the less chance you have of successful recovery.
I personally use Easy Recovery Pro by Ontrack.
It has never failed to retrieve data for me yet and I'm sure that Quiet Electrician will be happy to testify that it recovered all 875 GB of his data after he inadvertently deleted the partition on his external drive, and it still managed it even after he tried to fix the problem himself by recreating a new partition and reformatting.Remember kids, it's the volts that jolt and the mills that kill.0 -
Kwikbreaks and Killerwatts are right - no more using the computer just now.
The deleted pictures are in real life still there - the computer is basically told it can use the hard drive space the pictures are saved on. So the more you use the computer with deleted pics, the less chance you have of recovering.
Also downloading the recovery software (there are many - I've used GetDataBack with success) onto the computer with missing photos is a BAD idea. The computer has to store the downloaded program somewhere and then install it - all the time potentially overwriting the images you're trying to save.
Also - using a hard drive is not a good back up system (unless you have a home server or raid setup). Hard drives fail, get corrupted, catch viruses. Burn files onto at least one disc and store securely. Ideally a second disc would be stored at a remote location.
I used to have a cd of files stored next to my pc and a duplicate at work in my drawer.
Keen photographer with sales in the UK and abroad.
Willing to offer advice on camera equipment and photography if i can!0 -
Bunnyinthelights wrote: »ok, should I switch it off? I will download it to my husbands laptop and usb it to mine.
In order to recover the data, the hard drive from the laptop is going to have to be removed and placed in another machine as a slave drive.
You then install the Recuva program on to the machine that is doing the recovery, and go from there.Remember kids, it's the volts that jolt and the mills that kill.0 -
Bunnyinthelights wrote: »god, I really should not be let loose on a laptop-in an effort to get some more memory space I inadvertantly DELETED my entire file of pictures! *but saved the link to an empty file* clever eh???
PLEASE PLEASE can anyone help me?????
Oh, and before you ask, I emptied the recycling bin.
*bangs head on desk*
Just recover them from your good off-site backup. Job done.--
Peter Stones0
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