Retrieving deleted data

[Bob Marino]

Questions. I have a couple of old computers that I will be discarding, so I took out the hard drive and bought a device to retrieve some old files and pictures - some of which were deleted by me a while ago. When I place the hard drive into the new external hard drive device, connect what needs to be connected and get the info up on my new computer, very few old files and pictures come up. I thought any pictures or files downloaded, even though deleted could be retreived through this device.  I am wrong?

Bob

 

[nclemmons]

There are 'undelete utilities' available for Windows, Bob. 

Google the term and you'll find quite a few - some free, some for a fee.

The issue will be how long ago you deleted the files and whether the directory structure is intact.  Windows like any OS will mark files as deleted but as you write new files, the old ones marked can become partially or completely overwritten and thus, corrupted.

Worth a try with some of the free and low cost utilities, but my experience has been unless it was recently deleted, you may not recover them.

Good luck -

neil

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

I should say that I'm not endorsing nor do I have any experience using these with the exception of the last one for permanently and securely wiping drives.

A program like this one can be used for recovering deleted files in some cases:

Easeus Data Recovery Wizard Free Edition

or

Pandora Recovery

If you want to make absolutely sure that the data is permanently wiped from the drive for security reasons, you need to use a program like this one:

Active Kill Disk Hard Drive Eraser

These types of programs actually write random "junk" data bits over the drive multiple times. That's the most secure way of making sure the data is gone. Simply deleting a file does not remove it. The file still exists on the drive. It's just removed from the "table of contents" to put it in layperson terms. There are plenty of programs for recovering deleting files like Neil stated, so you can find plenty of others in addition to the one I linked to above, some of which are free, others are not. Until a program write over that data, the file is recoverable and even then it may be partially recoverable.

Shane

 

[nnordrum]

Bob,

when you decide to get rid of the hard drive altogether, I would recommend (unless you have a ton of them) taking them apart "as far as you can", at least down to the platters. You can then scratch up the platters making it VERY difficult to get data from the drive. If the drive is still working when you retire it, use software like Shane recommended to fully scrub the drive. You can then take it apart and physically destroy it if you're super paranoid (like this guy! [thumbs up])

Noah
p.s. "Toys" showed up Thursday--thanks!

 

[joraft]

When you decide to get rid of the hard drive altogether, I would recommend (unless you have a ton of them) taking them apart "as far as you can", at least down to the platters. You can then scratch up the platters making it VERY difficult to get data from the drive. If the drive is still working when you retire it, use software like Shane recommended to fully scrub the drive. You can then take it apart and physically destroy it if you're super paranoid (like this guy! [thumbs up])

Old, smaller drives aren't worth much anyway, so why not use the fastest, most effective data eraser:

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Bob,

when you decide to get rid of the hard drive altogether, I would recommend (unless you have a ton of them) taking them apart "as far as you can", at least down to the platters. You can then scratch up the platters making it VERY difficult to get data from the drive. If the drive is still working when you retire it, use software like Shane recommended to fully scrub the drive. You can then take it apart and physically destroy it if you're super paranoid (like this guy! [thumbs up])

Noah
p.s. "Toys" showed up Thursday--thanks!

Many hard drives have tiny torx screws and most people don't have those sizes to access the inards.  When I've taken the cover off, merely repeated hits with the same screwdriver to the platters will shatter them making the data irretrievable.  I have also used software that writes "0" to every location on the hard drive.

 

[Sparktrician]

Questions. I have a couple of old computers that I will be discarding, so I took out the hard drive and bought a device to retrieve some old files and pictures - some of which were deleted by me a while ago. When I place the hard drive into the new external hard drive device, connect what needs to be connected and get the info up on my new computer, very few old files and pictures come up. I thought any pictures or files downloaded, even though deleted could be retreived through this device.  I am wrong?

Bob

Bob,
    My question to you is this - are you looking in the right place for the files that you seek?  Some may be stored under your user profile, and some may be in other areas on the hard drive.  Is your question more about how to find the files, or how to get rid of the files from the old drive? 

[smile]

 

[Bob Marino]

Thanks all. The question is how to retrieve files and pics - many
Of which were deleted by me on my older computers. The place I am looking
Is the "g" drive - that is what comes up when the external drive
Is plugged into the computer.
My ( maybe incorrect) idea was that if a file or pic was downloaded
And then later deleted, it still exists on the harddrive and can
Be retrievable. I had many files and pics that I downloaded and
Deleted by very few  are coming up on the external drive.

Can any files or pics so deleted on a cell phone be retrieved?

Bob

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Bob,

I have an external drive adapter as well, and depending on the file's status, you might have to pull a favor from Shane to help you out over the phone changing things like read only and privileges, because when the hard drive saw itself inside the computer originally, the operating system allowed you to access and change things as the administrator.  With it mounted externally to another operating system (so basically the OS on the external drive isn't running) it doesn't know you're still the administrator with the full privileges.

Pics on cell phones can be retrieved just like camera memory cards, but again you will need to buy software and have a connection to the phone to try to capture them.  I've never found (at least anything that worked) free software to do that, however I don't remember ever paying more than around $80 for file/data retrieval software.

 

[Bob Marino]

Ken,

So you are saying there is such a device for deleted files and
Pics for cellphones too? Available where?

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Ken,

So you are saying there is such a device for deleted files and
Pics for cellphones too? Available where?

Software for deleting or obliterating stuff on cell phones, yes, but I'd have to look up what software I have and you still need to connect the cell phone to the computer to do it.  It's much easier to do a full reset on a cell phone with the help of your service provider.  They can tell you what buttons to press, selections to make and codes to enter to wipe off everything and put it in factory original state.  I've done that many times when selling or donating old phones and each phone was a different method.  It wasn't always the first or second person I spoke to at my cell provider's tech support that knew how to do it, but the "real techs" do and once you reach them by phone, they'll help you get it done in just a few minutes.  If it's an iPhone, contact Apple tech support.  In all of my cases, the local cell store tech support was worthless.

From your previous post, I thought you were trying to recover photos from your cell phone.  I guess you meant you want to wipe them off forever.

 

[Bob Marino]

Thanks again. No I am looking to retrieve all the pics and files.

Bob

 

[joraft]

Thanks again. No I am looking to retrieve all the pics and files.

Bob, try this: Smart Undelete

 

[Kevin D.]

I have sensitive info on my hard drives, and I whack the old hard drive with a sledgehammer, and sva for a campfire down the road.  Just can't risk the data being propagated. 

Had a friend who does extreme data security stuff, and I was amazed at what he told me could be done to retrieve info off of old hard drives.

I also understood the risks with having wifi for connections with your computers in your home versus hardwire.  While hardwire is not inconquerable, it is much more difficult to hack into your PC than it floating in the air even if you have traditional protective means in place.

 

[johnbro]

Thanks again. No I am looking to retrieve all the pics and files.

Bob

You might be able to get some back, but chances of getting everything restored are slim if you used the HD at all after deleting files. the OS will mark sectors with deleted data as available to write on. Unfortunately a bitmap like a jpg file will need ALL the data to be usable, whereas a text file you can recover partial pieces and have it be somewhat useful.

 

[fdengel]

Bob,

Once files are removed from the trash (recycle bin for those on Politically Correct platforms as opposed to Machines that Actually Compute), you need to consider that they are permanently gone.

In some cases, files can be partially or completely recovered, but this should not be considered generally true.

Sometimes a data recovery service with some very expensive and highly specialized equipment can recover more than "normal" home-type data recovery software can, but even that is not 100% guaranteed.

If this is very important to you, STOP whatever you are doing, DISCONNECT the drive, and find a reputable data recovery service to send it to.  The more you try to do yourself the more you risk damaging the chances of their recovering things.

Expect to pay $$$ for these kinds of services...  and in the future, don't delete things unless you are really finished with them!

 

[Bob Marino]

Thanks All,

I have tried quite a few of these recovery programs with virtually the same results - almost nothing being retrieved - and  what did come back was little "silly" pics and animations and what nots.
Same thing for files and word doc. But the good news is that was nothing critically important anyhow; just some nice family pics and simple files.

I also tried another program to search the C drive on my current computer and it came up with thousands of images - some from God knows where - CNN, News, album covers, silly cartoon faces, etc. and many pics of catalog items that I had apparently looked at, but there was not really one pic that I downloaded from my camera to computer that I  deleted and sent to the recycle bin that was retrievable.
Correct, it seems once an item is so deleted, it is gone for good and only maybe retrievable through a company that specializes in that and is very expensive.
Lesson learned!

Bob

 

[jameshkoler]

Windows data recovery software proves to be an optimum tool to recover lost or accidentally deleted files and folders from Windows file systems. The tool, Kernel for Windows data recovery is suitable for repairing corrupt FAT and NTFS file systems. Using this software it is possible to recover data from damaged or deleted hard disk partitions, formatted or re-formatted hard disk, corrupt Windows registry and even from damaged hard disk.