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Gmburns2000
Oct 2, 2011, 7:48 PM
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I accidentally permanently deleted all my photos (the whole thing!  ), any suggestions on which program works to recover and is safe to use?
 
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notapplicable
Oct 2, 2011, 9:40 PM
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O-M-F-G
I'm not even gonna ask how you managed to do that because I wouldn't want you to have to tell such an embarrassing story in public.
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Gmburns2000
Oct 2, 2011, 9:50 PM
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[embarrassing story in public]
went to upload latest climbing pics to flikr and noticed that my photo folder wasn't an option on the upload pop-up screen (you know, that screen that pops up after you click "upload photos?"). Actually, I had noticed that folder wasn't showing up for about a month now, and this time I decided to fix the problem the best way I knew how.
BTW - my photos folder was still on my computer. I had been using it as I normally would in windows explorer, it just wasn't showing up in the upload pop-up screen. What was showing up in the pop-up was the "documents" folder.
So, I copied my photos folder and placed it into the "documents" folder, so I had two identical photos folders (the original and the new, copied folder under "documents"). After verifying that all my photos had copied over, I deleted the original folder.
My recycling bin was too small to delete such a large folder, so I was given the option to permanently delete them. Knowing that I had a copy in the "documents" folder, I hit "ok."
Well, apparently that actually deleted both folders. I had no idea that would happen (and no, I did NOT have both of them selected when I deleted the original folder). Somehow, the copy was tied to the original.
Now, I know retrieval is possible. I'm just looking for the best and safest way to do it.
[/end embarrassing story]
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notapplicable
Oct 2, 2011, 10:02 PM
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Fuck. I doubt starting the computer in safemode and restoring to an earlier date would help in this case but it is the only thing that comes to mind. Good luck
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Gmburns2000
Oct 2, 2011, 10:18 PM
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well, i hadn't thought of that. i'm hoping that the data recovery software that's out there is what works.
i have most of my photos backed up on flickr, but i haven't even yet figured out how to extract those back to my computer.
I also think that I have my photos backed up on my WD Passport external hard-drive, but it is apparently rather difficult to restore files from it (as in, there isn't a restore program, so I don't yet know how to extract the photos from there).
If none of that works, apparently there are good technicians out there who know how to fix this stuff.
either way, fingers are crossed.
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blondgecko
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Oct 3, 2011, 3:34 AM
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Way back in the days of Windows 95 (97?) I accidentally something similar. I ended up copying undelete.exe off an old MS-DOS disk and running that. Interestingly enough, it worked just fine, indicating that Microsoft didn't change their file deletion system. Anyway, I'm not going to suggest going that route, but you could try Undelete Plus. It's freeware, and apparently pretty well rated.
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Gmburns2000
Oct 3, 2011, 11:11 AM
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blondgecko wrote: Way back in the days of Windows 95 (97?) I accidentally something similar. I ended up copying undelete.exe off an old MS-DOS disk and running that. Interestingly enough, it worked just fine, indicating that Microsoft didn't change their file deletion system. Anyway, I'm not going to suggest going that route, but you could try Undelete Plus. It's freeware, and apparently pretty well rated.
thanks for the suggestion. I'm taking all the suggestions I get from my various resources and looking them all over before deciding. I'm freaking out, but I know there are ways to do this. 
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blondgecko
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Oct 3, 2011, 11:31 AM
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Just remember not to write too much too much to disk in the meantime. As far as your computer's concerned, those pictures are all now empty space to be filled - and all it takes is one block overwritten to make a file unrecoverable.
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qwert
Oct 3, 2011, 12:38 PM
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Disclaimer:
I am no expert, and everything i tell you might make matters worse!
In reply to: Just remember not to write too much too much to disk in the meantime. As far as your computer's concerned, those pictures are all now empty space to be filled - and all it takes is one block overwritten to make a file unrecoverable.
So first think i can think of is to do a complete backup of the disk and work on that, so that a recovery attempt that screws up wont make matters worse.
I would probably boot a live linux and image the whole HDD on a empty spare one, via ddrescue or something. should you decide to try that, be carefull, dd and similar commands can be dangerous weapons in the hand of the unexperienced!
NExt step:
Maybe photorec? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photorec
HAvent tried it on Hard disks, but i have been very succesfull with it on flash drives that got accidentally deleted or even formatted. However it fucks up the file names and dates, so be prepared to do some sorting, should it work.
Last step:
Make sure that you have a proper backup routine!
Really!
Make sure that you have a proper backup routine!!
I am not joking!
Make sure that you have a proper backup routine!!!
So that in the future, the steps will be:
plug in external hard drive
go back to one of your backups from before you fucked up
copy stuff back
unplug external harddrive.
qwert
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Gmburns2000
Oct 3, 2011, 3:28 PM
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Thanks.
I do back up every night on a WD Passport, but it apparently doesn't have an easy way to restore files. Didn't know that until now. Hmmm...
Going to try software first. I'm OK with computers, but not geekishly good. But I'll check those options out.
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Gmburns2000
Oct 3, 2011, 3:33 PM
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just out of curiosity (stupid question), by "using the computer" are we talking about saving documents and files, or are we talking about surfing the web and / or using applications?
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jt512
Oct 3, 2011, 4:02 PM
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Gmburns2000 wrote: Thanks. I do back up every night on a WD Passport, but it apparently doesn't have an easy way to restore files. Didn't know that until now. Hmmm... Going to try software first. I'm OK with computers, but not geekishly good. But I'll check those options out.
So you have the image files on the Passport? If so, then you're fine. How can the files not be restorable?
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qwert
Oct 3, 2011, 4:09 PM
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Gmburns2000 wrote: just out of curiosity (stupid question), by "using the computer" are we talking about saving documents and files, or are we talking about surfing the web and / or using applications?
I hope i remember this right:
If files get deleted, they are still there, but the space they occupied is marked as "yo! You program here! If you need some space for something, you can use this here!"
So if a program writes something to disk, it might as well do so on that freshly freed space, or some other space.
And while the risk is probably higher the more stuff you safe (i.e. should you decide to rip a few gigabytes worth of BluRay disks your photos are most likely gone) general use also produces quite a bit of data that gets saved to disk. For example every image you are seeing on the web is going to get written into your browser cache on your harddisk (unless you have set it up otherwhiese), and with image heavy sites (or even worse, HD videos and such stuff) that also easily gets into the hundreds of megabytes.
But it seems like you already have a backup.
There must be instructions for that software somewhere! Does the program you used have some manual or help function? Have you tried the manufacturers webpage? Or just type "western digital" "name of recovery software" "recovery" or "how do i get my files" into google. If it really is not that obvious how to get them back, then its surely out somewhere on the intertubes.
qwert
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Gmburns2000
Oct 3, 2011, 5:21 PM
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jt512 wrote: Gmburns2000 wrote: Thanks. I do back up every night on a WD Passport, but it apparently doesn't have an easy way to restore files. Didn't know that until now. Hmmm... Going to try software first. I'm OK with computers, but not geekishly good. But I'll check those options out. So you have the image files on the Passport? If so, then you're fine. How can the files not be restorable?
well, they're on the drive but in individual folders from each save (I back up every day). So they're stored in LOTS of folders over the past few years. Finding them isn't going to be easy.
The drive doesn't come with software that makes it easy to extract the files on it.
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jt512
Oct 3, 2011, 6:14 PM
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Gmburns2000 wrote: jt512 wrote: Gmburns2000 wrote: Thanks. I do back up every night on a WD Passport, but it apparently doesn't have an easy way to restore files. Didn't know that until now. Hmmm... Going to try software first. I'm OK with computers, but not geekishly good. But I'll check those options out. So you have the image files on the Passport? If so, then you're fine. How can the files not be restorable? well, they're on the drive but in individual folders from each save (I back up every day). So they're stored in LOTS of folders over the past few years. Finding them isn't going to be easy. The drive doesn't come with software that makes it easy to extract the files on it.
Have you checked WD's website? I think they have information about recovering data. You may even be able to download recovery software from them.
Jay
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Gmburns2000
Oct 3, 2011, 6:41 PM
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jt512 wrote: Gmburns2000 wrote: jt512 wrote: Gmburns2000 wrote: Thanks. I do back up every night on a WD Passport, but it apparently doesn't have an easy way to restore files. Didn't know that until now. Hmmm... Going to try software first. I'm OK with computers, but not geekishly good. But I'll check those options out. So you have the image files on the Passport? If so, then you're fine. How can the files not be restorable? well, they're on the drive but in individual folders from each save (I back up every day). So they're stored in LOTS of folders over the past few years. Finding them isn't going to be easy. The drive doesn't come with software that makes it easy to extract the files on it. Have you checked WD's website? I think they have information about recovering data. You may even be able to download recovery software from them. Jay
I kind of have, but not really. I've googled the site's info and have read some forums associated with them, but I haven't seen on the site yet.
That may be an option, thanks.
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blondgecko
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Oct 4, 2011, 12:25 AM
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qwert wrote: However it fucks up the file names and dates, so be prepared to do some sorting, should it work.
As far as I'm aware, that's going to happen no matter what recovery package is used. Microsoft's system for tagging files as deleted seems to be replacing the first character of the filename with a special character.
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sungam
Oct 4, 2011, 4:43 PM
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Hey, Greg. This dude seems legit. If I were you, I would use the programs he talked about.
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blondgecko
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Oct 4, 2011, 8:14 PM
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Believe it or not, he was the second one (and for an entirely different product, no less!). This thread is a spam magnet!
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sungam
Oct 5, 2011, 8:03 AM
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Hey, Greg. This dude seems legit. If I were you, I would use the programs he talked about.
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blondgecko
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Oct 5, 2011, 8:32 AM
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Developing a stutter there, sungam? 
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Gmburns2000
Oct 5, 2011, 12:16 PM
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trying to use a program called easy-data-recovery. it was recommended to me as a safe option.
the trial version worked fine as a test, but for files only up to 64k. so I bought the full version, and the program won't identify my drives. grrrr... 
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