Wait, I Didn’t Want to Delete THAT File!

Have you done it? I know I have. Pressed Delete on a file, just as you realize, “Wait, that’s the wrong file!” Since Microsoft introduced the Recycle Bin, it’s easier than ever to recover a file you’ve deleted. Simply double-click on the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop, find the file you wish to recover, right-click on it, and select Restore. The deleted file will reappear in its original location

That’s well and good, but what if you’ve already emptied the recycle bin? Or what if you bypassed the Recycle Bin by holding down the Shift key as you deleted the file? Or what if you’ve disabled the Recycle Bin? (Yes, that can be done, but I don’t recommend it.) Don’t worry, using the steps outlined below, you *may* be able to recover the file.

First, let’s take a look at what happens when you delete a file in a Windows computer. Even though the file disappears from your Explorer view, the data contained in it doesn’t disappear. Instead, Windows removes the file’s entry from the File Allocation Table (FAT). The FAT is a pointer system that tells the operating system where to find the data on the hard drive for any given file. So when you delete a file, Windows simply deletes that pointer entry. As far as the OS is concerned, the file’s gone, even though the data comprising the file still exists on the hard drive.

So, how do you get that data back? First of all, once you realize you need to recover a deleted file, don’t do any further work on the computer. Exit all running programs, and if prompted to save changes, don’t. This is because if Windows writes any new data to the hard drive, it’s quite possible that the FAT might direct the application to write the new data on the same section of the hard drive that the file you want to recover inhabits, thus permanently erasing that old data.

Secondly, before you need to recover a file, you need to already have the software in place to do that. Again, if you’ve already deleted a file, and then install the recovery software, that new program could well overwrite the very file you’re trying to recover.

So, let’s get your computer ready to recover a file. There are several free programs that do an excellent job of restoring deleted data. I recommend Recuva Portable (http://www.piriform.com/recuva). It does an excellent job of recovering deleted files. Recuva Portable has the added benefit of being able to be installed on a USB stick.

The application will scan your entire hard drive, looking for deleted files that can be recovered. When it’s finished with the scan, the it will present you with a list of files to recover. Simply select the files(s), and – as long as they haven’t been partially overwritten by another process – you’ll get them back. It’s that easy!

But wait a minute! If it’s that easy to recover a file, how do you delete sensitive data such as passwords, credit card info, financial data and the like? Don’t worry, there are free programs that will make sure that files you wish to securely delete can’t ever be recovered. These programs don’t only delete the FAT entry, but they also erase the raw data on the hard drive, over-writing it multiple times with random data, assuring that it can never be recovered.

My pick for this sort of program carries the creative name of Eraser (http://eraser.heidi.ie/). You can delete files using one of four government-sanctioned deletion methods. You can also wipe all empty disk space, assuring that nothing can be recovered.

As you see, it’s relatively easy to assure that the data you want is available and the data you don’t want won’t fall into the wrong hands. It’s just a matter of having the tools ready before you need them.