Contributing Editor, PCWorld
Lost files can usually be
recovered—if you discover the loss soon enough. But every time you write to the
hard drive, you lower the likelihood of a successful recovery. So use that
computer as little as possible until the files are recovered or you’ve given up
hope.
[Have a tech question? Ask PCWorld
Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector. Send your query to
Try these solutions, in this order:
Check
the Recycle Bin
Windows stores “deleted” files here
as a safety measure. You’ll find the icon in the upper-left corner of your
screen. if you find the files there, select them, right-click them, and
choose Restore.
Use
your backup
If you back up your hard drive—or at
least your libraries—on a regular basis, your files are probably preserved
there. I don’t know which backup program you use, so I can’t tell you exactly
how to search for and recover the files. It’s generally a pretty intuitive
process.
And if you don’t back up, maybe it’s
time to get into the habit. It won’t help you this time,
but it could the next.
Try
file recovery software
Even a file that’s no longer in the
Recycle Bin may still exist. Windows doesn’t overwrite the actual ones and
zeros until another file needs the drive space. That’s why I told you to avoid
using the PC as much as possible.
There are several good file recovery
programs available. I recommend Recuva Portable. It’s easy to use and has a very good track
record. And it sometimes shows you the images that it can recover. (I’ve seen
it recover images that it could not preview.) It’s also free.
And, since it’s portable, which
means that you don’t have to install it, you can use it on your PC without
writing to the hard drive. Download the program on another computer, and unzip
it to a folder on a flash drive. Then plug the flash drive into the PC with the
missing files, and run it from there.
Hire
a professional
This is the last resort, if none of
the above suggestions work. There are many data recovery services
available, and since your drive is still working, you probably don’t need one
of the more expensive ones.
I’ve never used one of these
services, so I can’t recommend a particular company. A PCWorld visit to the
nearby Drive Savers shows you what one such company is
like. Ask friends for a recommendation, or find someone local on Yelp.
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