Undelete important files

[bguerra904]

I need to restore files that have been deleted using the recycle bin on a windows 2000 pro machine. I have tested every software I could find and none could pass this simple test.

1. create a file on drive D
2. reboot machine
3. verify file still exists then delete file and remove from recycle bin
4. install undelete utility after the file was deleted!
5. find file with undelete utility on drive D and restore.

It appears most of these utilities are great at retreving files that have been lost by formating or fdisking but not through deleting with the recycle bin. I beleive windows 2000's ntfs must do something wierd once the file is removed. Does anyone know of software that will pass this test or the reason why all have failed?

Thanks
Bobby Guerra
bguerra904@yahoo.remove-this-because-of-spam.com

 

[cdogg]

The only one I've bothered to use was the Unerase utility that comes with Norton Systemworks. I've never had a problem retrieving files lost to the recycle bin in either Win9x or Win2K.

However, in order to recover a deleted file, the system must not write to the space where the file was located. So there is a chance that during the reboot, the page file or some other application that starts with Windows is writing over the file making it unrecoverable.

There are better apps out there for file recovery - some boasting recovery of files that have been written over several times. I've only heard that they exist, so hopefully someone can chime in with some suggestions. Happy hunting!

~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle