Recycle bin: HELP! Is there a temporary file for deleted items???

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Marjorie here. Somebody please help me. I spent an hour or more today
getting footage that can't be replicated. I copied all the image and video
files from my camera to my hard drive (Vista) and, once successful, deleted
them from the flash drive.

In the hard drive folder, I innocently clicked on one still image to delete
it, and all the new files disappeared. Poof! Desperate, I quickly checked
my recycle bin, and was relieved to find them all there. I clicked on a
random file, and selected "Restore". It went back into the folder as
expected. (Ironically, it was the same photo I was trying to delete,
earlier.) Wanting to save time, I selected "all" the files (a couple dozen,
probably) using Ctrl+A, and then right clicked "Restore". All the files
disappeared from the recycle bin, but they never showed up back in the
original file folder.

They're gone. Seriously. I'm so angry and frustrated and just can't
believe this is happening to me. All that work, and the files are
irreplaceable!

Please, someone tell me there's a temporary folder somewhere on Vista, from
which I can retrieve the files that VISTA DIDN'T ACTUALLY RESTORE, AND
DELETED INSTEAD. I mean, aren't they always convicting people of crimes via
deleted Internet searches and deleted files? Do I have to get one of those
forensic computer analysts to retrieve my files????

H E L P ! ! !

Anyone...
 
MandM said:
Marjorie here. Somebody please help me. I spent an hour or more today
getting footage that can't be replicated. I copied all the image and video
files from my camera to my hard drive (Vista) and, once successful, deleted
them from the flash drive.

In the hard drive folder, I innocently clicked on one still image to delete
it, and all the new files disappeared. Poof! Desperate, I quickly checked
my recycle bin, and was relieved to find them all there. I clicked on a
random file, and selected "Restore". It went back into the folder as
expected. (Ironically, it was the same photo I was trying to delete,
earlier.) Wanting to save time, I selected "all" the files (a couple dozen,
probably) using Ctrl+A, and then right clicked "Restore". All the files
disappeared from the recycle bin, but they never showed up back in the
original file folder.

They're gone. Seriously. I'm so angry and frustrated and just can't
believe this is happening to me. All that work, and the files are
irreplaceable!

Please, someone tell me there's a temporary folder somewhere on Vista, from
which I can retrieve the files that VISTA DIDN'T ACTUALLY RESTORE, AND
DELETED INSTEAD. I mean, aren't they always convicting people of crimes via
deleted Internet searches and deleted files? Do I have to get one of those
forensic computer analysts to retrieve my files????
Click to expand...

Hi Marjorie - I'm so sorry for your loss. This type of behavior was
reported recently in the Vista newsgroups and it is most definitely a
bug. I haven't seen a solution for it. Your best bet at this point is to
use data recovery software to get the files back from your hard drive.
Here are some links and general data retrieval notes:

*IMPORTANT* - If you think the drive is physically healthy, it may be
possible to retrieve the data by software methods. DO NOTHING FURTHER ON
THE DRIVE. The data is still on the hard drive but if you overwrite it,
it will be extremely difficult or impossible to recover it. If you use
data recovery software, install it on another machine and either use it
from that operating system or create a bootable cd/floppy and work with
that. If you don't have the skill and/or equipment to do these
procedures and the data is crucial, take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop that has experience in doing data recovery. This
will not be your local version of BigStoreUSA. In-shop data recovery is
usually not exactly cheap (for ex., my charges are generally
$150-350USD), but it normally costs less than sending the drive to a
professional data recovery company like Drive Savers. You need to make
the determination of the value of your data and decide what to do.
Professional data recovery companies generally charge from $500USD on
up. Drive Savers recovered all the data on a failed laptop drive for one
of my clients and it cost $2,700. He thought it was worth the money;
only you know what your data is worth. I understand that some insurance
companies are now covering data recovery charges so check with yours.

Drive Savers - http://www.drivesavers.com
Seagate Data Recovery Services - https://www.seagatedatarecovery.com/

Here are some links to data recovery software. I use EasyRecovery but it
is expensive; many people whom I respect swear by R-Studio.

http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
PCInspector File Recovery -
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/welcome.htm
Executive Software “Undelete” -
http://www.execsoft.com/undelete/undelete.asp
R-Studio - http://www.r-tt.com/
File Scavenger - http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm
Ontrack's EasyRecovery - http://www.ontrack.com/software/


Malke
 
THANK YOU, MALKE!!!!!!!!!

I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my question.

I left everything open, and the computer on all night, so I wouldn't clear
anything (or, apparently, "overwrite" anything). Hopefully I can navigate my
way through some kind of data recovery, as you suggested. I was hoping it
wouldn't be that involved. But I'm hopeful I can still retrieve those files.

Ciao!

- Marjorie
 
Your best bet is to attempt to get everything back from the FLASH drive.
This is almost certainly a FAT drive. If you haven't taken new photos the
old ones should still be there, and even if you formatted the drives the
images should be recoverable. You will have a much better chance with the
flash drive than the hard disk, where the files will almost certainly have
been overwritten already, even if you aren't using the machine.
 
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