At some point or another all of us have deleted something we shouldn't have deleted. Usually the solution is to simply restore the file from the Recycle Bin but what if you've already emptied the Recycle Bin? In that case, a file recovery program like Recuva can help.
If you try only one file recovery program, make Recuva that one program. I highly recommend Recuva.
Recuva Features
- Recuva's easy to use wizard asks the important questions and does the hard work behind the scenes.
- Frequent updates to the program by Piriform and a long history of success keeps Recuva at the top of many lists.
- Recuva is available in a portable version making installation unnecessary - a very important advantage.
- A quick standard scan and an optional "Deep Scan" cover all the technological bases in the search for recoverable files.
- Recuva can recover files from hard drives, USB drives, memory cards, BD/DVD/CD discs, and even MP3 players, including the iPod.
- Support for Windows 8 (including Windows 8.1), Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and even Server versions of Windows.
- Native 64-bit version of Recuva available for optimal operating in 64-bit versions of Windows.
- Supports drives as large as 3 TB.
Source: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/gr/recuva-review.htm
I accidentally deleted over 100 files from a flash drive (trying to move the directory "tree" of those files). The "Recuva" program shortly found them (although most of them, Recuva had "red flagged" as being unrecoverable, due to over-writing). THAT, I found strange (since I'D CEASED USING the flash-drive immediately following the deletions and until I got "Recuva" running). Nonetheless, I "undeleted" each of those flagged files...after which, almost all of them proved to be intact and fully readable by their host program ("Word")...they were NOT "unrecoverable!" In addition to the many, just-deleted files, "Recuva" found MANY other files-deleted from over a year ago (but I wasn't interested in attempting to retrieve these, so didn't). Undeletion was a slow, painstaking process, as each file must be selected and "undeleted," individually (save them to a different drive as you go, to avoid overwriting the deleted-files-yet-to-be-retrieved). "Recuva" ultimately salvaged almost ALL my files and recreated their original folder-trees. It would be dandy if Recuva displayed the DELETION-DATES of the deleted files...BUT it does NOT. ALSO, one of the (INDEED, corrupt) files I'd retrieved to a desktop folder, defied almost all means to get rid of it - Win7 kept stating "This File Does Not Exist," EVERY time a "cut" or "delete" attempt was made on it via the GUI (graphical user interface). Its icon defiantly remained on my "desktop" screen UNTIL I DID delete it via DOS command-prompt.
Source: http://www.snapfiles.com/userreviews/111664/recuva.html
You can download Revuva here: https://www.piriform.com/recuva
