How hard(if possible at all) is it to retrieve a file that has been written over?(think that is the term).I used recuva to find a file I deleted a while ago and that is the state of it now.Is it gone for good?Thanks for any input.
Overwritten files
- Thread starter Scarey
- Start date
Thanks for the responses guys.So basically when it says it is unrecoverable......short of having a friend in computer forensics it's probably gone hmm?.....that sucks.Teach me to watch what file i'm putting stuff in
.If anyone has any other ideas I'd be open to them.
.If anyone has any other ideas I'd be open to them.It's possible. But its expensive.Thanks for the responses guys.So basically when it says it is unrecoverable......short of having a friend in computer forensics it's probably gone hmm?.....that sucks.Teach me to watch what file i'm putting stuff in
I doubt you overwrote your entire HD 7 times as per DOD 5220-22 M for secure erasure.
What type of file? With Win7 and Office 2010 the "overwritten" file could still be recoverable from your Documents folder. OR if you have not rebooted your PC, and it's a 2003 or 2007 Word .doc (might work with .xls too) try a search for *.tmp
This should bring up all the recent files being held in Temp folder, and you can recover it that way.
This should bring up all the recent files being held in Temp folder, and you can recover it that way.
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In the macworld googling will turn up a number of file recovery options, some on-line and some free, others commercial, names like Boomerang and FileSalvage. It's clearly worth your while to do that sort of search. Likewise, the shop you patronize for computer repairs and aftermarket stuff will likely have options to suggest and perhaps run for you. The question you want to ask yourself now, is "What's it worth to you?" because apart from the sort of site that runs a scan of your drive and then tells you how much they might recover everyone will want some cash just to look.
To actually perform any DIY recovery you must boot and run the recovery software from a drive that is NOT the one you're inspecting and salvaging from. Some apps come on bootable discs, some leave you to sort that out which is why the store or service may be the attractive option. Also note what's recovered will have no name—as was pointed out above—so you'll have to sort through a mass of stuff with assigned names like JPG#5642, JPG#5643, DOC87698, and so forth. When it happened to me I recovered lotsa stuff I'd quite knowingly deleted months and months ago, but only a few of the recent, unintended deletes. And it was a lot of work sorting through.
To actually perform any DIY recovery you must boot and run the recovery software from a drive that is NOT the one you're inspecting and salvaging from. Some apps come on bootable discs, some leave you to sort that out which is why the store or service may be the attractive option. Also note what's recovered will have no name—as was pointed out above—so you'll have to sort through a mass of stuff with assigned names like JPG#5642, JPG#5643, DOC87698, and so forth. When it happened to me I recovered lotsa stuff I'd quite knowingly deleted months and months ago, but only a few of the recent, unintended deletes. And it was a lot of work sorting through.
Good post.
For any Mac users who want a really superb backup system, I recommend looking into DiskWarrior and SuperDuper.
