You are working in Windows and you have somehow either lost or deleted it a file that you actually want to save and use. This can be incredibly frustrating, especially since this type of data loss usually is the result of an error on the user’s part. Before you attempt to retrieve that data, it is important that you stay calm and think rationally about what you are doing. One more error could lead you to lose that important file forever.
The first step in recovering data in Windows is to check the Recycling Bin. Okay, so this might sound kind of obvious, but nine times out of ten, if you accidentally deleted a file, this is the place where it will end up first. If you happen to find your file there, then right click on it with your mouse and choose RESTORE from off the menu. Sometimes, however, if the file has been deleted in DOS, then the file will not be found in the Recycling Bin. If you are working in DOS, then, keep this in mind before you delete any of your files.
Window stores data in clusters, the size of those clusters depending on what type of FAT (file allocation table) you are utilizing. The FAT you use will store links between different clusters; when you connect those clusters together, they compose a file. When the file becomes corrupt, you can use ScanDisk to put it back together again.
So, to keep yourself calm, repeat the following to yourself: “The file has not been deleted from my hard disk.” Because it hasn’t! Instead, the location of the files directory has been changed, so now it is pointing at the Recycle Bin instead of its normal file location. But the file’s data clusters actually have not changed. Even when you empty your Recycling Bin, nothing has changed. The data in the clusters is still there, only now the file’s entry in the FAT has been altered, enabling the clusters to be used for something else. The first character in the file’s name has thus been changed in order to reflect this fact.
You simply have to find a utility that will perform a FAT scan looking for entries that are similar to your file. Loads of programs like this are available on the market – a quick Internet search should help you locate one.