Recovering a folder · DIGIT-ARC

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Hi,

By mistake I just deleted a folder. It had tons of important folders including word and excel files. I was located on desktop. How to use recuva or any other software to target c: desktop only? Can we recover a specific file/folder if the windows restore option is switched on?

Thanks

In recuva, select folder to scan: C:\Users\<user folder>\desktop and recover it to a drive other than C.

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SaiyanGoku said:
In recuva, select folder to scan: C:\Users\<user folder>\desktop and recover it to a drive other than C.

Where exactly to enter the path C:\Users\xxxxx\Desktop in recuva? EaseUS is finding the whole folder but when I try recover it, it asks for an activation key. I am ready to pay if it guarantees the recovery. What should I do? I am not willing to download a keygen, from unknown sources, in this laptop just to test it because it will write on this hdd and I don't want to do that.

billubakra said:
Where exactly to enter the path C:\Users\xxxxx\Desktop in recuva? EaseUS is finding the whole folder but when I try recover it, it asks for an activation key. I am ready to pay if it guarantees the recovery. What should I do? I am not willing to download a keygen, from unknown sources, in this laptop just to test it because it will write on this hdd and I don't want to do that.

Proceed normally with recuva, click all files and then select "In a specific location".

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SaiyanGoku said:
Proceed normally with recuva, click all files and then select "In a specific location".

Few days back I accidentally deleted a file, I hate shift+del combo. Anyways tried recuva, it found zillions of files in about 4 hours and the one which I wanted was not recoverable. The folder which got deleted today is very very important and has data of last 2 years. So, thought of using some other software this time. Any recommendations?

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EaseUS trial version is showing the whole folder but it won't let me recover. Recuva will find individual files not the folder as a whole.

billubakra said:
EaseUS trial version is showing the whole folder but it won't let me recover. Recuva will find individual files not the folder as a whole.

Share the screenshot if you can. Recuva has always worked for me.

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SaiyanGoku said:
Share the screenshot if you can. Recuva has always worked for me.

Tried the torrent version of EaseUS, that folder is now not detectable

. This version is a year old atleast and the trial version was the latest one.
Recuva finds files bro, not the folder as a whole. That folder had tons of subfolders+files. Now recuva will search the whole c drive and not the desktop, that will cause it to search for way too many unneeded stuff.

W

Try filtering using file size,date,extension(easiest like first seach only .xls etc).

P.S. Very important point,never ever keep a hdd connected to system(if deleted data is on C drive) as OS continuously write small amounts of data to C drive.

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@SaiyanGoku
Brother check the screenshots

Is that shadow image a backup of the c drive? The second ss says few restore points are auto created. Can I recover the folder from there?

whitestar_999 said:
Try filtering using file size,date,extension(easiest like first seach only .xls etc).

P.S. Very important point,never ever keep a hdd connected to system(if deleted data is on C drive) as OS continuously write small amounts of data to C drive.

Unfortunately this is my laptop's only drive and I don't have access to the screwdrivers and what not right now.

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billubakra said:
Unfortunately this is my laptop's only drive and I don't have access to the screwdrivers and what not right now.

You can use live linux usb to boot the system & then make an exact copy of your hdd(you will need an external hdd with size larger than hdd) You can even run data recovery tools from bootable linux/windows images.Of course never recover data to same drive from which data was deleted.

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whitestar_999 said:
You can use live linux usb to boot the system & then make an exact copy of your hdd(you will need an external hdd with size larger than hdd) You can even run data recovery tools from bootable linux/windows images.Of course never recover data to same drive from which data was deleted.

Thanks for the heads up. Did you check those screenshots posted above? Can I use shadow/restore points to get that folder back?

W

Yes.Shadow copy may help depending on how much space it was allocated by windows.Try this to see if it is showing deleted folder(don't do anything like recovery etc straight away before posting here first) *www.winhelponline.com/blog/recover-files-previous-versions-shadow-copy-windows-7-vista/

billubakra said:
@SaiyanGoku
Brother check the screenshots
View attachment 18221

View attachment 18222
Is that shadow image a backup of the c drive? The second ss says few restore points are auto created. Can I recover the folder from there?

Unfortunately this is my laptop's only drive and I don't have access to the screwdrivers and what not right now.

Bro, I literally told you to search within a specific folder, not the entire drive. Once the search is complete, click options on top right, go to actions and select "Restore Folder Structure".

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whitestar_999 said:
Yes.Shadow copy may help depending on how much space it was allocated by windows.Try this to see if it is showing deleted folder(don't do anything like recovery etc straight away before posting here first) *www.winhelponline.com/blog/recover-files-previous-versions-shadow-copy-windows-7-vista/

Open the folder that contained the file or folder that was deleted. The right-click on an empty area on the folder and click Restore previous versions.
Right clicked on the desktop icon in C:\Users\<user folder>\desktop and it shows this-

Read that link a little more, downloaded shadow explorer and voila it is showing the folder that I need which is supposedly a backup taken on 10th. 2 other dates as shown in recuva are also shown

Please guide

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SaiyanGoku said:
Bro, I literally told you to search within a specific folder, not the entire drive. Once the search is complete, click options on top right, go to actions and select "Restore Folder Structure".

Ah, my bad then. Can we just skip this and restore the folder from restore/shadow backup thing?

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billubakra said:
Open the folder that contained the file or folder that was deleted. The right-click on an empty area on the folder and click Restore previous versions.
Right clicked on the desktop icon in C:\Users\<user folder>\desktop and it shows this-
View attachment 18223

Read that link a little more, downloaded shadow explorer and voila it is showing the folder that I need which is supposedly a backup taken on 10th. 2 other dates as shown in recuva are also shown
View attachment 18224

Please guide

Exported the folder via shadow explorer, but all the files in it are corrupted.

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Used system restore explorer to copy the folder from all 3 shadow/restore points but same result

Some .jpeg files are shown if I mount the backups using system restore explorer but they turn to black or white after they are copied i.e. opened in normal mode

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Most likely the space allocated to shadow copy was not enough to retain completely intact files which is expected as it is not meant as a full fledged back up system. Try recuva again but this time restrict search as @SaiyanGoku suggested & use filters like I suggested(now you can take corrupted files as reference for search parameters).

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whitestar_999 said:
Most likely the space allocated to shadow copy was not enough to retain completely intact files which is expected as it is not meant as a full fledged back up system. Try recuva again but this time restrict search as @SaiyanGoku suggested & use filters like I suggested(now you can take corrupted files as reference for search parameters).

Some of the old excel files are showing fine but not the latest one's.

SaiyanGoku said:
Bro, I literally told you to search within a specific folder, not the entire drive. Once the search is complete, click options on top right, go to actions and select "Restore Folder Structure".

I am sorry I am not getting how exactly to do this. All I can see is to search in c,d,e,f or in the shadow drives.

billubakra said:
I am sorry I am not getting how exactly to do this. All I can see is to search in c,d,e,f or in the shadow drives.

Open Recuva
Recuva Wizard opens up. Click next
All Files radio button is selected. Click next
Select 5th radio button from top "In a specific location". Specify the location or browse to it and select it. Click next.
Click start.

Then proceed to recover files as you need.

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Which version are you using? No wizard or radio button in v1.52.1086

SaiyanGoku said:
Open Recuva
Recuva Wizard opens up. Click next
All Files radio button is selected. Click next
Select 5th radio button from top "In a specific location". Specify the location or browse to it and select it. Click next.
Click start.

Then proceed to recover files as you need.

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CCleaner.com - Specifying what to search for

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whitestar_999 said:
CCleaner.com - Specifying what to search for

Did the same earlier. Is the path mentioned correctly as it is asking for 5 hours

W

Path is correct(C:\users\abc\desktop),number of files is huge because folder location is inside C drive that too in Users folder.That is also why it is not recommended to keep a complicated/large no. of files folder in C drive as any recovery will take much longer compared to a normal drive.

P.S. you are recovering all these files to another hdd,right?

billubakra said:
Which version are you using? No wizard or radio button in v1.52.1086

You could've disabled the wizard. I'm using v1.53.1087 free version.

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whitestar_999 said:
Path is correct(C:\users\abc\desktop),number of files is huge because folder location is inside C drive that too in Users folder.That is also why it is not recommended to keep a complicated/large no. of files folder in C drive as any recovery will take much longer compared to a normal drive.

P.S. you are recovering all these files to another hdd,right?

SaiyanGoku said:
You could've disabled the wizard. I'm using v1.53.1087 free version.

Scanned the desktop via recuva, it is not finding even a single file from the deleted folder. There is no trace of the folder whatsoever. I have checked each entry carefully. This is very very strange. How come not even a single file in the scanned list? Can we do something about those shadow/restored files? I mean recover it well?

billubakra said:
I have checked each entry carefully. This is very very strange. How come not even a single file in the scanned list? Can we do something about those shadow/restored files?

Did you restore a shadow copy?

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SaiyanGoku said:
Did you restore a shadow copy?

Restored the exact folder via shadow explorer and system restore explorer as mentioned in this link How to Recover Deleted Files Using Previous versions (Shadow Copy) in Windows » Winhelponline posted by @whitestar_999 It shows all the files- excels, word, jpegs, rar etc. About 10-20% are opening fine, the rest are showing error like the one that I have posted above, the excel screenshot. The first method in that link- recover files using previous versions shows me this Recovering a folder What should I do? The folder is really really important. Yes it is stupid of me that I kept it on desktop and didn't take any backup. It had my work of about 2 years.

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I am going bonkers since last night. Was alone in office the whole night trying to figure it out. Ran Recuva, EaseUS, Stellar and few more recovery softwares but no result.

I don't know what to tell you brother. I don't use any other method to recover files except recuva and I don't do write operations on the affected drive as well till everything is recovered properly.

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Sorry to say but I think that data is gone if you "did shadow recovery earlier" & exported the folder to same drive/hdd then it overwrote the lost data destroying any chances of recovery. If you exported the folder to external hdd/usb drive then there is still slim chance of recovery by running Recuva on whole C drive & use file extension filtering & then do a manual search & recovery by sorting files date wise/size wise etc.

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whitestar_999 said:
Sorry to say but I think that data is gone if you "did shadow recovery earlier" & exported the folder to same drive/hdd then it overwrote the lost data destroying any chances of recovery. If you exported the folder to external hdd/usb drive then there is still slim chance of recovery by running Recuva on whole C drive & use file extension filtering & then do a manual search & recovery by sorting files date wise/size wise etc.

Exported the concerned folder from c to d, e and f using shadow and system restore explorer, so no overwrite thing I guess. Any other software/way of recovering from shadow/system restore image?
Any way to get something out of the corrupted excel files?

W

No,overwriting can occur even if data restored is to different drive but same hdd(C,D,E etc are for human convenience,it does not mean actual data on hdd is enclosed in areas named C,D,E.Technically it is much more complex & that's why data recovery recommended practice is to not write anything to hdd from where data is to be recovered). That is why people attempting data recovery make exact sector-by-sector copy which is exactly equal to hdd size instead of using normal image of hdd which is compressed by nature & is always smaller than hdd to be imaged.

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whitestar_999 said:
No,overwriting can occur even if data restored is to different drive but same hdd(C,D,E etc are for human convenience,it does not mean actual data on hdd is enclosed in areas named C,D,E.Technically it is much more complex & that's why data recovery recommended practice is to not write anything to hdd from where data is to be recovered). That is why people attempting data recovery make exact sector-by-sector copy which is exactly equal to hdd size instead of using normal image of hdd which is compressed by nature & is always smaller than hdd to be imaged.

Few questions-
1. Fine the folder deleted yesterday has been overwritten. So, why are the folders, files deleted months ago still shown in the scan? I didn't bother to check their health whether they can be recovered or not. Yesterday's folder has vanished from the scan/search list also.
2. Will be saving important folders/files in d,e etc. drives and will keep a shortcut on desktop, along with regular backups. How and should I enable a proper backup/shadow image thing so that I am not screwed next time?

Finally is there any way to recover files from that shadow backup or to make the excel files correct i.e. non-corrupted? Partial recovery would also do.

billubakra said:
How and should I enable a proper backup/shadow image thing so that I am not screwed next time?

Don't depend on shadow copies. Just copy/save everything on another/external reliable drive.

W

Like I said,it is too technical.May be the folder was physically located on an area in hdd which was written over completely during shadow recovery(which I assume also gives preference to original physical area on hdd where data was located irrespective of drive chosen on same hdd). As for finding those other files/folders I am assuming either they were relatively smaller in size or located in locations like documents etc & because of that they are relatively easier to recover. You cannot make lost data appear again to make a partially complete file(aka corrupt) complete(aka correct) again.If it is a simple text/doc file then it is possible to do some recovery of text remaining inside those partial files but excel files are probably gone completely.

Don't keep copy of important data only on same hdd(different drive). Since it is office so all PCs must be connected via lan,just zip the important data with password(encryption option) & save it also on another pc in office.

Try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard "Technician" edition (i assume, you've used Free version earlier)

When i dropped my external HDD (which was having Games backup) mistakenly once, something went off and the HDD didn't show any data even though it was recognized in explorer. So, i formatted the HDD completely and used the above software to scan for the remnants. After the scan was complete, i found all of the folders are infact in good condition. Then i used the recover option to retrieve the contents and store it in another external HDD (borrowed from friend). Later i copied the contents back to original drive, and now its good as old.

Successful data recovery depends on how much of the file data cluster are safe (not overwritten with other data). In your case, it's C drive and i assume it's an OS partition - so, there's only little hope for you to recover the data, as OS itself might've rewritten the clusters.

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whitestar_999 said:
Like I said,it is too technical.May be the folder was physically located on an area in hdd which was written over completely during shadow recovery(which I assume also gives preference to original physical area on hdd where data was located irrespective of drive chosen on same hdd). As for finding those other files/folders I am assuming either they were relatively smaller in size or located in locations like documents etc & because of that they are relatively easier to recover. You cannot make lost data appear again to make a partially complete file(aka corrupt) complete(aka correct) again.If it is a simple text/doc file then it is possible to do some recovery of text remaining inside those partial files but excel files are probably gone completely.

Don't keep copy of important data only on same hdd(different drive). Since it is office so all PCs must be connected via lan,just zip the important data with password(encryption option) & save it also on another pc in office.

The non-needed or the files/folders which I deleted from the desktop months ago are being recovered fine but not this folder via recuva.

Flash said:
Try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard "Technician" edition (i assume, you've used Free version earlier)

When i dropped my external HDD (which was having Games backup) mistakenly once, something went off and the HDD didn't show any data even though it was recognized in explorer. So, i formatted the HDD completely and used the above software to scan for the remnants. After the scan was complete, i found all of the folders are infact in good condition. Then i used the recover option to retrieve the contents and store it in another external HDD (borrowed from friend). Later i copied the contents back to original drive, and now its good as old.

Successful data recovery depends on how much of the file data cluster are safe (not overwritten with other data). In your case, it's C drive and i assume it's an OS partition - so, there's only little hope for you to recover the data, as OS itself might've rewritten the clusters.

Downloaded those versions, unfortunately they are not finding any file of this folder now. I guess NSFW