I deleted some files by accident and the following are the only instructions I could find.
I was stopped at "Command Prompt"
It was not in my Accessories. Does anyone have any idea how I can go about doing this? :confused:

.Difficulty: EasyInstructions.Things You'll Need:
•Windows 98 or earlier OS
Undelete Files with the DOS Command Prompt for Windows 98
Step
1Click on the Start menu. Point to “Open all programs”.

Step
2Point to “Accessories”. Click on “Command Prompt”.

Step
3Type in the DOS window: “Undelete /?”. Hit Enter. The DOS prompt window displays an array of DOS commands. Make a note of the various commands.

Step
4Type in the directory where you wish to undelete your files. To do this you must type the drive letter followed by the directory name (example: C:\> cd Documents <- cd ”change directory”).

Step
5Rerun the Undelete program. Undelete all your files in that directory by typing the following code: C:\Documents> undelete /all.


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You could try Recuva. This company makes good software, almost every IT department has CCleaner.

I've never used this, but I'm guessing what this does is search for deleted files and returns a list for you to sift through.

Deleting a file just let's the operating system know the sector(s) of the harddisk that stored the information of that file are free to be overwritten. If the sectors in question weren't overwritten, then the file still exists and can be recovered. A good mode of defense is not to download, upload and otherwise store anything on your machine until you've recovered the deleted files.

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Originally Posted by slapshot_oi

You could try Recuva. This company makes good software, almost every IT department has CCleaner.

I've never used this, but I'm guessing what this does is search for deleted files and returns a list for you to sift through.

Deleting a file just let's the operating system know the sector(s) of the harddisk that stored the information of that file are free to be overwritten. If the sectors in question weren't overwritten, then the file still exists and can be recovered. A good mode of defense is not to download, upload and otherwise store anything on your machine until you've recovered the deleted files.

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Well that would have been perfect, but the files lost are on a work computer (that's connected to a server) is not connected to the internet and is so old that it probably wouldn't be able to download that.

I have CCleaner on my other computers, I love it.

If it's a work computer then it's up to your local IT to resolve it ;)

Of course if you deleted a network file then you're going to have fun.
Admittedly if your IT guys are any good this would be a cake walk..
(Server 2003 and shadow copy is built just for this)

Further to what Ben mentioned, the IT dept might be so kind as to find the files from their last backup... assuming that they do regular backups.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Curlyben

If it's a work computer then it's up to your local IT to resolve it ;)

Of course if you deleted a network file then you're going to have fun.
Admittedly if your IT guys are any good this would be a cake walk..
(Server 2003 and shadow copy is built just for this)

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This is an office of 2 people, there are no IT people.
No one is going to fix it unless I do and if I can't fix it, then I will have so much extra work attempting to duplicate files that I really don't remember what were.

Do any of you do any backups of your files?

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Originally Posted by NeedKarma

Do any of you do any backups of your files?

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No

If the files were on a file server then you're pretty much toast. If they were on your local c: then you have a chance - stop working on that computer, get Recuva as mentioned above from another computer (such as the one you are posting on now) and use a USB key to install it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeedKarma

If the files were on a file server then you're pretty much toast. If they were on your local c: then you have a chance - stop working on that computer, get Recuva as mentioned above from another computer (such as the one you are posting on now) and use a USB key to install it.

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Well, I just looked at the computer, it is extremely old 1996 maybe, I don't see any USB ports on it. Is that possible?

This has happened before 3 years ago and the file was restored by the mgrs daughter (she is now in S.F.) so, we know it can be done.

The lost files are just in word and excel. C

Have any new files been written to this drive or been updated on this drive since the files were deleted?

If so, your only real hope is that your IT folks have a back-up of those files.

If data has changed inside the sectors of the original files you will not be able to recover the files cleanly. The data fields will be corrupted.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by donf

If so, your only real hope is that your IT folks have a back-up of those files.

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You might want to read the whole thread. ;)

You may want to try a program called disk digger.exe - it's lite and simple to use and you don't need to install it, you can just use it directly from a portable media, floppy, cd, usb drive, etc