Computer File Recovery Survival Guide

Hopefully you’re reading this before you actually have need in computer file recovery. If you have lost a file and would like to begin the recovery process, there are a couple of things you need to know before you do anything else. When you delete a file, it does not disappear. The file is just renamed so the computer will know it can reclaim the space. If you are surfing or installing a program, any deleted file can be written over.

Since files are not actually deleted, you can recover them if they haven’t been overwritten. Files are overwritten in several different ways. Small files can be written on start up of Windows and when Windows is shutdown. For this reason if you are attempting to recover a file, do not shut down Windows. As a matter of fact, if you are attempting to recover a file the best thing you can do is to stop using the computer altogether.

Just because there is a special folder for a specific action, it does not mean that your file will not be written over. Your computer will use any space it finds to write data, including your deleted file. So as soon as you discover you have accidentally deleted a file you really need, stop using the computer. If your deleted file gets written over, it will make it very difficult for you to recover it.

The moment you realize you need a deleted file, you need to immediately stop using the computer. Do not shut the computer down, or you may lose the file forever. Use another computer in your home or a friend’s computer to find a recovery program. You can copy the recovery program to a flash drive and use it on your computer to recover the file you are attempting to retrieve.

By doing a search you will find plenty of potential file recovery tools which you can use and some of them are absolutely free. There are some very good shareware and free file recovery tools available online, so you will be certain to find one to suit your needs. Look for one which is highly rated by a respected technology site. Do not copy the recovery tool over to your computer, but rather run it from the thumb drive.

If you would like to increase your chances of computer file recovery in the future, it is recommended that you partition your hard drive. That way you can have your program files in one partition, and your data files in another. This will save you time and trouble when you have another incident of premature file deletion.