Retreiving deleted files

[Chancer]

I had saved some internet sites which were going to be usefull for a project that I will soon be starting, then I found exactly what I needed (or so I thought) so I deleted the links to the other sites, you can guess the rest!

I am using whatever the windows was before Vista (you can tell computers are not my strong point) I dont think it is IE8 as I have cowardly refused all mise à jours, the links were saved by clicking on  "ajouter aux favorites" and then deleted by right mouse click then "supprimer".

Are they still lurking somewhere and if so how can I retrieve them?

Otherwise Google will have to get another bashing.

Thanks in advance

[Thebiga]

You probably have windows XP try looking in accesories and under tools to find 'System restore' you can then restore your computer to a earlier date than you deleted the files and with a bit of luck they may come back. If you cannot find system restore this way try looking under control panel. Good luck.

[Danny]

JR

Some simple suggestions although it can get complicated. From what you have said, it doesn't sound like they were vital files. If you wanted to try to find a deleted file, the first thing to do is stop using the computer right away as anything that is deleted may be overwritten and unrecoverable.

Otherwise

firstly, look in the recycle bin (corbeille) - unless you have emptied it they may still be there.

secondly, you could search with a file restoration program like this one http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html download it to your desktop (poste de travail ) and run it.

You can put URL in the search box and press search and you may be lucky. If you find any shortcuts - any file ending with .url - you can restore them to the desktop to see if they are what you are looking for or not. If they were deleted recently, you may be lucky. If not, they may be unrecoverable.

If that does not help, it is probably quicker and easier to just get on Google again.

Danny

 

[Alex H]

From my reading of the post, I think J.R. has deleted some entries in his browser's favourite list.

If thats the case then I'm fairly sure you can't recover them by the normal file recovery methods.

In Vista apparently this information is held in a seperate directory, but in XP?

[AnOther]

Depending on how long ago they were last visited they may still be in the history.

[Danny]

In XP, each favourite is normally a file with an extension .url they are ususally stored in the folder 'favorites' which is normally to be found in this location C:\Documents and Settings\***username***\favorites. There is no reason why the file cannot be recovered if deleted assuming it still exists intact.

When something is deleted from the recycle bin, its name can be changed i.e. dc1, dc2 etc but the file type extension remains.

You can try it for yourself - It is pretty easy to create a new favourite and then delete it, empty it from the recycle bin and search for it and find it with 'Restoration'

Danny

[Danny]

[quote user="AnOther"]Depending on how long ago they were last visited they may still be in the history.

[/quote]Good point anO

Danny

[tenniswitch]

Danny's right, at least if you're using IE. When you delete links from your "Favorites" file, they're normally sent to your trash can.

Try that first, then see if they're still in your history.

[Chancer]

Thank you all for your help so far, I did indeed find the files containing the URL's in my corbeille, I double clicked on them one by one and a window came with a box asking if I wanted to "restaurer" the file, I clicked on this whereapon the file dissapeared from the corbeille list on the right leaving me with the window containing two boxes "OK" or "annuler" I clicked OK.

I have done this on a couple of the files and whilst they are no longer in the corbeille neither are they back in my favorites or anywhere else that I can find.

Any ideas where they would be and how to get them back into my list of favorites? The most important of them are still in the corbeille until I can be sure of what to do, it was very interesting seeing what was in my computers dustbin, stuff going back years including links to Speedferries etc.

Another related question and one that always causes me problems, when deleting multiple files like these or photos for instance is there any way to highlight several files at once to avoid all the repetition?

[Alex H]

[quote]

Another related question and one that always causes me problems, when deleting multiple files like these or photos for instance is there any way to highlight several files at once to avoid all the repetition?

[/quote]

Hold down the control key and click the files you want to delete

[AnOther]

Alternatively click on the first file in a list to highlight it then scroll to the end of the list, hold down Shift and click on the last one, all the files will be highlighted. If there are one or two that you don't want to delete then press Ctrl and click on them to deselect.

If you are sure that you want to pemanantly delete the files, as opposed to sending them to the recycle, bin press Shift as you delete.

[AnOther]

J.R.:

The name of the files in the recycle bin should actually tell you the path from which they were deleted and hence where they will be restored.

Commonly this would be (in XP) C:\documents and Settings\user name\Favorites

[Chancer]

But that is just it, they have not been restored to where they were deleted from. I think by retoring them I have finally managed to delete them.

Each upgrade of windows that is forced on me seems to be more and more illogical and difficult/impossible to use.

Editted. Neither of the above tips works when trying to delete files (links?) from the centre de favorits, you have to do each one and then open up the centre de favorits again before deleting the next.

[AnOther]

I don't understand that then, can you confirm if you're using XP or Vista ?

What do you mean "Each upgrade of windows that is forced on me", are you perhaps referring to upgrading to Internet Explorer 8?

No upgrades need be by force, it should be your choice, but do you actually mean updates?

Updates do not need to be forced either and you can turn the automatic process off and choose yourself both when and what to update. I'll get slagged for saying this but 95% of updates are fractional and not of the slightest importance for the vast majority of home users and can be ignored at no real risk. I only check for XP updates every couple of months or so and even then only consider the critical ones and install them if I feel they are relevant to me.

The multiple file delete methods will only work in Explorer, not directly in Favorites in Internet Explorer BTW

[Chancer]

I am using XP I am pretty sure.

By forced to upgrade I mean that I didnt even want to go to Windows but back in those days the accounting software that I used for my business I had to keep upgrading (changes to Vat rates etc) or it wouldnt be supported which in turn meant that I had to have the latest operating system, each of their upgrades were supposed to work on my existing onbe but never did.

I was in turned, to use my word forced to keep upgrading the windows versions, 95, 98, XP etc as they were no longer supported and I am told hence did not get anti virus updates.

Anyway where are my (allegedly) restored files hiding? how can I find them and put them back to where thay should be?

[AnOther]

OK, I understand now.

If you can see your deleted files in the recycle bin then try this.

Close all windows so you just have the Desktop.

Press the Win key (the one with the Window flag) + E - this will open up Explorer in Folder view.

Now do the same again so you have 2 instances of Explorer open.

On the toolbar at the bottom right click in an empty space then choose 'Tile Windows Horizontally' - or Vertically - whichever you prefer.

You now have 2 Windows where you can open 2 different folders at the same time so in one Window open the Recycle Bin and in the other C:\Documents and Settings\user name\Favorites

Now right click on one of your deleted favorites and drag it to the Favorites folder, voila - one restored link !

This is a manual version of what should happen when you try to restore but I don't know why that isn't working.

EDIT:

If it is a complete folder that you have deleted then you can drag that instead of doing it for each item individually.

[Danny]

JR

another way if you can't find the missing ones.

You may have a slightly different set up on your Windows XP but...you could try to search your drive - Start/search to bring up the search box. (Demarrer/chercher for you. You will have to guess the French terms for the following as I don't have time to look them up - they will be laid out in the same way though.

enter ".url" without the quotation marks in the box 'all or part of the file name'

'Look in' : your hard drive - usually C:

open 'more advanced options' at the bottom and make sure the first three boxes are ticked.

search system folders
search hidden files and folders
search subfolders

Press 'Search'

This should find all internet shortcuts anywhere on your computer. You can then click on them and the page should open. Once open, you can press Ctrl and D together to add them to your favorites.

Danny

 

[Danny]

One more thing - sorry if this conflicts with anOther's excellent advice

If the files are still in your recycle bin (corbeille)

click on the recycle bin to open it and just drag the files to your desktop. Then you can click on the file to open the web site (then Ctrl and D to add to favorites etc)

Danny

 

 

[AnOther]

Whatever works for J.R.is fine by me [:D]