So, the other day I was trying to recover some files, and let me tell you, it was a journey. I’m calling this whole mess “Lost and Found,” ’cause that’s exactly what it felt like.
It all started when I accidentally deleted a folder. Yep, a whole folder. I was cleaning up my desktop, you know, trying to be all organized, and bam! It was gone. I felt that sinking feeling in my stomach, the one you get when you know you messed up big time.
First thing I did? Checked the Recycle Bin, obviously. I mean, that’s where deleted stuff goes, right? But nope. Empty. I guess I must have emptied it without thinking, or maybe it was one of those “permanently delete” situations. Either way, I was starting to panic.
Trying Some Recovery Tools
Next, I started Googling like crazy. “Recover deleted files,” “undelete files,” you name it, I searched it. I found a bunch of software programs that promised to work miracles. Some were free, some were paid, some looked kinda sketchy.
- First one I tried: Recuva. I’d heard of it before, so I figured it was worth a shot. Downloaded it, installed it, ran a scan. It found a ton of stuff, but not the files I was looking for. So, that was a bust.
- Then I tried: Some other free tool. Can’t even remember the name now. It was super slow, and the interface was confusing as heck. I gave up on that one pretty quickly.
- Next up: a Paid tool. I figured if I paid for something, it had to be good, right? Wrong. The program found the folder but it was empty. I think it was at this point that I seriously thought about throwing my computer out the window.
What actually Worked
I was ready to give up, and I was talking to one of my friend. He suggested that I should use PhotoRec even the folder contain video and image. I felt like I had nothing to lose. Downloaded it, It was different from the others, I had to pick a drive, pick a file type (or all of them), and tell it where to save any recovered files. Then I hit “go” and waited.
And guess what? It worked! It took a while to scan my entire drive, but eventually, it found my files! They weren’t in a nice, neat folder anymore. They were all jumbled together with a bunch of other random stuff, but they were there!
I spent the next hour or so sorting through the recovered files, renaming them, and putting them back where they belonged. It was tedious, but I was so relieved to have them back that I didn’t even care.
So, yeah, that’s my story of how I lost and found my files. It was a stressful experience, but I learned a few things along the way.
1. Back up your important files!
2. Don’t empty the Recycle Bin without checking it first!
3. And if you do accidentally delete something, don’t give up hope. There are tools out there that can help.
