Recover deleted files, even after emptying recycle bin

If you've ever deleted file, then emptied the recycle bin only to realize you needed something you just deleted, this will help you avoid that gut-wrenching feeling you get. Piriform's Recuva is a free tool that will help you recover those files that you've deleted. It runs on Windows Vista, XP, 2003, 2000, and 98.

If you happen to try Recuva and it doesn't find what you're looking for, another option is Active@ UNDELETE. It'll cost you $40, but I used it with a pretty good success rate prior to running across Recuva. I believe they offer a free demo, which you can use to scan your computer to see if the file(s) you want are recoverable, and if they are, you can spend the money on the full version to get them back. If they're not recoverable, you'll know before spending anything on the full version.

If you do accidentally delete something, make sure you attempt recovery as soon as possible. The longer you go without trying to recover, the higher the chance that the operating system will overwrite the file you want to get back. If you don't know how deleting and recovering files works, here is a quick overview. You delete a file and it goes to the recycle bin, which is just a holding tank where the file can stay. Once you empty the recycle bin, the memory space that file existed in goes back into the available pool, but isn't necessarily used right away. That's where the recovery software comes in. It scans the memory and finds those files that still exist and haven't been overwritten yet, which will allow you to restore them. By waiting to recover the file, it gives your computer more time to possibly overwrite that now available memory, which you don't want to have happen.