Here are some possible ways to get your lost or deleted files back if your hard drive is accessible. If your hard drive is not accessible at all, you may need to contact a data recovery specialist. If your data loss problem is caused by viruses, trojans, adware or spyware, you will need to deal with that first, which is a separate issue.

If you have lost files through accidental deletion, either by a computer user or software, you should usually be able to restore or "undelete" them from your Windows Recycle Bin, accessible through the icon on your desktop.

If you have lost your files/data any other way -- through formatting, a corrupted or failed hard drive or partition or by "moving" the files (in Windows 9x) -- your situation is serious. DO NOT USE OR DO ANYTHING ON THE DRIVE UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE RECOVERED YOUR DATA! Most of the data or files you have lost are probably still on the hard drive, but every action you do on that drive after you have lost access will make it less and less likely that you will be able to recover the data.

Here are some steps to follow in attempting to recover your data.

If you hear the slightest of ANY UNUSUAL SOUNDS coming from your computer or hard drive (metallic clicking, scraping, rattling, etc.), shut down immediately and call a computer technician or data recovery specialist, such as one of those listed in the links below this article. Do not use the computer until the problem has been resolved by a technician.

If you are certain that you do not hear anything unusual, proceed with the following steps.

First, if the problem is not a result of a hard drive problem, check your Recycle Bin.

If the lost files/data are not in your Recycle Bin try the following:

If you have Norton SystemWorks, Norton Utilities or some other similar system utility package ALREADY installed on your computer, find the "Unerase" or "Undelete" option and run it. Then read and follow the "wizard" steps and instructions VERY CAREFULLY. If you do things wrong, you may cause more data loss.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE SUCH A PACKAGE ALREADY INSTALLED ON YOUR COMPUTER, DO NOT INSTALL ONE. Doing so will destroy the files you are trying to recover.

Using a Data Recovery Utility

You can try a data recovery utility only if your drive is accessible to your computer. If your drive is not accessible at all, e.g. you get a "cannot detect primary master" / "...slave," "...hard drive 0", etc., you cannot use a recovery utility. If the cause of the "cannot detect" hard drive error is due to your BIOS / CMOS settings being changed or corrupted, you can usually restore them and get your drive back. (This is not usually the cause of the problem.) If your computer cannot detect your hard drive and the cause is not the BIOS settings, you will need to contact a hard drive recovery specialist such as those listed in the links below this article.

Be prepared to spend a good deal of time working on your data recovery attempt. Depending on how serious the damage is, the size of your drive, and how much you need to recover, you may spend a great deal of time working on this.

A good data recovery / undelete utility to try (there are many) is called FileScavenger from QueTek. This utility is for Windows NT, 2000 and XP only. (Not Windows 95 or 98.) Read the information on the website CAREFULLY. No utility can guarantee a full recovery of lost data. If any utility or service does not clearly state this fact, or claims to guarantee complete data recovery, pass them by. Usually, as long as your hard drive has not failed, you will get much to none of your data back, depending on how much damage has been done.

Another data recovery tool that you can for free is PC Inspector File Recovery. (Thanks to Jonathan Easterling for this tip.) As with any recovery software, you will need to install this on a separate hard drive from the one your damaged data is on. Their tech support is also free. Their phone no. in Germany (yes, they speak English) is: +49(0)6331/268-468. I recommend sending them a PayPal donation if you get results -- click on the "Support our Job" tab at the bottom of their page.

If your hard drive is not accessible from Windows, try Hard Drive Mechanic from Higher Ground Software. Your hard drive must at least be recognized (via the BIOS) by your computer for this to work. This goes to a deeper level of accessing the drive outside of the Windows operating system, and will work with the file systems of DOS and all versions of Windows. They offer a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the results, plus they provide good technical support. You can call them if you are not sure whether their software applies to your situation.

General steps to follow for FileScavenger

Download the demo version of FileScavenger "Floppy drive install" to a second computer or second hard drive. It is a self-executing compressed file that will uncompress when you execute it. You can not execute this compressed file directly on a floppy because the floppy disk at 1.44 MB is not large enough. However, if you have or install a second hard drive or if you purchase a USB drive, you CAN download to those drives, execute (uncompress) the downloaded file to those drives and run the utility from those drives.

(If you attempt to install and use the "Hard drive install" version of FileScavenger on the problem drive, you will cause more damage to your lost data and significantly lessen your chances of recovery. The more "writing" operations of any kind you do on the problem drive, the more damage you do to the data you wish to recover.)

If you do not have access to a second hard drive, second computer, floppy drive or USB drive, you can download the "Floppy drive install" version of FileScavenger to the problem drive, then execute it and extract to a floppy, though you may damage some of the data you are attempting to recover. Do this only if you have no other choice.

Now execute (extract) the compressed file to your second hard drive, a blank, formatted floppy or to a USB drive. If extracted to a floppy, put the floppy in the problem computer. Execute FileScavenger. Follow the directions carefully.

This will allow you to SEE what you may be able to recover with this utility, as well as to recover up to 64k (very small) of any file. ALWAYS RECOVER TO A DIFFERENT DRIVE OTHER THAN THE ONE WITH THE LOST FILES / DATA.

If you are able to view the files or some of the files you wish to recover through FileScavenger (or other recovery utility), you can purchase and download the full version and do your recovery. ALWAYS RECOVER TO A DIFFERENT DRIVE OTHER THAN THE ONE WITH THE LOST FILES / DATA. If you have to install a second drive to do this, it may be worth it if you want your data back.

If you are having problems with FileScavenger, you can contact QueTek.

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You may duplicate this article if you give credit and provide a link to KroyTech Computer Services - Computer Repair and Data Recovery.

Liability info: These instructions were written by the owner of the KroyTech website to give readers helpful information toward recovering their data. I have no connection with QueTek or Higher Ground Software. These instructions are a work in progress. They do not cover any specific data loss situation. Every situation is different. You attempt to recover your data entirely at your own risk. I am not liable for any loss of or damage to data or hardware that may occur if you attempt your own data recovery.