The following provides some basic information and answers some typical questions regarding the file recovery process.
What happens when a file is deleted?
When Windows (or the user) deletes a file, the file system marks the file as deleted, but the file data remains on the drive. The space used by the file is marked as "free" or "available" so that the Windows file system can reclaim and reuse the space.
How long after a file is deleted can I recover the file?
There is no practical limit to the amount of time that the file data will remain intact on your drive. Typically the more you use a drive before attempting recovery, the less of a chance you have of recovering the file intact.
What types of files can be recovered?
Any type of file can be recovered. There is no limit to the size or type of file that can be recovered. Larger files are often more difficult to recover in their entirety as they occupy more of the drive and thus have a greater chance of being overwritten by other files. SUPERFileRecover will recover as much of the file as possible.
Increasing your chances of recovering a file
The following outlines some basic practices and procedures to increase your chances of recovering deleted files from your computer.
Do NOT use the computer for any other tasks before attempting recovery
The less you use your computer before attempting file recovery, the better your chances of recovering your files. Any use of your computer such as surfing the web, or checking e-mail may destroy or damage the deleted files on your computer as Windows will overwrite the deleted files when it needs to create new files.
Do NOT defragment your drive
Defragmenting your drive or running any other drive repair tools may "scramble" the data and make file recovery impossible. It is best to do as little as possible to the drive when attempting to recover data.
Do NOT recover files to the same drive from which your files were deleted
It is safer to recover deleted files to a different drive, floppy disk, USB drive or other media than the drive from which you are recovering. Each time the drive is written to by Windows your chances of data recovery are decreased.
Have SUPERFileRecover installed prior to the file being deleted
If recovery software, such as SUPERFileRecover, is installed prior to the file being deleted, your chances of recovery are greatly increased as you can immediately recover the file after deletion without having to install any other software which may damage the deleted files. Installation of recovery software after the fact runs the risk of overwriting deleted files, making them unrecoverable.