HELP!!!! Is there a way to retrieve deleted documents?

Question

While deleted unwanted photos, documents, etc I inadvertantly deleted a few files I needed. Is there a way to retrieve these or an air dirve recovery system you know of?
Thank you.
D

Answer 1

jsdrm wrote:
thank you Michael Black. I'll check that out.
one other question, what exactly would detail an deleted file that has been over-written?
I appreciate your advise.
Basic file system summary - when you delete a file, nothing about that actual file changes other than its reserved space index in the file allocation table for the volume.  That changes from in-use to available.  As you continue to use the system, any disc area marked as available may be used to write new data, over-writing the old.
As long as the entire space previously occupied by a deleted file has not been over-written, recovery software has a reasonable chance to recover the entire file.  As the area occupied by a deleted file, or parts of the space once occupied by portions of the file, get over-written, the ability of any software to recover the file (at least fully recover it) gets less and less.  Eventually, nothing is recoverable.  And obviously, a partially recoverd text file may still be useful, but a partially recovered image or binary file is as good as wholly trashed.
So the more you use the machine, the less likely any given file can be recovered as the disc space gets re-used.