Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Uh...oops

This is topic Uh...oops in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :

I stupidly deleted some files I shouldn't have deleted, including a few things pertaining to writing, so I was wondering: does anyone know the name of the program that can help me restore these files? I remember reading about it, but the name utterly escapes me.

Thanks,
CVG

Posted by Phanto (Member # 1619) on :

As obvious as it is, I have to ask if you checked your recycle bin? That's all that I know how to do :/.

Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :

Here's a freeware one: Handy Recovery.

http://www.tucows.com/preview/354626.html

Posted by punahougirl84 (Member # 1731) on :

Gee, I'd loan you my program, but it's called "husband v 1.0" and only works on my computer! It's a little buggy sometimes anyway...

Any chance you back up your files on a disk/cd/flash drive? I know, you probably thought of that too...

Yeah, I'd suggest checking the trash too, assuming you haven't emptied it. Any chance you only think you deleted them, but they are copied somewhere else on your hard drive?

Good luck. Really.

Posted by Gen (Member # 1868) on :

I still have a copy of The Dragon Story back from when I critted it, if that's one of the things you lost.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

If you're asking this question of us, and you use any version of Windows less than a decade old, then check your Recycle Bin, as Phanto suggested.

If you're not using a recent version of Windows...then may I ask why you're asking us?

If you've emptied your Recycling Bin after deleting your files (which would make me wonder whether you really wanted them back that much), then there are indeed a number of fine programs that will recover even genuinely deleted files, Handy Recovery indeed being one of them.

If you've emptied your Recycling Bin and then performed a badly needed Disk Defrag or some such thing...then just go find the files on somebody else's computer.

Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :

Yes, I've checked my recycling bin. Empty. Apparently, when you hold SHIFT and hit DEL, it bypasses the Recycling bin and just deletes it. D'oh.

EJS--Thanks!

Gen--Thanks, but that, thankfully, wasn't one of the files deleted. I think I'd have to find something very tall to jump off of if it had been.

And Survivor--I'm asking you (plural) because it's been mentioned that some of you are computer geniuses. Or, if not geniuses, then at least competent. And when it comes to computers, I'm very much NOT an genius. Hell, I'm barely competent.

Anyway, thanks, all, for your help.

Now, what do you know about CD-ROMs? :P

CVG

[This message has been edited by cvgurau (edited July 08, 2004).]

Posted by wetwilly (Member # 1818) on :

Oh...the files are IN the computer.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Well, since EJS pointed you where you needed to go, I suppose that I can't argue with your choice of advisors. Still, if you hit SHIFT-DEL, then it shouldn't have actually deleted the files, it should only have "cut" them.

In recent versions of Windows, that just tells the operating system that you want to "paste" them somewhere else, and it doesn't actually delete them. Or shouldn't...were you trying a cut and paste operation with the files and windows decided to send them into the abyss? Because that sounds like a serious operating system error.

But then, since you chose to respond to my "not using a recent version of Windows" clause, I have to ask whether you're using a Mac (because clearly a "very much NOT a genius" computer user isn't going to fool with geeky stuff like Linux and so forth)?

If so, you might have mentioned that in the first place

Posted by Jules (Member # 1658) on :

No, shift+del in windows explorer definitely deletes files without moving them into the recycle bin.

Only Ctrl+X performs cut. Shift+insert still does paste, and Ctrl+insert copy, though. Been that way since Win95, up at least as far as Win2K. I know XP changed a few things, but I don't think that's one of them.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Huh. Well, I suppose that's an understandable mistake. It still gives you the y/n prompt on deleting them, though.

Why the heck would they do that? SHIFT-DEL is supposed to mean "cut" in the Windows operating system. So in the one place where you can really mess things up with a "delete rather than moving it to the recycle bin" command, they use the key sequence that means "cut" everywhere else? Bloody handed user-unfriendly, that one is.

Posted by Jules (Member # 1658) on :

True. They made the decision to move away from the shift+del/shift+ins/ctrl+ins keys a while ago (I think with Windows 3.1) but everything else still supports them. It's one of the reasons I did eventually decide to switch to using Ctrl+X,C and V -- that and the fact that you can do those easily with one hand.

Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :

I tried the program you suggested, EJS, but what files it did recover were damaged and unnaccessable. I didn't lose anything too important, thank God, but I did lose the last two or three issues of the SFFW newsletter. There was good stuff there. So now I'm bummed.

Thanks to KDW, however, I have the ones before that, so I'm happy.

<----See? Happy.

Too bad they don't have a happy/sad emoticon.

CVG

(edited to add):

Wetwilly. Another Zoolander reference. I just got that. (It's a good thing. I've thinking that YOU didn't know that.)

[This message has been edited by cvgurau (edited July 12, 2004).]