I accidentally deleted an important project yesterday that's due today. I deleted an 'unused' folder, but forgot that my files were set to save to that folder instead of to their appropriate locations. As a result, I lost pretty much everything. I cleared the recycle bin yesterday as well, thinking the folder was empty! I'm on a Mac OS X. Is there anyway to get these back without paying $100 for file recovery software? I don't have time machine running.
posted by biochemist on Nov 2, 2009 - 11 answers

OS X won't boot. Time Machine stopped working at noon. How can I nab some files before I reinstall Leopard? [more inside]
posted by wheat on Oct 1, 2009 - 12 answers

Accidentally unplugging my external hard drive during use seems to have erased all the files in that directory. How can I recover them? (Windows XP. Easy and free preferred.) [more inside]
posted by stuart_s on Sep 18, 2008 - 8 answers

Help me recover some deleted files on an old DOS system. [more inside]
posted by imaswinger on Mar 12, 2008 - 9 answers

Is there a way to restore or rebuild resource forks for files/folders copied to a FAT32 hdd? [more inside]
posted by GS1977 on Mar 13, 2007 - 4 answers

I have a Partition on my Hard Drive that is telling me it needs formating. The thing is, it shouldn't. Is there a data recovery program that can help me get what I can off it? [more inside]
posted by TrueVox on Aug 4, 2006 - 3 answers

Computer Won't Boot -- needless to say [MI]: [more inside]
posted by Heminator on May 23, 2006 - 3 answers

How can I retrieve an EFS encrypted file off of a busted laptop? [more inside]
posted by apark on Mar 9, 2006 - 4 answers

I just lost a month's worth of journal entries in a locally saved plaintext file. Is there any way to get them back? [more inside]
posted by skoosh on Oct 29, 2005 - 11 answers

I just managed to delete my entire iTunes library. But I have it on my iPod. Problem is, the iPod is set to auto-update, and if I plug it into a computer with no music on it, it'll all vanish. Help. [more inside]
posted by logovisual on Sep 17, 2005 - 10 answers

Here's an interesting one: a few weeks ago, my apartment was broken into and my laptop, my girlfriends laptop, a stereo and a few other pieces of electronics were stolen. My renters insurance covered most all of it (USAA is the best, if you don't already have it get renters insurance now) so I'm not too worried about getting the actual hardware back. But today I get a call from Apple corporate security telling me that my laptop has turned up. I got in touch with a woman who bought it off eBay. I don't really need to get the machine back from this woman as she would then be out the $1100 that she paid and all I really need are the files. It appears the whoever sold the computer to her did a complete reinstall and the machine appears to be blank. So first question: Can someone suggest some software that can recover my deleted files? I'm mostly hurt that I lost ~3 years of digital photographs. And the second and more interesting question: what can we do to track down the criminals? I have the ebay sellers ID: j.a.z.california and the original auction for my stolen powerbook here. This guy seems to be selling a lot of used electronics which fits exactly with the type of stuff that was stolen from my apartment. Anyone interested in scamming the scammers a la this previous post on the blue?

on spellcheck: not in dictionary: j.a.z.callifornia, change to: rapscallion how great is that?
posted by garethspor on Jun 3, 2004 - 18 answers