i just downloaded the recuva yesterday to retrieve some files because i was so scared that they are missing. and while the files were retrieving, i mistakenly clicked that they should be saved on the "desktop". now i have all the files (pictures, documents, and all that) all on my desktop. please is there a way i can take the files back to the folders they were originally? please. thank you
Ensure that you do not need to "Recuva" any more files before you restore anything to the partition from where they came,
otherwise you may damage them.
Do you need general knowledge on how to move files,
or how to determine where these files used to be held ?
Please state your version of Windows and Service Pack, and what sort of HDD, and partition and format held the original files
yes i need general knowledge on how to move them to where they used to be. (if possible step by step) i do think some files still needs to be recovered. because when recuva did it, not all files where recovered.
i use windows vista. intel core 2 duo. please what do you mean by HDD and partition. (i am such a computer illiterate)
thanks for your response and offer to help
Hi livingforabba.
Firstly a partition is when a hard drive is divided into two or more sections using suitable software. The new sections of the single drive are called partitions.
HDD is simply your Hard Disk Drive.
If I'm reading you right, you can't restore recovered files directly to their original location. You simply must, as Alan alluded to above, restore them to another partition or drive, otherwise you could be overwriting the files you are trying to recover,
The easiest way to get to where you want to be is to set up Recuva as follows first ...
Go to "Options\General\View Mode" and select "Tree View".
Go to "Options\Actions" and check the "Restore Folder Structure" box.
When you scan, the first option will display all the found files in the same folder structure they were in originally. As so ...
The second option will restore files and folders into a copy of the same directory structure they were deleted from, although in another location chosen by yourself.
Both of these options make it easier to target and find particular files, rather than have a long list of everything found.
So before you do anything else, try another scan with Recuva set up as above, and see what turns up. If you know where the files were deleted from, you'll be able to search the same folders in the results window.
Can you say which type of files you are looking for, and do you have a separate partition or another hard drive (internal or external), or even a USB thumb drive (flash drive) to restore files to?
Even a camera card would do.
If you don't understand any of this, just say so, and we'll try break it down a bit more.
thank you, i did that, and scan recuva, and some items were found. i'm looking to retrieve pictures, and documents. and i'm trying to restore them back to the computer hard drive. like they were before. most of the files are my sister's and she will loose her mind.
so after the items are found, should i click recover?
on the right hand corner, where the search box is, where there is a drop down menu containing (pictures, documents, etc) if i select picture, will it only recover pictures to that folder? is that how i can separate them?
No quite.
Once you've checked the boxes of the items you want to recover, then select "Recover" in the bottom right corner.
This will give you a "dialogue" window like this ...
In that window, choose the location you want to recover the files to, and as mentioned before, make sure it's not the drive or partition you are recovering from.
The drop down menu you mention is only for searching for a particular type of file, but you're better doing a general search first to see if you get everything you're looking for.
And I would suggest, from experience, try to recover a few at a time. I don't know why, but I once achieved a much better result doing that with mp3 albums.
After restoring, when you go to the restore location, you will find the files in folders carrying the same names as the folders they were originally deleted from. Provided they've recovered OK, you can then copy them back to their original locations.
I'll help with that when you get to that stage if you need me to.
EDIT: If you don't get all the files, you can do a "Deep Scan", which will take quite some time depending upon the size of your drive.
AM SORRY, i think i got it all confused. could you help me with step by step instructions. please if you dont mind start from the first step. so i can thoroughly understand it. thank you very much.
I'll try, and I may just have contributed to your confusion myself.
Lets start again then with plan B, and if you don't follow anything just say so, it's not a problem.
In your first post you say that you have all the files recovered to your desktop, and in your second post you say there are still files to be recovered, and that you don't know how to get them back to where they were.
First:
Are all the files recovered to your desktop in good condition, in other words have you tried to open them? And are they just the files you are actually trying to recover, or have you recovered a host of other stuff you don't want?
Lets get that clear before we go the way of my initial suggestion to scan again with the change to the Recuva settings.
i tried to open them, but when i did, it opened a dialoge box asking me what i want to use to finish the process, which included stuffs like, adobe flash, image viewer, ms word. and all that. i was confused,. and secondly i think i might have also recovered many files that i dont even need.
the computer is my sister's so idk the things she needs or doesnt need, but i dont mind recovering them all and then delete those not needed. recuva really helped me recovered those items, but i was too naive not to know what to do first. i wish i read more to get more understanding,
but thanks a lot for your time and willingness to help. i really appreciate it,.
i tried to open them, but when i did, it opened a dialoge box asking me what i want to use to finish the process, which included stuffs like, adobe flash, image viewer, ms word. and all that
That's a good thing as the files are probably OK if the programs associated with them are trying to launch.
For example if I try to open an mp3 file by double clicking on it or right clicking and selecting "open", my default music player will open to play it.
-----------------------------------
Next Stage:
As I expected, you seem to have recovered a lot of files you don't want, and consequently will have a problem sorting out the ones you do want, and then trying to find out where they were originally deleted from so as to put them back.
This is due to the way Recuva works from it's default settings.
I would suggest just leaving all those files where they are and do nothing else except my next suggestion. Don't write anything to that drive, if that's possible, until we're done.
--------------------------------
Next:
Set up Recuva as I outlined above, which I'll repeat here ...
Go to "Options\General\View Mode" and select "Tree View".
Go to "Options\Actions" and check the "Restore Folder Structure" box.
Now do another scan of that drive, and you will bring up every deleted file which Recuva finds, but this time they will be displayed in a "Tree View", as shown in that screenshot in post #4.
Using the + buttons, or double clicking on an item will open that section just as if you were opening the original folders.
If the images or documents you are looking for were originally kept somewhere in the "My Documents" folder, such as "My Pictures", then you can use that "Tree View" to navigate to the actual file or folder you want to recover, and ignore the ones you don't want.
When you find a folder, or even an individual file that you want to recover, then check that box.
In my screenshot in post#4, I've checked the box for a video called "Revelations", and therefore that will be the only file recovered.
------------------------------------
Next:
Once you've found and marked for recovery the files and /or folders you want to recover, then select "Recover" at the bottom right of the GUI (Graphical User Interface or program window).
As shown in the screenshot in post #7, a dialogue window will open with a "Tree View" of all of your drives, which will include any USB thumb drive or camera card if you've inserted one.
You may need to open "My Computer" and double click on drive letters to find which letter applies to your thumbdrive or camera card if you've inserted either of them.
When you hit the right drive letter, the thumbdrive or camera card will open, and then look for that drive letter in the "Recover" dialogue window.
Using the + signs or by double clicking, select the location where you want to restore the files to.
It can be anywhere except the drive the files were deleted from.
Select the location and press OK and the files will be recovered to that location.
-------------------------------------
It's late here (UK), so try and work your way through the above, and I'll check back here tomorrow later today, and we'll take it from there.
If you don't have a second hard drive or a separate partition, or another drive of any kind, then you'll need to maybe get something to recover to, to avoid overwriting files you are trying to recover.
A small USB thumb drive would do. Cheap as chips, and probably worth more than your sisters displeasure.
i did that, and it shows me something like the image in post # 4. BUT it doesnt brak it down. it just shows (C:/) and when i click on it and click recover, then it shows me different options on where the final destination should be. i dont want to save them all in one place cos they are like different files.
do you think i should scan them one by one. for example, scan for pictures, and then restore them all to the picture folder, then scan for documents and restore to document folder, that way its not so complicated for me.
i did that, and it shows me something like the image in post # 4. BUT it doesnt brak it down. it just shows (C:/) and when i click on it and click recover, then it shows me different options on where the final destination should be. i dont want to save them all in one place cos they are like different files.
It always shows only the C:\ directory. As I explained above, you click on the + signs to open up the C:\ directory folders, and continue doing that until you find the folder and the files in the exact same location they were deleted from. Example ...
I deleted two images from my "C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Owner\My Documents\My Pictures" folder ....
To recover them I would use the + signs to navigate to that same folder in the Recuva window, as shown in these three steps ...
Then I check the boxes for those two images and select "Recover...".
In the "Recover..." dialogue window, you use the plus signs in the same way to choose the exact location you want to recover the files to.
After you choose where you want to restore them to, all the files aren't put in the same place.
With the "Restore File Structure" option selected, as explained above, the files are restored into a folder structure identical to the one they were deleted from. As shown here ...
I chose to restore them to my H:\ drive:
When I go look in that location, the two files are in a newly created copy of the folder they were originally deleted from, as shown in this next screenshot.
Once I open that folder all the way, I can then use the file path in the address bar, which is highlighted yellow in the next screenshot, to copy those files back to exactly where they came from.
The top folder is where they now are on my H:\ drive, and the bottom folder is the identically named location they are to be copied back to on my C:\ drive ...
Doing it this way, enables you to go the exact folder the files were deleted from, recover them and then copy them back to that location by using the address bar info highlighted in that last screenshot.
do you think i should scan them one by one. for example, scan for pictures, and then restore them all to the picture folder, then scan for documents and restore to document folder, that way its not so complicated for me.
By all means, try that way if you can't quite get your head around this, but make sure to restore them to another drive, and makes sure you don't start copying any recovered files back to the original drive until you've recovered everything you can.
However, I'm sure if you read through this stuff a couple of times, it will suddenly click how simple it is to use the file tree and + signs to find exactly what you want, and then eventually put them back exactly where they came from.
Let me know how you get on.
sorry i havent replied for a while, i have been really busy with school and exams. i will try to do so on saturday and i will let you know of the progress.
No worries. I just hope you can get a positive resolution from this.
Just out of interest, would your sister know exactly where the deleted files were deleted from? That would help.
Or have you not told her?
No worries. I just hope you can get a positive resolution from this.
Just out of interest, would your sister know exactly where the deleted files were deleted from? That would help.
Or have you not told her?
Give the guy a break.
Telling his sister now would not improve his environment for exam revision