I have a problem. This morning I was watching a webinar. During the webinar, the instructor gave a link to some free actions, etc. I downloaded them. Later he came back and said those were old actions and files and gave a new link to download, which I did. However, before I did that, I went in to delete the previous version so I wouldn't get them confused. I keep all my PS actions, brushes, etc in a folder on the external hard drive that is set up as a RAID through my router. I thought I clicked on his new folder to delete. Instead, not only did I delete his previous files, I deleted everything in the folder. I didn't discover this until I looked to make sure I had something else I downloaded today. The whole folder is empty except for his new freebie folder. I looked in the recycle bin and the contents are not there. I tried to activate my digital photo recovery software, but it couldn't see that hard drive. Maybe it's because it isn't connected directly to the computer but through the router.
I had all the things I've collected for several years in that folder. Because it was a RAID, I thought I would be able to recover things if something happened to one of the hard drives. I kept all my PS brushes, actions, scripts, and much more in there and just imported them into PS when I needed them.
Is it possible to still recover those files? If so, how, since my recovery software can't see it. I tried downloading some other recover software but had the same problem with them not being able to see the hard drive that is connected to the router. If anyone has a solution or suggestion, I would appreciate it.
I downloaded Recuva because I had read that it was one of the better recovery softwares. None of the other ones even recognized the external hard drive. Recuva not only saw it, but saw the folders on it; however, there was a red x through the HD name and it wouldn't let me select it. I tried it again. The red x is no longer there, but the ok is still gray. I tried clicking on one of the folders in that HD, but still gray.
I clicked on one of my other external hard drives and the ok was live. Any suggestions?
Since I typically don't use recovery tools across a network; a Recuva expert will need to answer the question of whether it will operate through all the interconnectivity protocols. And stop using the disks till recovery has taken place. You don't want to overwrite those files.
What I can tell you is if you have a mirrored configuration, it would be as simple as connecting one of the individual disks to the system directly, thus bypassing the network. Recuva would work well there - provided no overwriting happened due to earlier attempts at recovery.
But some questions are in order first:
What RAID configuration, 0-10, mirrored, striped?
What RAID controller?
What kind of router, NAS box, are we talking about?
What kind of hard disks? Sizes?
Method of attachment to the computer, wired, wireless?
Computer O/S?
Understand that RAID is primarily for improving disk performance and guarding against hardware failure of an individual disk. RAID isn't insurance against a user mistake. Even in the mirrored configuration - you make a change to one folder, it is then mirrored to the other disk immediately.