Recuva is used on the computer with the harddrive where you would like to recover files from. Download and install the program, then set up your scan through the guide and see if it is possible to recover any of your lost files.
It would be better to install Recuva on a different drive/partition from the one that holds the deleted files, or install the portable version on a flash drive. This is because installing Recuva (or doing anything, even starting up your pc, on the drive/partition in question) will create temp and other files that will overwrite deleted files, reducing the chance of recovery. For that reason you should also recover any files to a different drive/partition/flash drive.
It would be better to install Recuva on a different drive/partition from the one that holds the deleted files, or install the portable version on a flash drive. This is because installing Recuva (or doing anything, even starting up your pc, on the drive/partition in question) will create temp and other files that will overwrite deleted files, reducing the chance of recovery. For that reason you should also recover any files to a different drive/partition/flash drive.
Thanks, both Augeas and Sune
What does a drive/partition mean? - that scares me!
If I did download onto my desktop (where the files are 'missing")
where would I save and execute it from?
or should I just download to my external hard drive and execute it from there? will that work?
(you said flash drive, is that the same as an external hard drive?)
If I did do this, how would the Recuva system know what my computer system is? (ie. vista 32 bit or 64 bit)
That's just like your C drive or D drive etc. To reiterate Augeas' point, if your deleted files are on your C drive for example, then you should download Recuva onto some other drive to reduce the chances of overwriting the deleted files.
Since your files were on your desktop, the sooner you try and recover them the better ... for example the temporary files that you're creating whilst web browsing could potentially be overwriting your deleted ones, since they're probably on the same drive.
or should I just download to my external hard drive and execute it from there? will that work?
Yes. Unless your hard-drive has a different partition (drive) like a D drive, then by all means download to your external drive. You can run Recuva from there and also recover your deleted files to that drive. ... That essentially is the easiest thing to do.
Go to this page ... http://www.piriform.com/recuva/builds ... and download 'Recuva - Portable' directly to your external drive. Unzip the download in situ and run the appropriate exe (32 bit or 64 bit) from there.
[Edited from original post to correct 32 vs 64 bit details]