File in "Excellent" state successfully restored but still corrupted

[UniStudent]

519 files were fully recovered and 115 files were partially recovered. However, upon checking, all of the files were corrupted, even the ones labelled as "Excellent" state prior to recovery. Did I do something wrong in the process? Why are all my files corrupted? I haven't even shut down my laptop since accidently deleting these files.

[nukecad]

What kind of drive is this? HDD, SSD, memory stick, etc.?

How did you lose the files? Accidentaly deleted, drive error/crash, etc.?

As those seem to be in your 'Downloads' folder then can you not just download them again?

[UniStudent]

On 17/04/2023 at 18:56, nukecad said:

What kind of drive is this? HDD, SSD, memory stick, etc.?

How did you lose the files? Accidentaly deleted, drive error/crash, etc.?

As those seem to be in your 'Downloads' folder then can you not just download them again?

The files were saved in my laptop's SSD drive, under the 'Downloads' folder. I was deleting some other files within the Downloads folder without realising that I had also ticked the above-mentioned 'University' sub-folder.

When I pressed the 'Delete' button on my keyboard, a pop up appeared saying something along the lines of: "This file is too big to recycle. Do you want to permanently delete it?" Again, without realising that I had included the 'University' sub-folder in the list of things to delete, I clicked 'Yes' without a second thought.

I read through a few articles regarding data recovery but most of the methods do not apply to me - I didn't have File History turned on, nor Backup and Restore. The only possible solution left was to use data recovery software like Recurva, which did scan and find all but one folder within the 'University' folder (but I think that's because the file path was too long so couldn't be scanned), but everything was corrupted by the time Recurva completed the recovery process (which was only 4 hours after deleting the files and laptop not shut down yet).

[Augeas]

I don't wish to steal Nukecad's thunder but...

Deleted files on an SSD are subject to a TRIM command more or less immediately. This means that the pages containg the file's data are inaccessible by any software. The SSD will return a page of zeroes whenever a read is issued for the deleted file.

What Recuva is showing is a list of deleted files held in the Master File Table. Recuva will follow the addresses of the deleted file's pages and return those pages during a recovery. The recovered pages will contain zeroes and be of no use.

Unfortunately there is no way to recover the deleted files once a TRIM command has been issued and executed. This is a property of SSD's and can't be changed after the event.

[nukecad]

32 minutes ago, Augeas said:

I don't wish to steal Nukecad's thunder but...

Steal away, as long as the user gets the answer it doesn't relly matter who gave it.

@UniStudent as said, because of the TRIM function you have to regard files that have been deleted from an SSD as unrecoverable.

Which is why making regular backups of SSDs is important, just in case something like this happens.

In this case your easiest solution if you don't have a backup of the files is to download them again from the university.

At least Recuva can tell you what files they were, so you know which ones need to be downloaded again.