I like to experiment, and last night I was playing with a Powertoy from MS called SyncToy (very useful utility if you ask me, another review feauturing SyncToy is on it’s way). So now on the topic.

While experimenting with SyncToy, I accidently deleted some documents form my workstation computer and my laptop. The files were putted in the Recycle Bin, on both PC’s but, without any hesitation I emptied the Recycle Bin folders. Some moments later I realized what I have done and start thinking of a way to recover my documents. After searching Help And Support center for a while, and when nothing useful showed up, I started Firefox and asked Google about “Recovering Deleted Files from Recycle Bin”, the first result that showed up was this page, containg a link to very useful utility called Restoration, I downloaded the utility, checked the archive with my AV just in case and then unpack it.

Restoration does not require installation and it’s MFC application. Supports FAT32 and NTFS file systems and it’s written by Brian Kato.

Restoration utility. Click on the image to view the actual size

To restore a file with the Restoration utility:

1. From the right pane select the drive from which the file were deleted.
2. If you want to view all the files deleted from this hard drive click on “Search Deleted Files”, or if you are searching for something specific, type the name of the file in the box above the mentioned button and then click it.
3. Select the file from the list and click “Restore by Copying”. Save dialog will pop up asking you where you want to save the file. Choose location and click the Save button.
4. Enjoy your restored file

Restoration utility in process of restoring a file. Click on the image to view the actual size.

Restoration utility can be downloaded from here. The license of the application is freeware and according to my AV the archive is safe.