An untrue generalization. Depending upon the circumstances, backup/restore > data recovery or backup/restore < data recovery.

A file created 5 minutes ago is highly unlikely to exist in any backup, yet is almost 100% guaranteed to be recoverable by data recover software.

The best that can be said is the original: backup/restore != data recovery

Yeah but i think the people sidetracking the thread with the semantics of the words recovery, back up etc need to take a step back and realise this is a family read forum, and splitting hairs in this way about an important issue like this just confuses readers.

The OP has asked for specifics, but it doesn't hurt to point out his full range of options, since those in the industry, the actual software writers, themselves blur the lines of the meanings of back up and recovery, (because there are programs out there that can do both) and the upshot is that, as you point out;

Data Recovery is one of those oh so painful things that teach us that backup, as annoying as it can be, is very important.

ie. if the OP had a reliable back up regime in place, would he be having this problem? No. He would have already recovered his data.

So to any others reading, the message here is clear; backing up your data should be of as paramount importance as your AV these days.

Oh and RAID != Backup

RAID0 and reliably established back up regime

Backup/restore AND (Intersection) Data recovery = NUL

My hastily written initial post seems to have caused a bit of a kerfuffle. To clarify, I didn't lose any data per se, I deleted some files I later decided I would like to have after all. It was a bunch of rar files, so I am pretty much assuming they have been overwritten with other files by now and decided it probably best to let them go. I deleted them 6 months ago and managed to restore a few. I gather a rar file if restored is only going to work if fully intact.

Cheers for your suggestions though, and for the other suggestions on this thread. I may yet give them a go. I'll refrain from making any snide remarks about the patronising lectures, I suppose it was self imposed... to some degree.

You were after an Undelete type utility. Usually the space used by deleted files is reused soon after; so you need to get in quick.

In reply to a post by imbsuk:

I gather a rar file if restored is only going to work if fully intact.

That goes for any file.

"Delete file" =pointer_to "think! Will I need this in the future?"

Dunno what you mean!

In reply to a post by pmb00cs:

Data Recovery is one of those oh so painful things that teach us that backup, as annoying as it can be, is very important.

It's also a bit like a surgical operation. Not necessarily something you should be doing yourself. I used to be a data recovery engineer and developed in-house recovery software. I would estimate that perhaps 10% of our revenue came from picking up the pieces after a failed attempt with recovery software. In theory now that FAT is a lot less common I'd hope that figure has dropped. Most modern file systems have enough metadata to avoid the worst pitfalls of automation. I have my doubts though. Norton tools for Macintosh used to come up with some howlers when it felt the need to reconstruct the MDB.

In reply to a post by RiffRaff:

The OP has asked for specifics, but it doesn't hurt to point out his full range of options, since those in the industry, the actual software writers, themselves blur the lines of the meanings of back up and recovery, (because there are programs out there that can do both) and the upshot is that, as you point out;

Data Recovery is one of those oh so painful things that teach us that backup, as annoying as it can be, is very important.

ie. if the OP had a reliable back up regime in place, would he be having this problem? No. He would have already recovered his data.

So to any others reading, the message here is clear; backing up your data should be of as paramount importance as your AV these days.

Definitely. Always has been and I think it's sad that you've been chastised. I've already suggested that data recovery is like a surgical operation. Well this is another similarity. The one thing that's better than finding the best surgeon and the best hospital..

..is avoiding getting sick in the first place

Oh and RAID != Backup

Also very true. We made a lot of money recovering data from RAIDs. A RAID system is more akin to a spare tyre. It will let you limp on for a while - long enough to effect a repair. But RAIDs have their weaknesses. Most of them rely on a single controller board. A lot of them are populated by sequentially numbered drives which increases the risk of a multiple simultaneous failures.

So yes. A tested backup is the best solution. If it all possible create your own disaster. Buy a cheap computer and attempt to rebuild your system on it. It's amazing what you learn from that exercise

I'm glad it's not a major problem that you wanted help with, and apologise if my posts have upset or offended anyone.

Yeah 6 months is going to make the data difficult to recover.

The best data recovery story I have from personal experience was an accountancy firm ringing up asking if we (the company I worked for at the time did ad-hoc IT support) could help recover some files. I got the job of the data recovery task. It was late march, so it was urgent for year end accounts, and it was one of their clients account folders that had "disappeared". They had no backups, and when told that due to the nature of data recovery (and that the firm I worked for had little more than a handful of software tools) we couldn't guarantee anything they responded "Oh but you must its 5 years worth of accounts, and the only copy of them"

Needless to say we sold them a spanking new backup system.

I am fortunate in that I have been able to learn from the mistakes of others, and have yet to lose any vital data personally. (Even after the odd ill conceived "rm -rf *" here and there)