Undeleting files

DesertFly · Post by **DesertFly** » 2007-01-28 05:23pm

For the past month or so two of my roommates' computers have been out of commission, so they've been using mine to check their email and surf the internet, etc. Recently, however, one of them discovered a rather large collection of files I'd been accumulating, and in his compassion for me, decided to delete them, to save my mortal soul or some such nonsense.

I've tried using Free Undelete, but it crashes in the middle of scanning the disk I had the files on, and I've tried scanning with Executive Software Undelete, but it fails to find any of the missing files. Now, before I realized that he had zapped them, I did write one file to that drive, so at least one or two of the images is gone or corrupted, but it's not my Windows partition, and I've been careful not to use it since.

Are there any other free programs I can use to attempt to recover my data, or is there a way to get Free Undelete to stop crashing?

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2007-01-28 05:27pm

Have a browse around here. I've had some succes with Restoration, but that was for a single text document.

Recently, however, one of them discovered a rather large collection of files I'd been accumulating, and in his compassion for me, decided to delete them, to save my mortal soul or some such nonsense.

Hide your porn and find better friends.

rhoenix · Post by **rhoenix** » 2007-01-28 05:28pm

Also, should this situation arise again, make another user profile for your friends to login with - one with restricted access.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-01-28 05:31pm

Don't let him use your computer any more.

DesertFly · Post by **DesertFly** » 2007-01-28 05:43pm

All good suggestions, and all things I've been thinking about this weekend. I assure you that I could hide it very well, I was just lazy, and got bit on it. The problem here is that there are some things that I stumbled upon by accident (okay, mostly on 4chan,) and I don't know where to find them again. If I can get the original files back, that would be ideal. Otherwise it may be some time until I find them again, if ever.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-01-28 06:35pm

I suggest also you break their index fingers. No clicky!

DesertFly · Post by **DesertFly** » 2007-01-28 07:03pm

Well, thank you Bounty. Restoration seems to have done the trick. It recovered the large part of the deleted files. Unfortunately it dumped them all in one folder, and some of them don't show up anymore, but at least most of them do, and the ones I was worried about are there.

Fortunately, my roommate is getting his computer fixed, and it should be done soon, which means he'll have no reason to be on my comp, which means I can change the password and not have to worry about any of this messy business again.

Of course, I'll also be just a little more careful.

JLTucker · Post by **JLTucker** » 2007-01-28 07:29pm

You should fuck with him for what he did. Just delete hal.dll from his computer when he is not around.

I remember Norton having some kind thing that undeleted files. But Norton is not free and it blows.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-01-28 07:31pm

Seriously, where the fuck does this asshole get off deleting your files on your computer, which you graciously allowed him to use for free? I suggest pouring a can of Coca-Cola onto his motherboard when he's not around.

Singular Intellect · Post by **Singular Intellect** » 2007-01-28 07:42pm

DesertFly wrote:For the past month or so two of my roommates' computers have been out of commission, so they've been using mine to check their email and surf the internet, etc. Recently, however, one of them discovered a rather large collection of files I'd been accumulating, and in his compassion for me, decided to delete them, to save my mortal soul or some such nonsense.

I assume you're going to take measures to ensure he never does this again? Like password protecting your system, banning him from ever touching your system, and breaking his fingers for doing this in the first place?

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2007-01-28 08:07pm

This is why only I use my computer. If someone else needs to they can ask nicely, and be watched by me.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2007-01-28 08:31pm

DesertFly wrote: Fortunately, my roommate is getting his computer fixed, and it should be done soon, which means he'll have no reason to be on my comp, which means I can change the password and not have to worry about any of this messy business again.

Of course, I'll also be just a little more careful.

I wouldn't even wait that long to change your password. Do it now, and make sure he knows that he fucked up, and actions like that will not be tolerated.

Erik von Nein · Post by **Erik von Nein** » 2007-01-28 08:49pm

I have a better revenge idea that doesn't involve property damage: copy and paste his restart command into the start up file. Either that or the shut down command. Hehehe.

Darth Servo · Post by **Darth Servo** » 2007-01-28 09:14pm

Charge the assholes $20 for every file deleted.
Spend that money on memory sticks to back up any files they might find objectionable in the future.
Eat all their food until they comply.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2007-01-28 11:02pm

Use a theme file to turn his desktop unusable. It's pretty easy to edit one. It's just plain text.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-01-28 11:08pm

If we're talking about looking for compensation, you should threaten to take him to small claims court for vandalism resulting in loss of data. There is plenty of precedent for computer data having a commercial value, not to mention labour costs. If you estimate the number of hours necessary to restore the lost data, and calculate it at minimum wage, you have a quantity of damages which would hold up in court as long as the judge is not a complete fundie fuckwit and decides to ignore the law as a result of his religious beliefs.

Make no mistake, that's what he did: vandalism. It would be no different from stealing your Playboy magazines and burning them, just because you let him stay at your house.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2007-01-28 11:15pm

Minimum wage? Nah, it's the going rate for a computer tech, which is probably at least twice as much.

atg · Post by **atg** » 2007-01-28 11:47pm

Beowulf wrote:Minimum wage? Nah, it's the going rate for a computer tech, which is probably at least twice as much.

Don't know for the US but in Australia the going rate is anywhere between $50-$150 AU per hour. At work we charge $90 + GST ($99 total).

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-01-28 11:51pm

You don't need a computer tech to surf the Internet looking for porn. But it's pretty hard to argue with minimum wage, even in small-claims court.

Post by **Edi** » 2007-01-29 12:27am

The small claims court sounds better and better.

If someone did this sort of shit to me, I'd have no compunctions about deleting their stuff off the machine. Oh, it was the only copy of your near-complete thesis work or mandatory coursework? Boo-hoo, ask someone who fucking cares. Accidents happen.

Edi

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2007-01-29 01:56am

Pull out a couple of jumpers on his motherboard while he's not looking. No permanent damage but I'll bet he'll never figure out the problem.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2007-01-29 02:20am

Darth Wong wrote:You don't need a computer tech to surf the Internet looking for porn. But it's pretty hard to argue with minimum wage, even in small-claims court.

I suppose it depends on how you go about restoring the data. You can do it the fun way, or the not fun way. The not fun way possibly involves some seriously high tech stuff to read the data off, though probably not. The fun way involves alot of time looking at websites, and a tired right hand.

Nova Andromeda · Post by **Nova Andromeda** » 2007-01-29 02:21am

Darth Wong wrote:You don't need a computer tech to surf the Internet looking for porn. But it's pretty hard to argue with minimum wage, even in small-claims court.

-Does he really need to tell any of them he was able to restore the files? How about charging for the time it took to collect them (and thereby replace them) instead

.

Magus · Post by **Magus** » 2007-01-29 03:13am

Darth Wong wrote:If you estimate the number of hours necessary to restore the lost data, and calculate it at minimum wage, you have a quantity of damages which would hold up in court as long as the judge is not a complete fundie fuckwit and decides to ignore the law as a result of his religious beliefs.

How would one objectively go about measuring the time it would take to replace a unique porn collection by finding all the stuff again on the internet? Without, of course, spending the time and finding everything in said porn collection?

Restoring deleted files from a HDD takes me no more than 3 hours, so he'd be looking at about $20 in provable damages.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-01-29 03:36am

He wasn't able to get them all back, and it's pretty easy to rack up many hours surfing the Internet.

Mind you, if I were him, I would have immediately confronted the guy and I would have been doing a lot of yelling, pushing, shoving, threatening, and other activities until I got an apology and some kind of compensation, so the small-claims court would not be necessary. It sounds like DesertFly is, well, a doormat.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Undeleting files

Undeleting files

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