Undelete File Retrieves Data

A Backup Article Contributed by Melissa Larose

Undelete File Retrieves Data

Is it important to your company to undelete a file on occasion? Thought so! It happens from time to time that an employee or maybe even a CEO loses a file that is critical to the moment. If a file has a name and the document has been saved, then it is a file that you can undelete should it ever be deleted. If it is a document that has never been saved as a document and it becomes lost then it isn't a file and cannot go through the undelete file process.

Undelete File Has Requirements

Sounds like a funny idea in a way to have requirements for the undelete process but it is so. Unless a document is a an actual file there is not much you can do about losing data unless you try the "undo" command but if the whole document is gone that probably won't do you much good. No, the save file command is probably one of the most valuable tools in the computer world. You should learn to incorporate the save command often in your document creation. It can save you a lot of grief.

Because of the necessity of creating a file first before the undelete file process can begin, make sure you always create the file before you begin entering data. This can save you some future grief.

Undelete File is Marked

Here is why you need a file before performing an undelete file procedure. When you delete a file the operating system marks that file for deletion but it does not delete the file. Instead it store the marked file somewhere on within the operating system files. These types of files are often contiguous files meaning they are stored together. When the operating system is looking for space to install new software programs or to store newly saved files it looks for enough contiguous space to do so.

These marked files can then be chosen and overridden by the new software or new files. This is the point in time when you can say you have really deleted a file, because now it is truly gone for good.

The trick that undelete file software performs is the trick of finding your specific marked file within the system files. Some undelete file software will ask you the name of your file and some will simply identify all of the files that are marked for deletion and located on your hard drive. The software knows where to look for these types of files and you do not have to wander into file territory that you are unfamiliar with. Being in unfamiliar file territory is not a good idea as these files run your computer system and damage done to them is sometimes difficult to fix.

Undelete File Doesn't Always Work

If your deleted file does not show up in the undelete file utility search and you have followed all of the advice the utility has to offer and still cannot locate the file you are out of luck. Not finding the file means that at some point the system overrode your file in favor of another file.