Recovering deleted files with undelete

Hello! It's time for another post on Fun stuff to do on the computer!

Today we'll be exploring an application I just recently discovered. A brief intro first, did you think that your files were safe after you delete them? Well I assume you already know about the recycle bin, but I'm referring to files after deleting them from the recycling bin. Do they go to file heaven as they transcend through the great beyond? (har har.)

What are files? Files are basically chunks of data arranged in a meaningful fashion and stored in a medium, such as a hard drive. When you delete a file in windows, the files doesn't get erased actually. Windows should do that, but because it takes so much processing power and time they decide to just allocate it as blank space, and overwrite it with another file in future. So between that time and the time you "delete" the file, your file effectively still exists in it's entirety.

Well, not exactly. You see, the pointers to the file have been deleted so the operating system no longer recognizes the file. But the data is still there, and can be recovered.

Undelete is an application that you can use to do just that. It allows anyone who gets their hands on the pc to recover the files that you thought were gone. Think your secrets and safely destroyed? Not. If there hasn't been many new programs installed lately and your file isn't too large, it's quite likely that your file can be recovered with such conventional tools. Think of all the incriminating evidence!

Okay so this program costs money. So what do we do? Find a free one, of course.

Free Undelete is just like a crude copy of undelete, except that it's FREE! Just install this program and scan the hard drive to the location where your deleted file is, and in a matter of minutes you can restore this file to it's former condition.



What can you do with this program? Well you could use it to recover a project you spent hours working on only to have your friend "accidentaly" delete. Or you could find a used computer, install this program and find the secrets hidden within....

What can be done to protect yourself from this? In the next article I will discuss some techniques to securely destroy sensitive data.