I was trying to clear up some disk space and deleted my windows backup of all my files. I had this saved to an external drive which has now failed. Is there any way I can run a data recovery program on my computer to recover the deleted folder? Im not sure what to look for in the recovered data. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Unfortunately, Windows does not have an application that lets you recover permanently deleted files. You'll have to try 3rd party tools in order to recover lost data. If the data was not of critical importance, you can use the utilities listed here - http://lifehacker.com/393084/how-to-recover-deleted-files-with-free-software If you had mission critical data, I would recommend you to go for a professional recovery solution. Contact your disk manufacturer for that. Hope it helps!Kunal D Mehta - a Windows Server Enthusiast.

Yes I have purchaced a recovery program and run it on my computer...I can see some files that are called backup files with a date in the data recovered and also catalogues..I dont want to recover all data found cause its so much and I dont have the space or time. I just want to select the correct files windows will need to run its own restore through backup. Hope this makes sense

In that case, since I'm not sure about the recovery program you purchased and how it works, I would suggest you to contact to Customer Support of the recovery software and ask them how to do a selective recovery from disk using their software. Hope it helps! Kunal D Mehta - a Windows Server Enthusiast.

I've used recuva with good success. Just don't put the recovered files on the same disc. it will overwrite some of the files your trying to recover and not be very successful. Thanks.

Hi, I would like you to know the backup files also includes the configurations such as saved location, date. Therefore, Windows Backup and Restore feature won't find the backup files if you don't restore them to original location. Since you just want to restore specific files, you can restore them manually from backup files. Best Regards, Niki Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Oh I see, I have found the VHD file..can I just restore my system with this file? I tried opening up backup files wich were zipped into about 40 folders but my pictures folder was not there..not sure why I didnt find it. Thats why I think maybe I can recover some photos with a complete system restore. What do you think? Can a novice do this using VHD file..Ive researched and there seems to be different ways but they all complicated. thanks Pina

If I've comprehended your statement correctly, then yes! You can attach this VHD and then extract the data that was in it. To do so, open up the command prompt (Run As Administrator). Type in the following commands in order: C:\> diskpart diskpart> sel vdisk file = <path of the VHD> diskpart> attach vdisk This will attach the VHD as a volume on your computer. You can then manually move the contents from this volume to any other desired location. Please let me know if this was not what you meant. Hope it helps! Kunal D Mehta - a Windows Server Enthusiast.

oh thats great! Do I need to specify where to create the new volume? thanks so much for your help! Ill let you know how I go Pina

the vhd file is located on my D drive. I tried Diskpart as you recommended Kunal but I didnt have much luck with errors I think mainly relating to my typing the path I think. I tried going into Disk Management, load VHD, choosing the file and I got an error saying corrupt file cant be read. Guess there goes that! thanks for your help guys! Pina

Ok, just to be sure that you're typing the path correctly, here's an example: C:\> diskpart diskpart> sel vdisk file = D:\folderName\nameoftheVHD.vhd diskpart> attach vdisk If this does not work, I'm not aware of any alternatives at this point of time. Hope it helps!Kunal D Mehta - a Windows Server Enthusiast.