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Original poster

Could use a little technical help, please.

36 replies

Squirrel3 · 26/02/2006 14:40

My sil has deleted my db as a user on the computer, everything of his has gone. He is self employed and all of his invoices etc were on there.

Is there anyway of getting it all back?

OP posts:
Pixiefish · 26/02/2006 14:52

take it into a computer shop. Everything will be there somewhere BUT if you don't know what you're doing you can make it worse

Rhubarb · 26/02/2006 14:54

Look in the trash can on your pc, you'll have a trash can on there, if she deleted him recently he might be lurking around in the trash.

Original poster
Squirrel3 · 26/02/2006 14:56

Oh dear, sounds expensive Pixiefish!

Sil looked in the recycle bin and there is nothing there. I haven't spoken to db yet, but I bet he is going to go mad!!!!

OP posts:
Original poster
Squirrel3 · 26/02/2006 14:57

Lol, I have visions of db lurking around in the trash now!!!!

OP posts:
Rhubarb · 26/02/2006 14:58

Too right he will! It'll be in the back-up of your pc though, so it's not lost forever. Do you have anyone who knows a little bit about pc's? They don't have to know lots, just enough to know where the back-up is for your pc.

Rhubarb · 26/02/2006 14:59

Puts a whole new meaning on "taking out the trash" doesn't it?

SoupDragon · 26/02/2006 15:00

I assume she clicked "delete files" when given the option to delete or keep them when she deleted the user account? If she managed to click "keep files" instead they'll appear as an icon on the desktop.

Original poster
Squirrel3 · 26/02/2006 15:02

Not really, dp's xw's dp (now that's confusing!) is a computer technician, I could ask him but the situation is a bit odd IYKWIM.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 26/02/2006 15:02

"It'll be in the back-up of your pc though" I'm not sure that's stricly true unless you actually regularly take a back up of all your data. System Restore, for example, only keeps system files, not ppersonal files.

quanglewangle · 26/02/2006 15:04

Don't quite follow - has she deleted his actual files or just his user id so that he can't logon - you say she has deleted him "as a user".
If it is only his logon that is gone the files will still be there and you will be able to see them.

Original poster
Squirrel3 · 26/02/2006 15:04

SoupDragon, I'm not sure what she did all I know was she phoned me in a panic to ask me what to do.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 26/02/2006 15:05

quanglewangle, when you delete a windows User Account (log on ID), you have the option to delete or keep files.

SoupDragon · 26/02/2006 15:05

I guess she deleted the files but as a long shot, suggest she looks on the desktop for an icon with his name on!

Rhubarb · 26/02/2006 15:06

She would have got a choice to delete his files. I recently deleted dh (I love talking like this!) but was given the option to delete or keep his files. I kept his files as I was doing him a new user id.

However I assume that everything you delete stays in the pc for a time at least.

quanglewangle · 26/02/2006 15:06

Oh I see - that's why I never keep files in the default Windows places lke My Documents etc. Windows takes too many liberties in my opinion so I make my own folders.

hunkermunker · 26/02/2006 15:07

Unless you've taken a mallet to the hard drive, stuff's usually recoverable by a professional - take it into one.

SoupDragon · 26/02/2006 15:09

Deleted things aren't deleted as such, they're marked so they can be overwritten. Provided you don't write much to the hard drive, or reformat it then as HM says, they should be there.

Original poster
Squirrel3 · 26/02/2006 15:12

What if next time I go around there I do a 'search' to see if I can find a doc that he knows the name of, will I be able to find them that way?

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 26/02/2006 15:13

Not if they've been deleted, no. I think you need to be more technical than that. IIRC, deleted files have the first letter replaced with a ? - there used to be a "undelete" option with good old Windows 3.1

Original poster
Squirrel3 · 26/02/2006 15:15

Oh well, it was just a thought, think she may have to take it to a professional.

OP posts:
hunkermunker · 26/02/2006 15:16

Windows 3.1 - that's a blast from the past!

Bit flashier now, isn't it!

SoupDragon · 26/02/2006 15:19

I still think fondly of the amount of time I spent arranging all the windows so they opened nicely on the desktop...

Original poster
Squirrel3 · 26/02/2006 15:19

I remember, does that mean I am old?

OP posts:
hunkermunker · 26/02/2006 15:21

Oh, bloody hell, SD, I used to do that! I'd forgotten! Anything rather than do my dissertation...

The Minesweeper open on top of everything looks v familiar too - I was good at that

Squirrel, I'm not old so therefore neither are you

SoupDragon · 26/02/2006 15:22

Oh, I was a pro at Minesweeper! It got to the point where I couldn't beat the times at all...

And I remember getting a Sinclair ZX81 with a whopping 1K of memory... how old does that make me?