Deleting a file removes its entry from the index and marks the space reusable — the contents stay exactly where they were. That is why recovery works. It is also why a computer left running quietly writes over them, and why hard drives and SSDs give you completely different amounts of time.
$ cdr diagnose /dev/sdb → Device: SanDisk SD card (128 GB) · camera → Status: DELETED FILES — 1,240 photos removed → Client: confidential · Peterborough PE1 $ cdr engineer-working → Forensic image: taken · originals untouched → Deep scan + carve: JPEG/RAW signatures → Found: 1,236 / 1,240 files $ cdr verify → ✓ holiday_photos — 1,236 files → ✓ all preview OK — intact → ✓ deleted shots — recovered
On a mechanical drive at least. On solid state the answer is completely different, and that difference decides everything.
When a file is deleted from a hard disk, the operating system marks its space as available and removes the directory entry pointing at it. The data itself stays exactly where it was, untouched, until something else happens to be written over that space. On a drive with plenty of free space that may take months.
That gap between marked-free and actually-overwritten is the entire basis of deleted file recovery. The file is still there; what has been lost is the map to it.
Which is why the single most important thing you can do is stop writing to the drive. Not stop deleting — stop writing anything. Installing software, browsing, saving a document, even leaving the machine on while Windows updates in the background all consume free space, and free space is where your file is sitting.
This is where people lose files they would otherwise have got back for nothing.
If your file was deleted from the C drive and you download recovery software and install it to the C drive, the installer writes to exactly the free space holding what you want back. People do this constantly, and it converts a recoverable file into an overwritten one before the software has even run.
If you are going to try it yourself, install the tool to a different drive entirely — a USB stick, a second disk, another machine with the affected drive attached externally. Use something read-only and reputable. Recuva and PhotoRec both have long track records.
And if the data genuinely matters, consider not trying at all. A single wrong step here is unrecoverable in a way most of our work is not.
If the drive is also making noise, do not run software at all. Scanning keeps a failing disk powered and seeking for hours, which is the precise load that turns a mechanical fault into a total loss. Deleted files on a healthy drive can wait; a failing drive cannot.
Logical recovery starts at £250 +VAT for cards and USB media and £300 +VAT for a drive. It is the cheapest class we handle because no clean-air work or donor parts are involved.
No fix, no fee applies throughout. Where the media is solid state and TRIM has plainly done its work, we will tell you that at the diagnostic and there is nothing to pay.
Not on a mechanical drive. Emptying the bin removes the pointer and leaves the data in place. Stop using the drive immediately and the odds are good.
Depends entirely on how much has been written since. Weeks of light use on a drive with plenty of free space often leaves the file intact. Weeks of heavy use may not.
Usually not, and we will say so before taking money. TRIM erases the blocks within minutes. If the drive was disconnected immediately or sits behind a RAID controller, there is a real chance.
Depends on the server. Check Previous Versions or shadow copies first — on a Windows server these frequently hold what you want and cost nothing to check.
Often, but not always. Where the directory entry survives you get names and structure. Where only the data survives, files come back identified by type and content rather than by original name.
On a healthy drive, with the tool installed somewhere else, yes — it may save you the fee. On a drive making any noise, no. Ring first and we will tell you which situation you are in for nothing.
A free diagnostic, no fix no fee on most jobs, and deleted-file recovery from any drive, stick or card. The sooner you stop, the more comes back — start today.