# Help!!!....I've deleted my entire documents folder



## hhannam (May 23, 2005)

I thought I was deleting a duplicate documents folder but it turned out to apparently be the primary folder and I quickly learned, to my horror, that with my relatively recent recent installing of Windows 10 it apparently did not automatically turn on my system protection system (restore points), so I could not do a system restore to recapture the lost folder.

I also tried highlighting the remaining shortcut folder and clicking on "undo" but there was no effect. 

Have I lost the entire contents of this folder permanently?


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## metallica5456 (Apr 1, 2013)

It should just be in your recycle bin.

Check and if it is simply click it and then select restore


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

System Restore doesn't handle data files. That's the job of Previous Versions or backups. The Recycle Bin is the first place to check otherwise you might be able to right click on your user folder and select Restore Previous Versions. 

As a side note, you need to start doing backups. Use File History in the Control Panel with an external drive to protect your data.


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## hhannam (May 23, 2005)

The first thing I did was to look in the recycle bin, but the folder was not there. I then tried to execute an "undo", but was unsuccessful......and I did, surprisingly to me, forget that system restore does not affect data files, but at least I've got that operational now. 

You are of course absolutely correct Triple6 about doing backups. I have no excuse for not having done backups and it appears that deficiency is going to cost me big time on this occasion. That document folder had years of data collected. As for right-clicking on the user folder, it said no previous versions were available.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

You could try data recovery software such as Recuva: https://www.piriform.com/recuva


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## hhannam (May 23, 2005)

Triple6 said:


> You could try data recovery software such as Recuva: https://www.piriform.com/recuva


Tiple6 - Thank you for that very good suggestion. I did install Recuva and tried everything their wizzard offered, but to no avail. I did get quite a bit of so-called recovered files on one occasion, but when I attempted to open and view them they were either blank, or if they were pdf files a message appeared saying the file couldn't be read (by the Adobe reader) because it was incomplete or corrupted. It certainly appears that I'm out of opitons, but I appreciate all of your suggestions nonetheless. I haven't even begun to fathom the entirety of what I've lost here, but it's huge and substantial, and I have no one to blame buy myself for not backing up.


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## hhannam (May 23, 2005)

I recently received an email from "LunarLander" (via tech support guy) advising me as follows: "*Stop using the computer **. The more you use it, the more new HD writes will occur and that will permanently overwrite your deleted data. Use Recuva as soon as possible." (* bold type and underlining are my addition)

Unfortunately I've exhausted all options within "Recuva" and it produced literally only one file. I was looking at other recovery software when I noticed the above message in my inbox. Now I wonder if the only real option I have left is to try finding a professional data recovery service/technician. Can data recovery be done remotely by a paid service?


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

If the data has been overwritten it is unlikely that a professional data recovery company can get it back either, generally most free data recovery programs do quite well and should give you an idea if there is a chance of getting data back. It's true that the more you use the computer the more it will be overwritten and the less of any data recovery working. Automatic defrags, automatic updates, and general usage will all overwrite the data. If you have an SSD then it becomes even less likely to recover data.


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## hhannam (May 23, 2005)

Triple6 said:


> If the data has been overwritten it is unlikely that a professional data recovery company can get it back either, generally most free data recovery programs do quite well and should give you an idea if there is a chance of getting data back. It's true that the more you use the computer the more it will be overwritten and the less of any data recovery working. Automatic defrags, automatic updates, and general usage will all overwrite the data. If you have an SSD then it becomes even less likely to recover data.


Actually, I do have an SSD, and I wondered if that mattered....apparently it does..for the worse, unfortunately. I appreciate all of your efforts nonetheless. It's going to be a very hard lesson for me to swallow, but that appears there's going to be no other choice in this instance. Thanks again.


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## Cookiegal (Aug 27, 2003)

hhannam said:


> I recently received an email from "LunarLander" (via tech support guy) advising me as follows


Just for clarification purposes, you did not receive an email from lunarlander but rather an email notification of a reply he posted which he later deleted, presumably because you had just posted that you had already used the recommended software.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Recovery data from SSD's is harder due to wear levelling, garbage collection, and TRIM.


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## AlomWare-com (Jan 10, 2015)

No affiliation here, but EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard helped me recover 32 GB of data from a corrupted SD card that no other app could (including Recuva). You can download a free version that recovers X amount of data, then pay to recover all if it works.


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