Can I get it back?

I was working on a laptop, and was told to delete a user that was set up by an ex boyfriend, there was a password but they said he wouldn't tell her what it was, so I deleted the user and a few other nasty things, and now I get a message that says none of her music/pictures were there and that they were on the other user. She now says that she told me the password, I honestly don't think she did, but I can't change that. She asked if there was anyway to get that stuff back, said there were thousands of pictures and music she had stored no where else. I was told none of this when I received the machine. I did some quick looking and came across Piriform's Recuva, downloadable here I see. Could that possibly work to recover that deleted user or not? If not, does anyone have any alternatives?
Thanks,
Spock96

 

Hey Spock, you may also want to take a look here. Good luck buddy.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/EASEUS_Data_Recovery_Wizard_Free_Edition_d6464.html

 

Hey, Thanks Nick.
I just read down through the description and it says:

I says it's Freeware, but does this mean that once I reach that 1 GB mark I have to pay to recover more. I'm looking to get the whole user back if I can.

 

I think that's a little false advertising going on Spock. Try this. http://www.majorgeeks.com/Wise_Data_Recovery_d7767.html.
Also check MGs front page list under Data Recovry, and see if anything there may help;

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads38.html

 

Appreciated Nick, I'll look at those. I hope I can get her stuff back. I feel bad about it.

 

I also came across this, this morning.
http://www.recovering-deleted-files.net/

 

I'm thinking the download is free, but they will likely want you to pay for the software to restore all of the files.

If any of the trial software gives you confidence that it can recover all or most of the data, then it may be worthwhile making a purchase. Sometimes it's just the cost of doing business.

 

Thank you, I didn't get a chance to fully read that link before posting. I think I'll try one of the free programs here first, and if all else fails move to trying a paid program.

 

Have you ever used any of the Linux OS, such as Ubuntu? Here's a technique I once used to recover some photos on a laptop on which Windows had failed to work and could not be fixed. I had Ubuntu on a CD. Ubuntu will run off a CD; using it in this mode is called LiveCD. Of course, it runs slower this way than if were installed on the hard drive but it works. By running Ubuntu this way on the aforementioned laptop, I was able to locate the photos and some important documents the owner wanted to keep and I copied them to a flash drive.

Here's a reference on running Ubuntu in LiveCD mode: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD. My experience with this was a few years ago so I don't recall what version of Ubuntu I had on the CD. Since the referenced article is referring to older-than-the-current versions of Ubuntu, you might want to use one of the older versions (8.04 through 10.04) for this purpose. You'll have to download Ubuntu and burn it to a CD. You may need to download a burning program that supports this type of disc burning requirement, which is different from simply burning photos, music, documents, and other user files to a CD/DVD. I suggest ImgBurn; you can get it at http://www.majorgeeks.com/ImgBurn_d4870.html.

 

I second usafveteran's idea here, I have done this many times.

Ubuntu, Mint, Puppy, any of these are good for this purpose.
The Live CD List is a good place to visit, links to all the major, and not so major, distros arranged by purpose, i.e. rescue, forensics, etc.

Also useful for replacing corrupted .dlls and the like. Boot to the Linux Live CD and put the "replacement parts" on a USB stick...

 

Duh!
I didn't even think to try to boot into Linux and look. Thank you, I'll try that first!

 

If you're still looking for recovery software, I recommend Undelete360. Its completely freeware with no limits on data recovery. Its very fast and the results are readably viewable. At its own website or here: www.majorgeeks.com/Undelete_360_d6760.html

 

Hi Spock
There is a very good recovery software app available for free instead of $69.99 just for today 1/3/2013 it is a legal and legitimate site.

Google "giveaway of the day" and it is there.

For some reason i am not able to post a direct link to it, i mentioned this earlier to MA and he did not know why either.

 

Thanks for the options everyone. I'm going to get the laptop back on Sunday and try to retrieve the data through Linux first, then I'll move through the other programs.

 

If the laptop has been in use, then some of the deleted data may have been overwritten. Just wanted you to know in case it happens!

 

If you look under C:\documents and settings\ is that user profile still there?

C:\users for vista/win7

 

I know this is a bit late know but for your future protection:

1. Back up everything before you start work. Take an image of the hard drive that you can restore from if necessary. Make sure you are aware of local & national laws for storage of the image or backups.

2. Write down everything you are told by the customer and make sure they are aware you have written it down as they say it. This includes writing down passwords (if you want, encrypt the passwords on a computer to be more secure). Again, check local & national laws for storage of this information.

3. Check with the customer about where everything is and what they want saved from the system before beginning work. This way you have a record of everything they want saved and where it is. Then do step 1.

 

Thanks collinsl,
That put what I usually try to do in some form of order, except for the imaging I never thought of that.

Gonna start giving potential customers wavers saying I'm not responsible for lost data and stuff.