Hello, looking for advice on using the data recovery programs

Hi, newbie here

What a phenomenal site !!
I've been reading for hours already................LOTS to learn !!

Anyways, what brought me here is that somehow or the other I deleted the entire contents of my pictures folder and have also deleted it from the trashcan.
So, now it looks like I need one of those freeware data recovery tools and I've been trying 3 of them, pc inspector, free undelete and restoration
None of them seemed to have helped me but I have a feeling the issue might be me not the programs, LOL

I'm on xp and looking for advise on how get back my pictures as easily as possible I guess

Thanks ahead of time

Sofia

 

yep, I did about 3 of them to be on the safe side, LOL

 

well......................I did find the files eventually, sure wasnt in any obvious place/name

I copied them over to a memory stick since it said not to overwrite on my computer.
some didnt copy over but most did

Thanks for mentioning the FAT, a few times when I copied it wouldnt go and then I tried FAT 16 and FAT 32 which I've seen written at different places and anyhow it worked although I have no clue what it all means , LOL

All is well, time to learn about a good reliable back-up system online

So far Media max looks pretty promising, thoughts? recommendations?

sofia