Undelete files...
Yes. When a file is deleted the first character in the file header is changed from the first letter of the file name to an 'E5' (I think) character which flags DOS that the file has been erased and it's OK to use this disk space for other things. (Win 31, 95, and 98 use a DOS file system.) Several UnDelete programs exist to enable you to change this flag character back to the original value and thus undelete the file. Obviously, if while the file was flagged as deleted, your system allocated this storage space to some other use, your original file data would be lost. Most undelete programs will inform you if the file can be recovered or not. In any case, the first letter of the original file name must be supplied, either from you, or from a 'protection' program which recorded it earlier.
I use Norton's Utilities UnErase program. You could use DEBUG.EXE, found in \WINDOWS\COMMAND to do the same work, but you'd need to learn how to do it first, and it's tricky. (You load the directory entry, use DEBUG to change the flag character manually, and save the results. If you're lucky, you have your file back.)
Cheers, PW. |
