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So you've hit Ctrl+Canc by error, or maybe you emptied the trash right before remembering that folder you thought was filled with junk actually contained some useful information, too. There's no need to panic: luckily, a wealth of different tools have been developed for distract people like you, and yes, you can recover that information in the vast majority of the cases.

Not everybody knows that, when you delete a file, your computer doesn't actually reformat the section of the hard disk that used to contain the data, but simply deletes a pointer to that file on its file system and then updates its file/folder structure. This means that, even if the trash is empty, that doesn't mean the data you just deleted has no more way of being recovered: in fact, there are many Windows commercial and easy to use programs exist that will recover almost any kind of data.

When can the data be recovered? Even these sophisticated programs (that basically search backwards into the OS and file system internal commands to find again that infamous file pointer to the content you deleted) have physical limits: you won't be able to recover data if you have formatted your hard drive or if, not noticing the data was missing, you kept using your pc for a long period, to the point where some data was written in the place where the deleted data used to be.

Given the way these programs work, you will have to find the one that works for your specific needs - that is, a data recover program that is compatible with both your operating system and your file system. The two most common file systems under Windows are FAT32 and NTFS, so look for those; on Linux, most users already know the file systems can be many, but the most common are EXT2 and EXT3; as for the Apple family, you're likely running on a HFS.

So, the first step is to find the appropriate program for you. Look at the end of the article for a collection of useful links, at least one of those contains the right software for you. Download and install it (possibly on an external or USB drive, to avoid the possibility of overwriting and therefore losing your data permanently!). You will soon see that the process is really straightforward, and changes based on the software you chose to download: typically, you will be asked to launch a full hard-disk scan, which will take a while but eventually yield a huge list of files you deleted a lot of time ago (although many of these, depending on dimension and date of deletion, may not be available

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