Home > IT Answers > Storage > How do I recover deleted files on a server?
Windows Security ATE
160 pts.
 How do I recover deleted files on a server?
Deleted files, File recovery, Windows Security
A user deleted a file on our server from his workstation. I tried to recover this file but I can't find it and I don't have shadow copy on my server. How can I recover this file?

Software/Hardware used:
ASKED: February 25, 2008  10:04 PM
UPDATED: April 17, 2013  7:23 PM
RELATED QUESTIONS
Answer Wiki:
One possible solution is to check previous versions of the folder that are regularly archived in the system, usually they're made once a day at midnight and two within the last couple hours of checking. Simply go to the left hand options of the folder, click on previous versions of the file/folder, and find the date you're looking for. You can copy or restore the files you find there. --- If it was deleted from a workstation rather than the server, you will need to restore from your backup if you have any. If you don't have backup well start praying and get the person who deleted the files to start typing. One thing to consider is also asking the person who originally created the file to see if they have a backup or a local copy. There are files out there that give you a chance of recovering deleted files, but each write to the disk since the file was deleted can reduce the chances of recovering the file intact. I have had good lucks in the past with these applications though. A Google search of "undelete files windows" will yield you a good amount of pages to go through, but one I've used previously costs around $50.
Last Wiki Answer Submitted:  April 17, 2013  7:23 pm  by  Michael Tidmarsh   11,410 pts.
All Answer Wiki Contributors:  Michael Tidmarsh   11,410 pts. , Jerry Lees   5,320 pts. , Zarehtam   20 pts. , Denny Cherry   64,520 pts.
To see all answers submitted to the Answer Wiki: View Answer History.


RSS - Discussions Help
Discuss This Question:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

I’ve done this very thing before so I know exactly what you’re experiencing. The only way to recover a deleted file off of a server that I’m aware of is to restore from backup or to use a data recovery tool such as Davory on the server itself. Note that if you have any sort of file-level compression or encryption on that server volume, the recovery process will not work.

KevinBeaver
 10,860 pts.
 

Rasikhimal has a similar problem: He wants to find out if it’s possible to recover files after they were accidentally deleted. 

Michael Tidmarsh
 11,410 pts.