Retreiving deleted pictures

[colin H]

I am trying to retreive some family pictures , which have been mistakenly deleted from my p.c. over the last 3 years or so . I tried to do a system restore , but it wouldn`t let me restore before november `07 . Is there a way around this , or an alternative method to retreive my lost pictures .
Were on windows xp

 

[dave.m]

Because the period involved is about three years there is very little chance of recovery.
Some of the last ones deleted, if very recently, and if you have not loaded lots of software or defragged may (just may) be recoverable but don’t hold your breath.

This explains what happens when you remove something from your hard drive:
A common misconception is that the data is actually removed from the hard drive (erased) when you delete a file. Any time that a file is deleted on a hard drive, it is not erased. Instead, the tiny bit of information that points to the location of the file on the hard drive is erased. This pointer, along with other pointers for every folder and file on the hard drive, is saved in a section near the beginning of the hard drive and is used by the operating system to compile the directory tree structure. By erasing the pointer file, the actual file becomes invisible to the operating system. Eventually, the hard drive will write new data over the area where the old file is located.

You could try Recuva from Piiform:
http://www.recuva.com/

It may find some traces.

 

[Slimkid]

A company called called Greenstreet provide recovery programs that will retrieve jpgs and word docs. I think you'll have to pay for it and there's no guarantee that you'll recover many of them.

 

[roboughton]

If they went 3 years ago i am doubtful for recovery