How to recover a file from a cleaned trash can???

[Michel Jr]

Hi,

Every time I delete a file, it goes to the trash can...But after cleaning the trash can, how can I recover it???
Is there any API to do that?

Thanks in advance...

Michel Jr.

[Matthew Gates]

There is no API functions, but there are programs that can do this for you. Search around for "Recover" or something like that. When you delete a file, the way a few of these programs work is they go through clusters to find it (somethin' like that), all that advanced stuff .

Doubt it can be done in VB though.

[Megatron]

The undeleted files are still stored on disk. The only difference is that the OS doesn't care whether it get's written over, because they are not considered important.

This kind of disk access cannot be done in VB.

[Alakazam]

I dont think that this can be done in VB.
When you put something in the recycle bin, it does not move on the hard drive. The file allocation table just Designates it location as "In the Recycle bin." When recycle bin is empty, the file alocation table just forgets where it is. It is still physically on the hard drive, "Of course" but the FAT does not know where to tell the hard drive to look. It does not really remember that it ever existed. It will stay on the harddrive until a defrag,or you save something and it overwrites that sector containing the "DELETED FILE" with a new file. Like the post above said, there is software that does this for you but im shure it is not written in VB.