please help!! (accidentally deleted files)

[TravTrav]

please give me a hand!! im not great with computers.. and i accidently emptied the trash a few hours ago and it contained some very important work.. i didnt make any copies as i only completed it today if there is any possible way to retrieve it please tell me, thanks.

 

[mad jew]

Okay, well stop using the machine because if you keep it running, OSX will soon write over your deleted files. Get Data Rescue II and see how far you get. Good luck.

 

[frankblundt]

Bummer. You could try this (which is basically what MJ said).

From Peachpit:

After you delete an item, there is no easy way to recover it. Norton Utilities 7.x for Mac OS X includes an Unerase feature. Beyond that, I know of no utilities that let you recover deleted files. So be careful before you delete anything.

or the horse's mouth (Apple)

Even after you empty the Trash, deleted files may still be recovered by using special data-recovery software. To delete files so that they cannot be recovered, choose Finder > Secure Empty Trash. Files deleted in this way are completely overwritten by meaningless data.

 

[TravTrav]

i got data rescue 2 but it says you need an external hard drive and i dont have anything so its not workin.. guess ill just have to start over.

 

[frankblundt]

yep. you need another drive to transfer the rescued data to. You can't borrow one off a chum? depending on how much you need to get back, even a flash drive, or an iPod might do it.