Recover file deleted from Windows Server 2003 Network Share

so do I run the recovery tool on the server or on the computer that deleted the file?

On the server, but like I said you need to do it soon.

eb

Will do..thanks

I have not tried this tool http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm but you can give it a try.

eb

Trying it right now...It's the 3rd one I"ve tried and none of them are finding that file although they are finding files deleted long before this one.

BTW it looks like Server 2008 has finally addressed this problem by adding a check box for files go to recycle bin on shares...

Thanks..I did try undelete-plus, no luck..will try pcinspector next..thanks for the feedback.

It's hit or miss with recovering deleted files.  When you delete a file you don't actually delete the data but the pointer to that data.  The data from a deleted file could sit on a drive for years before it is over written or it could be over written in a matter of minutes.

I hope you have a backup you can restore from.

eb

My backup retention is 3 weeks..and this file went missing a month ago - so unfortuantely retrieving from backups aren't an option.

I had to try several different undelete programs last time i deleted a file, most of them didn't find the file.

sorry i don't remember which tool (years ago), but here is a list of the ones i tried:
Restorer2000 Pro
pci filerecovery
pci smartrecovery
PC Tools File Recover

directory snoop is another one.

i do remember i had to do a thorough scan (read the entire disk surface) something like that before i found the file.

Thank you, I will try those too.

I have Volume Shadow turned on...currently it goes back 2 weeks.

In that case you can connect to the share and and use the previous versions tab to recover the file. Right click on the shared folder itself and select Properties and go to the previous versions tab.

Note - if soing this fromm the server you must connect through the share ie with the UNC path \\Server\share

if from a client then the Previous versions client must be installed.

The file was deleted a month ago and my shadow copies only go back 2 weeks.  

Thanks for the suggestions, but it seems that recovery is next to impossible when the file deleted bypasses the recycle bin as in my case where the file was deleted from a mapped drive.  I've ran all tools mentioned and then some and I dont' see any files deleted via a network share (I deleted 2 today just to test if recovery was possible).  I'm open to any other comments, suggestions.  I of course know there are things I can put in place to prevent this from happening in the future - but that isn't helping me today.

OK sh that rules it out.

It also explains why you can't recover it with any other tools, you can only "undelete" a file if the space it uses has not been overritten.

Undelete utilities can only work if used soon after the file has been deleted. When you delete a file windows just marks the space that it occupied as free.
the undelete programs work by re-allocating the space to the file.

If the space has been overritten then it can't do this and the file cannot be recovered. Since you deleted the file such a long time ago the chances are that subsequent disk writes have destroyed the file.

Thank you all for your help.  Even though I didn't get my file restored, it's nice knowing what tools are available.

For future you should always backup any files that are on a share.  Even if you just use ntbackup (comes with windows) and back them up to another location on the drive.  This way if a file gets deleted from a share in the future you will have a backup.

eb