Hi everyone. thx in advance for your help!

Well i am always hearing here and there about lost computer files or deleted files that can be recovered. For instance on the Nancy Grace show the host asked experts if Police could still recover deleted emails from Caycee Anthonys computer and all the experts say they can and that everything you do on your computer whether u delete or not is somehow stored in your computer.

Now my question is what about files that you had and your PC crashes! i've had the same PC since 2002 and to tell you the truth its crashed so many times from the time of 2002-2004. Can files still be recovered? I dont mind all the stuff I lost years ago but in 2006 i met someone online and I had all our MSN conversations stored on my PC. well in late 2006 I lost internet but still had all the convos on the PC and i really wanted to print them off but didnt have a printer at the time so i kept them thinking I would have them for awhile.

But in January 2007 my dad took our PC to a PC shop without me knowing and had the PC cleaned out so it could be new i guess and with it went the MSN convos.

NOW with all this in mind are all those MSN convos still somwhere on my PC and how can I get them back? I hear all these things on TV and elsewhere that everything you do is somehow still on your PC, I hope its true!

I havent had the internet since 2006 and I know its a LONG SHOT but I hope someone can help me maybe recover them.

If the computer's been in active use for the last 20 months its possible the files aren't recoverable as they'll have been overwritten by now.
That being said, a lot depends on what happened at the PC shop in January 2007. Was the machine wiped?

File recovery is possible but not guaranteed. All that happens when a file is deleted is that its still physically there, just marked as free, ready to be overwritten. The only way to properly erase there is to scrub the drive with specialist software.

when you say if the computer has been active, what do you mean? as in having the internet because I havent had the internet on this particular computer since August 2006. after the internet was disconnected all the files sat there with the MSN convos I want back but like I said in January of 2007 my dad took it to the shop, had a dvd player installed and had eveery file gone that was there before including the MSN convos I want back.

any tips on how to get them back?

This post has been edited by happyhappy: Oct 5 2008, 05:10 PM

NO as in being used... if it's on then it may have overwritten files...