1. ln -s /usr/timtimmah /usr/kevinstanonik

2. Did you really delete it?  Recycle Bin/Trash  It’s not gone at all  Open this thing up  Hit restore  I hope you already knew that  The file you see on the computer is not the file, it is a link  These only moves the pointer to the recycle/trash

3. Very basic file structure  File 1  File 2  File 3  ……..  File n File 1 File 2 File 3

4. Quite important  Low level formats and secure deletions  This WILL get rid of the files, not just the link 001010110011001010101 100011100101010101010 101010101010101010101 001010101011001010101 101010101011100001101 010101010101010101010 101010101010101010100 010011010101010101010 Your file before: 00000000000000000000 00000000000000000000 00000000000000000000 00000000000000000000 Your file after:

5. That said…  The sooner you can get to it the better  If you deleted the file a long time ago, it’s gone.  Reallocation of space after file deletion  Overwritten by other files File 1 File 3

6. Recovering these lost files  Recuva (WIN) or DiskWarrior (MAC)  Skips the links and goes straight to the drive  Scans the actual bits and compares to the links  If it’s got a link, ignores, else it grabs it  It’s all automated these days

7. Recuva example: lolwizard Do this to save time

8. Now for the fun stuff  If it’s an external DISK DRIVE, not flash  It might be the USB/Firewire cable  The internal PCB/dongle/connector maybe dead Looks like this:

9. Easy fix: get one of these

10. Final(?) step: duct tape Get the hard drive from the broken enclosure and hook it up to this because now it’s an external again. Yes, it’s that easy. There’s also instructions on the box.

11. Still no magic smoke?  Your board may be shot.  But not like that.  If you have an identical, sacrifical hard drive:  I’ve never done this, but all you do is swap the boards.  Be gentle.

12. Still nothing?  Is the drive clicking or on fire?  Unless you have a clean room, you can’t do anything.  Call the pros, do not pass GO, do not save 700 bux.  If you’re paranoid, back up to an unused drive and store it some place safe.  Remember: IT’S JUST STUFF  Questions?