Can someone point me to a link (or supply me with a copy) of an undelete utility that will retrieve some deleted files in a Win2K FAT32 filesystem on a removable-media optical hard drive?

Due to an operator error I inadvertantly deleted all 7 of my daily backups on the weekly optical cartridge that I was getting ready to swap out.

I downloaded and tried four different undelete utilities last night without good results.

The first one was a demo version, and it apparently would have worked, except as a demo it would only retrieve files 64K or smaller. But it did see the deleted files and gave every indication it would get them back if I wanted to pay the $70 they were asking for the program.

The next was freeware that, although it said it was Win2K compatible, wouldn't run in Win2k. (There was a warning notice with it saying that while the program worked, it was no longer being supported by the author.)

The third laboriously read the entire 2.6 GB cartridge (took 15 minutes) and then reported that there were no files nor filesystems on the disk.

The fourth claimed "Invalid Parameter" when I tried to point it to the removable drive.

I'm tired of installing and uninstalling software, that's the fastest road to an unstable Windows system. So, anybody got any suggestions? I am not going to go to a lot of trouble or expense for this, it is very unlikely that I will ever need any of the files on that disk, but just in case...

tanstaafl.

There's a $40 one from Winternals who make quality software, though I've not used that one in particular.

I've used this one for NTFS, but there's also a FAT version. Another board member used it to get data off CDs, I believe.

I've used this one

That's one of the four I tried. It's either the one that wouldn't see the removable drive at all, or else the one that saw the drive but said there's no files on it.

This one was the one that saw the files but wouldn't recover them because they were about 3300 times larger than their demo version would retrieve. I was mistaken -- it is only $49, not $69, and it is such a nicely done program I think I'll try and get my boss to buy it for me.

tanstaafl.

The best software I have used to recover files is R-Studio. I used it to recover an IDE raid array that was rebooted durning a repartition (A friend did this not me) and then he tried to set it back to the original size and formated the disk. I was able to get all his files back for him. The best thing is it runs in Windows so you can recover to a network drive if you have one.

I must confess. My first thought on reading the subject was. "Why would you want to undelete Win2K?"

Get data back it superb. completely recovered a baleted ntfs partition. Thanks to DiGNAN17.
If the data is somewhere there, GDB will recover it. You're best to put the drive as a secondary on another system, tho.