Can long-deleted MS Word files be retrieved?

Answer

The first place to look is the Recycle Bin. That's the normal place deleted files go. For the rest of this reply I'll assume you're talking about "properly" deleted files.

Generally, the answer is no. When a file is deleted the space it occupied is immediately available for new files to be saved over, and when that happens the file is forever erased (for all practical purposes). Undelete tools can sometimes recover recently deleted files, or fragments of them; because of the way space is allocated on the disk, these work better on WIndows 95/98/ME machines than NT/2K/XP. But the longer a file has been deleted, the more likely it is to have been overwritten and lost for good.

Yes is also possible.

Unless you have low-level formatted the drive, there will always be a trace or image of your data.

This cannot easily be accessed, especially by home-users.

Best to go to a specialist. Companies deal in recovering data which has been deleted, corrupted or the pphysical disc damaged.

Mainly companies use this service for important data that they have lost.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that your data could be foind. Even if it was possible, it would cost hundreds of dollars.

First answer by anonymous. Last edit by VaderDarth. Contributor trust: 303 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 153 [recommend question]