My W2000 system started acting flakey, so I upgrade to a new computer. It was time to do so. During the process I mistakedly removed all the files in MyDocuments, but I thought no problem since I can recover them from the ReCycle bin... unfortunately, the recover commend doesn't work, I cannot drag and drop the files back into MyDocuments, and I cannot even launch the files to save them with an application like Word or Acrobat...

Is there some kind of back door from DOS from where I can move the files back into the NFS file system? Is there a (preferably freeware) tool that is available to recover items in the Recycle bin? There are a few .pdf and .doc files I'd really like to recover, but I'd just as soon recover everything and transfer it to my new PC to process from there.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for any help,
.jax

It might also help if I can somehow recover the recover command or fix the drag and drop function? I have no idea why they are broken, but that is part of the misbehavior that prompted me to replace this 6-year old, hodge-podge computer.

does it give some sort of an error message when you try to open/move the contents of the recycle bin?

Have you tried a system restore? There are numerous recovery programs. Some free some not. They can recover your files even if you have deleted them from your recycle bin as long as they are not over written.

When you upgraded your computer did you upgrade the operating system, or change the file system too?

No visible error messages. It just silently does nothing. I do get a strange error when I bring up Word about "This document could not be registered. It will not be possible to create links from other documents to this document." This is one of the strange behaviors that led me to replace the PC. Other Word usage seems to be unaffected. I suspect the registry is somehow hozed.

I did load Nucleus-Kernel-Undelete and RecoverMyFiles, but didn't want to pay the $69 it cost for them to actually recover the files. They were able to scan and locate them in the Recycle Bin. I might reconsider if I knew for certain they would do what I need. I'm trying to recover my son's PhD Thesis. I have a hard copy, but would like the soft copy for prosperity and perhaps sharing.

I "upgraded" by purchasing a new PC. The old PC is still in the old flakey state and the files are visible to the Explorer, but I cannot do anything with them.

Thanks in advance for any help,
.jax

www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

The above is a free program.

Here is another free recovery program I found this morning: Avira UnErase Personal