Any way to recover files emptied from TRASH? Disaster happened for me.

OK, I did a search but could not find this exact topic. I have a G4 running Mac OS 10.4.5 with Final Cut Express HD. Somehow one of the files used to render a third of my short film was deleted and my trash is now empty.

I have no idea how this happened, but as I am a PC guy and know nothing about MACs, despite my trying to learn, I am sure I somehow deleted the file, or my wife may have.

Is there ANY program or way to get the files back? I am desperate. Without that file I will have lost 2.5 years of work. Yes, I had a backup, but the same file is missing from the backup. Somehow that file went missing from both drives. One is the C drive and the other is my Firewired WD 250gig portable drive. I do most of my work from that drive and would need to find the file on it, I think.

I am desperate and near a mental breakdown. I cannot tell you how heart breaking this is. I need help, so please, someone, help me. neye:

Unfortunately there are no free tools for data recovery. However you may still have a chance with one of these tool.

Best of Luck!

But which one? I see dozens of these utlities, yet no way to find out which one of them actually works.

Welcome to Mac-forums, Matt_Stevens.

The article doesn't contain dozens but the names of 5 utilities and they have their own descriptions of price and how they work.

Since this isn't a review or comparison test, I would suggest you google for reviews of each of these 5 apps and see what the pros and cons are for each. That will help you make your choice. I have never used any of these recovery apps so I really can't share any user experience here.

And the more you use your Mac, the least you will be able to recover anyway, as data will overwrite what has been deleted.

Since I haven't use any of them by myself I cannot give my own opinion. I would try File Salvage, which you can try in Demo mode before you decide to buy.

this is one more HUGE advantage leopard will have with Time machine.