Q. A client asked: If I’m on my local computer, and I delete a document from the server, the document disappears from the folder, but I don’t know where it goes. It’s not in the Recycle Bin on the server or the one in my computer. Why not?
A. The way Windows works, only local files get moved to the Recycle Bin. In other words, only files deleted by a user who is on the same computer where the files live. This makes sense if you figure that network drives would normally be getting backed up, so if you accidentally deleted a file from a network drive, you (or your IT support person) would be able to restore it from the latest backup.
Keep in mind that the way “delete” works, is that it marks the space the file was using as being available for other use. So if you accidentally delete a file from a server, you could try these steps:
- Stop working!
- Yell to your co-workers to stop working on the server.
- Log on to the server and using an “undelete” utility to retrieve the deleted file. There are several simple undelete utilities (available for downloading for free from the Internet) that can recover files this way.
However, the above method is a risky way to run a business. A more pro-active measure would be to obtain third-party software and install it on any computers with shared drives:
You can use a recycle bin replacement, such as Undelete by Diskeeper Corporation, to get the file recovery support for shared drives and folders. These third-party programs are all-in-one deletion recovery solutions. Anything that’s deleted from a computer loaded with the program will be moved to the new recycle bin. This even included files deleted by remote network users or files you delete from flash and removable storage devices.
Excerpted fromhttp://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Computer_Science/network_file_recovery.asp
Hope this helps, or at least illuminates the issue.