Where to begin. I had just completed filming the Mission Bay portion of the 3-Day Walk from Del Mar to San Diego. Three days of video were edited and ready for processing, but there was no room left on the hard drive so the project could not be completed.
So I subscribed to IDrive Cloud Storage to free up space on my computer. The idea was that I would transfer files to the cloud, delete them from my computer, and then complete the video project.
Can you see where this is headed?
Who knew that it could take weeks for IDrive to transfer the files? Thinking that my computer was backed up, I started deleting documents, photos and videos — including all the clips of the 3-Day Walk.
I thought that the video software (CyberLink PowerDirector) preserved the project but it only saves the template. The PDS file has to be able to link to the original media which I deleted.
Sheer terror set in. Days of filming and editing were lost forever. I was sick to my stomach and so angry with myself. Why was I so stupid? Why didn’t I just buy an external hard drive to store data?
What about data recovery? The local computer store said they could recover data for $700. Not an option. How about data recovery software? Frankly, I was skeptical about downloading recovery software based on the mixed reviews. You might be downloading malware or spyware onto your computer.
After further research, I considered several companies that, at least, were reputable even if their software was less than impressive. It basically came down to price. Stellar Photo and Video Recovery was offering a holiday discount at just $39.99. That’s a lot better than $700, but you know the saying — “You get what you pay for”.
My expectations were low but the results far exceeded what I could have even imagined. Simply outstanding, in fact. In two hours, the software recovered 6 terabytes of data going back to when I bought the computer three years ago. Every lost or deleted file was found.
As you watch the video, keep in mind that it was reconstructed from files that were deleted from my computer. And if you want to see more, here’s a video of the 3-Day Walk campsite at Mission Bay.
Important
Be advised that an external hard drive is strongly recommended to store the recovered files. Otherwise, the restored data may overwrite existing files on your computer’s disk. While Stellar was doing its thing, I went out and purchased a Seagate One Touch plug-and-play hard drive. The software will also recover files from USB, thumb drives, flash drives, SD cards and cameras.
No compensation was received from IDrive, CyberLink, Stellar or Seagate. The 3-Day walk is a 60-mile journey to benefit the Susan G. Komen ‘Find a Cure’ Foundation.
Copyright © In Pics and Words
In Pics and Words 
Learning backup methods is crucial. I still prefer external drives. I use Scotter beyond compare. Glad you got the data back.
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It was one of my dumber mistakes.
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I have some stories of digital mistakes too.
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P. S. I’m buying a new internal 12 terabyte drive.
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When I read your title, I was thinking oh no! The closest I’ve come was losing my pictures (which got moved to another file on my hard drive). I have an external backup drive but I hadn’t sent my pictures over for 6 months! Lesson learned. Pictures were found, backed up to my external and then installed a cloud backup. I’m glad you were able to recover your great videos of the walk. They were outstanding.
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Thank you, Anne. I was smart enough to purchase a USB SanDisk Flash Drive some time ago to store tax records and such, but wasn’t prepared to lose my photos. A hard lesson learned.
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That feeling David, know it well now I buy a new external hard drive every 18month. Every month I upload photos from the month that seems to work for me.
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Impressive recovery. Wow. The pink tents are a strong message. Nice work
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It took about a week to film and edit the two videos, but then there was a sense that the project was lost forever. I never expected that the recovery software would be able to salvage much of anything. The results were impressive. No one would guess that the videos were reconstructed from 2 gigs of deleted files.
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No kidding that was a relief for you.
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What a nightmare! Glad it all worked out, David. 🙂
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