File, file on the wall, who has the best file recovery software of them all? If I have to kiss Cinderella's ugly step-mother to make that video file reappear, so be it. I'm begging.

David has just learned from a computer friend what file recovery software is and what it can do for him. He is a professional photographer that has just deleted his clients entire digital wedding production on his computer. His career, where nepotism and references are the cornerstone of new business in such a small town, is on the line.

Who is going to recommend David the ditz, who forgot to backup his business, who lost Mom's and Dad's baby girl's dream? Right now, he is in the 'dog house' and file recovery software is about to recover his reputation.

The mistake happened like this

Mr. 'D' deleted the video data that was saved on his desktop while editing it. My first thought is, why would anybody save something so important there? Anyway, during the editing process, he invoked one of those obscure shortcuts in the program that we never mean to click; we do not even know what it does. When he told the pop-up to go away, he basically said to delete the file. And so, we received a phone call asking which file recovery software could recover his lost file; or if he should send it in for data recovery services.

You know the end of the story: the file recovery software recovered, "Yes, I do", Mr. Ditz's reputation, and the couple lived happily ever after. So, let us move on to you. Is this going to be a Cinderella story, or is the Grinch going to be the one who stole your data? That depends on what actions you have taken so far, and how well the file recovery software works.

The most important factor

You need to know in using file recovery software is to do nothing. More permanent data loss happens in the first reaction hour after the problem occurs than at any other time, according to my two decades of experience in dealing with data recovery clients. Just don't do it; Gather the facts, possible solutions, and then move forward with the educated intent of knowing what to do and how to use file recovery software.

Now that the lecture is over, let us do just that: Take a quick look at the actual programs and the reviews, and what other people have said about the user-friendliness. Then let's see if the setup process is easy, and most importantly, the results with each solution. I suggest doing this because have you ever seen a website promote software or services where failure has occurred?

Bookmark, because "where was that site?"

Next, download. After running a utility and previewing your files, go recover them. If that does work, click that bookmark and go get another file recovery software. You can even try a free file recovery product if you just need a deleted file recovery utility. In the end, if you aren't seeing your files using file recovery software, give us a jingle, because the wizards in the laboratory have magic wands to recover data.