What is the crowd's opinion of FreeUndelete?

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> I really don't want to download additional software.

Then you're going to have a problem. Minecraft does a hard delete of files, so they won't go to the Recycle Bin. The only way to restore deleted files is with a third party application since Windows doesn't come with any native tools to recover deleted data. This sort of thing is why I keep a portable copy of FreeUndelete on a USB thumb drive -- though technically this isn't a replacement for proper periodic backups. When you delete files, the space is marked as available and there's a chance the files you want to recover can end up either partially or completely destroyed. If you work quickly, you might still be able to restore the deleted world, but it could be gone for good. The more activity the drive sees the more likely it is to get overwritten.

What exactly is it doing? And what is your expertise with PCs?

I've pulled data off drives that were pretty far gone. If Windows is having trouble reading it, Linux will often prevail. You need to download and burn Knoppix. If it can mount the drive, it will be pretty persistent in copying data. Much more than Windows.

You can try some recovery software. The important thing is to not write to the drive, so you need a place to store anything it recovers and it has to be greater capacity than the defective drive.

For a hard delete the only possible method is file undelete tools. However, complete recovery isn't guaranteed. When you delete files the data remains on the drive and some traces of file metadata are left behind but the space becomes up for grabs to the computer and there's a chance some or all of the world's files have been overwritten and can't be restored.

Something like FreeUndelete might recover the data. If possible the program (and anything else until the recovery attempt is completed) should be done on another computer and the program should be installed on and run from an external device like a USB thumb drive to minimize loss.

If you did a factory restore, my guess is that you chose "Fully Clean The Drive", which would do a format of the drive.

I don't know how much luck you're going to have unless you use special tools. You might need to check with the folks over at /r/computerforensics/

If you want to try something free in the meantime, try FreeUndelete - just make sure to read the whole section under "Proper Usage Techniques".

This is super important. Don't skip it. -- If your files are somehow still on the drive, you don't want to overwrite those sectors by installing the program to that same hard drive that you're trying to recover from, so either download to a USB or another hard drive.

UPDATE:

Minus 1 points. Wow. Post a useful comment, get downvoted. Love you guys.

Try FreeUndelete - just make sure to read the whole section under "Proper Usage Techniques".

This is super important. Don't skip it.

The photos are likely still on your hard drive - but if you download or install the recovery program on your hard drive, those sectors could get overwritten, so either download to a USB or another hard drive.

Then read my other comment about undoing that setting on your PC.

They're both worth checking but it mostly hinges on what happened after the fact. If the drive was formatted and left to sit then recovery is probable. If Windows was installed and a bunch of stuff copied over then it becomes less likely.

http://lifehacker.com/5237503/five-best-free-data-recovery-tools

http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/free-data-recovery-software.htm

http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/

Avoid using the drive in the meantime (don't write data to it if it can be helped and any data restored needs to go to a different storage)

Okay, chkdsk. They aren't missing so much as they were already corrupt and beyond the point of salvation--file table record keeping is a complicated process. You can try data recovery now such as http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/ or http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/free-data-recovery-software.htm

Ha! I don't think there's been an undelete command native to DOS since 6.2. Who knows why they stopped.

You can grab a utility like http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/ and I'm sure some program out there has a command line utility if you absolutely need one.

http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/

Beware, though - if you've done much with your computer since you deleted the files, it's most likely the space has now been used for something else. This is why they recommend putting the utility on USB rather than on your disk, to avoid clobbering your old data.

No responsibility taken for loss, malware, or anything else. None.

At least you can run a recovery program like Undelete if you act quickly and don't keep writing to the drive.

Send me a message if that doesn't work and you would like a different application. It's commercial, but you may not have $500 sitting around to pay for software and I hate to see anybody lose irreplaceable data. Even moreso over iTunes shitty syncing system.

Undelete is a free utility that I have used before, it can undelete data from discs that have been erased (and not overwritten with new data). My daughter accidentally erased all of her pictures from her camera and I was able to recover all picture and movie files successfully.