Member Avatar for hisoka

hi to all.

i have a file in my usb flash drive that was accidentally cutted by my friends to his local computer. His hard disk was bad now and not detected by bios anymore, i also tried to put the hard disk to another pc but it doesnt work anymore. Meaning to say, his hd is unusable now and ready to dispose.

My question is, can I still recover my cutted files in my flash drive before? and what is the best file recovery software, may you recommend to recover that files again.


Thanks to all in advance.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

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Short answer: if the cut-and-paste completed successfully, the file was moved off the USB and now sits on your friend’s hard drive — so recovering it from the flash stick is unlikely. Windows implements a move across different volumes as a copy-then-delete, so the original entry is removed from the source once the copy succeeds. (MoveFileEx documentation).

As explained the file ended up on the friend’s disk, and as others here noted, the immediate priorities are to avoid further damage and avoid accidental overwrites. Do not keep powering a disk that is clicking or not seen by BIOS, and do not try risky home fixes (freezing, head swaps). Professional labs recommend powering down and sending the drive for evaluation (clean-room work may be needed). (DriveSavers, Ontrack guidance).

If the bad HDD can be made visible by another machine, first make a block-level image and work from the image. Imaging with a tool that favors rescuable blocks and keeps a map/log (GNU ddrescue) is the standard approach for failing disks — then run recovery tools on the image rather than the original. (See ddrescue usage notes: Ubuntu DataRecovery ddrescue guidance.)

If the only device you can access is the flash drive (it still mounts but the file is gone), try software recovery — PhotoRec (free, file-carving; may lose filenames) or Recuva (user-friendly Windows GUI). Always recover to a different drive and do not write recovered files back to the source. (PhotoRec docs, Recuva).

Quick checklist

  • Ask the friend whether the pasted file opens on their PC before doing anything.
  • Stop using both drives (do not copy/install recovery tools onto them).
  • If the HDD is detected: image it with ddrescue, then attempt recovery from the image.
  • If the USB is detected: run PhotoRec or Recuva and save recovered files to another disk.
  • If the HDD is not detected by BIOS or makes unusual noises: contact a reputable recovery lab (Ontrack/DriveSavers) for evaluation.

Notes: SSDs/external flash behave differently (TRIM can make deleted data unrecoverable), and paid/demo tools often limit saving results — try free, portable options first and call a lab when the data is critical.

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Member Avatar for dos_centavos

hi to all.

i have a file in my usb flash drive that was accidentally cutted by my friends to his local computer. His hard disk was bad now and not detected by bios anymore, i also tried to put the hard disk to another pc but it doesnt work anymore. Meaning to say, his hd is unusable now and ready to dispose.

My question is, can I still recover my cutted files in my flash drive before? and what is the best file recovery software, may you recommend to recover that files again.


Thanks to all in advance.

You can try this http://www.flashfixers.com/ - I've used the program to recover stuff on HD(s) and flash drives

Member Avatar for caperjack

i tried it ,nice program but you will have to buy it ,demo only allows 10 files and doesn't all you to pick the 10 you want to save ,it actually found the thumb drive security file i deleted from the drive when i first bought it ,it found 219 file in total but would not show me what they were ,so even i bought if have no way of know if its going to find the file i cut to see if it would find cutted files.

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