Halo 1 & 2 for PC
This topic has moved here: Subject: Regretting a moral trade.
  • Subject: Regretting a moral trade.
Subject: Regretting a moral trade.
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Well, to start things off, for Christmas, I got Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life2. Both are roughly 4Gigs each, and I decided to transfer some of my recorded Halo clips to my empty dvd to make the space. Unfortunately, my dvd wasn't working at all, so as a last resort (and the dumbest thing I've done in my life) I deleted 4 gigs worth of clips I saved up for months to install CS:S. Well, CS:S sucked pure balls (contrary to my expectations), so I uninstalled that to install Half-Life 2 (remember, I only had room to install one of the games I got for Christmas). Half-Life 2 was fun for a while, but I feel it wasn't worth the trade. The story's quite fine for HL2, but the so-called "combat" parts are ridiculously boring, I found it more fun to listen to my fellow npc's than fighting combines. Now I officially hate Valve. 98/100 my ass.

I know there's a way to get deleted files back, unless you reformatted your drive. The only thing is, I don't know how. Can someone here tell me how to? Hopefully the procedure's not as frustrating as I expect it to be...=/

Thanks a bunch beforehands to whoever is willing to help. And Happy New Years and Merry late Christmas! =D

  • 12.31.2007 7:31 AM PDT
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Not the brightest thing you could have done, but hey, everyone screws up sometime. I personally like Half-Life 2 and CS: Source, so I'm going to withhold vital information. Mwahahaha. Nah, just kidding. It's public information, buy Norton Utilities either by itself or with one of its Systemworks Suites. Norton Utilities should recover the data, as long as you don't Defrag. If you want all the files intact, DON'T play around with the computer. GO TO THE STORE RIGHT NOW and get Norton Utilities. Hope this helps you out, gl. And btw, (read this last part on Jan 1, 2008) Happy New Year.

  • 12.31.2007 7:45 AM PDT
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I'm afraid the only way to recover lost files is if they're still in the recycle bin - and even if they are in the bin, they still suck up space.

Tell me how it would be physically possible to delete (and thus, free) 4 GB of data from your HDD, yet still have it sit in there somehow? If the data was still in your HDD, sitting somewhere, hidden, I'm afraid it would still suck-up data.

It's gone forever. Sorry.

And I think HL2 is a very enjoyable game. Haven't played CS: Source, but I guess Counter-Strike isn't for you :X

EDIT: And if the data is still somehow sitting somewhere, must be in teh disc cache. I have no clue.

[Edited on 12.31.2007 7:48 AM PST]

  • 12.31.2007 7:48 AM PDT
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It's not gone forever, despite what Mr Faucy Pants believes, he is misinformed. Get Norton Utilities NOW!!! The data is still on your harddrive, and all you need to do is recover it.

  • 12.31.2007 7:55 AM PDT
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It's not Mr Faucy Pants, despite what Recoton007 believes, he is misinformed. It is Mr Faucy Paunts =D

Also, just snag a copy of it off Bit Torrent or something.

  • 12.31.2007 7:59 AM PDT
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Thanks Recoton007, I'll try it, but the thing is, not only am I broke at the moment (ah, the feeling of not having money in your wallet after Christmas shopping...), but if I install a program, it's automatically no space for my recovered files...xD

And to Faucy pants, I understand your point there, but trust me, the file is still there, just not anywhere near the main "drive" (it's still in the drive though). Anyways, you brought up a question I've been meaning to ask somebody for ages...WTF is the Recycle Bin for??? It's either you keep the file, thus sucking up nessacery amount of space, or you throw it out, never existing but freeing up HD space...Recycle Bin has none of the benfits and all of the flaws. WTF??? That's why there's absolutely nothing in my recycle bin, it's either I throw the file out permanently or I keep it for safe keeping in a remote folder...I see no use for the bin.

  • 12.31.2007 8:06 AM PDT
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Yeah, I guess the files could be sitting around somewhere in your HDD (and what the heck do you mean by "main drive"..?). But, I think this would be possible for only paperweight files. Like, when some cubicle monkey is using Microsoft Office in his cubicle up in some office, and decides to delete it.. but then wants it back, he asks the "computer guy" to recover it for him, and justice is done. Point being: I think it only keeps paperweight files around, like small .txt files, or anything like that.

Because like I said, if those 4 GB were still sitting somewhere, how would it be physically possible to free up 4 GB, yet still retain the data somewhere? It's possible for other data, MUCH smaller in size to be retained somewhere in the disc cache, but 4 GB? I believe that's a no-no.

I hope you know what I'm getting at.

  • 12.31.2007 8:11 AM PDT
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Posted by: Mr Faucy Paunts
Yeah, I guess the files could be sitting around somewhere in your HDD (and what the heck do you mean by "main drive"..?). But, I think this would be possible for only paperweight files. Like, when some cubicle monkey is using Microsoft Office in his cubicle up in some office, and decides to delete it.. but then wants it back, he asks the "computer guy" to recover it for him, and justice is done. Point being: I think it only keeps paperweight files around, like small .txt files, or anything like that.

Because like I said, if those 4 GB were still sitting somewhere, how would it be physically possible to free up 4 GB, yet still retain the data somewhere? It's possible for other data, MUCH smaller in size to be retained somewhere in the disc cache, but 4 GB? I believe that's a no-no.

I hope you know what I'm getting at.


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!111oneone

You teh liar!!! Argh! Liar!!!

Lmfao jk mate. But dam, that's bad news. Hopefully, something works out. I worked and played for months to get those clips...=/

  • 12.31.2007 8:15 AM PDT
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Yeah, I hope you can get this worked-out =[

I may not always know all the facts, but I'm just working off logic here. When, you say, copy your Microsoft Word file for school, print it out, then decide to delete it from the recycle bin, you may sometimes decide you need it back. And I'm pretty sure Windows (or whatever) may keep a local copy of it sitting somewhere in the disc cache. What's storing a 4 to 20 KB to Windows in the disc-cache? Mi ri? But that's something completely different whe...

Alright, I'm going around in circles. I'm just working off "you can't get something for nothing here", I hope you get your files back somehow, and blah.

I'd recommend getting an external HDD next time :XX

EDIT: I think the recycle bin is good for if you just want a place to dump files, but might want a file back at some point. It's more of a means of storage/organization, if anything else.

[Edited on 12.31.2007 8:22 AM PST]

  • 12.31.2007 8:20 AM PDT
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There are freeware programs out there that can recover lost files, i don't know how well they work. I did a quick Google and found quite a few. Like i said I've never used them but i hope you can get them back. Check this one out.
I agree, being how its 4g of video its highly unlikely you will ever see it again :(

[Edited on 12.31.2007 9:13 AM PST]

  • 12.31.2007 9:10 AM PDT
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Just going to throw some info in here.

You can often recover deleted files, but in this case because of how little drive space you had, and that you filled the space back up, your files won't be there now.

If you overwrite the sectors on your drive with new data (which you did by installing the games), the old stuff is gone.

[Edited on 12.31.2007 12:23 PM PST]

  • 12.31.2007 12:22 PM PDT
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Posted by: Btcc22
Just going to throw some info in here.

You can often recover deleted files, but in this case because of how little drive space you had, and that you filled the space back up, your files won't be there now.

If you overwrite the sectors on your drive with new data (which you did by installing the games), the old stuff is gone.
Yep. The perfectly sums-up my jumbled mess of an explanation =D

Anyhow, I'd recommend you get an external HDD, and if you're absolutely critical on room, you should back-up your files on one. And like I said, you don't get something from nothin'.

  • 12.31.2007 12:37 PM PDT

I STRONGLY suggest you invest in a backup HDD. You can get one with a 1-touch backup system for a few hundred dollars. It may seem like a waste of money, but trust me, it's worth it. I got a more expensive model because I have mutlipul computers I needed to back up, including a Linux server. Several times I screwed up my web site configuration file, but thank God I had that backup I had made the day before :)

  • 01.01.2008 9:41 AM PDT

And I'm always desperate for room, too. I have a 250 GB HDD, but that's nowhere near enough for me. I need either an external HDD, or an internal 1 TB HDD :X

  • 01.01.2008 9:54 AM PDT
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Do not get norton. There are plenty of 'undelete' programs out there which are free and work perfectly fine. Seeing as you overwrote sections of your HD though, chances are that most of your deleted data will be unrecoverable, though there is always a chance. Give it a try anyway though, it can't hurt.

edit: also, if you by any chance were storing your videos in program files or a similar "program" area, system restore might save you big time there.

[Edited on 01.01.2008 11:03 AM PST]

  • 01.01.2008 11:02 AM PDT
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Posted by: Doug52392
I STRONGLY suggest you invest in a backup HDD. You can get one with a 1-touch backup system for a few hundred dollars. It may seem like a waste of money, but trust me, it's worth it. I got a more expensive model because I have mutlipul computers I needed to back up, including a Linux server. Several times I screwed up my web site configuration file, but thank God I had that backup I had made the day before :)


OR he could just buy another 500gb drive for around 100 bucks and have all the room he needs...
The final word on this is, if you just "deleted" them then you put them in the recycle bin and can restore them (by the way, it's there for people who accidentally delete files -a little like yourself- and want them back later on.) OR if you cleaned out your RB after you deleted the clips, norton will grab em for you. It can read the small fragments that are left from when you deleted it and restore it( once you make more room). Seriously though man, surely you could find some stuff that was easier to delete. And finding a hard drive pretty much anywhere isn't that difficult. Go to a junkyard or something!

As a side note, I can't believe you hated HL2. I'm crying over here, cause you're officially the very first person I know who didn't love every second of it.

  • 01.01.2008 12:26 PM PDT
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Posted by: Ryanman7
Posted by: Doug52392
I STRONGLY suggest you invest in a backup HDD. You can get one with a 1-touch backup system for a few hundred dollars. It may seem like a waste of money, but trust me, it's worth it. I got a more expensive model because I have mutlipul computers I needed to back up, including a Linux server. Several times I screwed up my web site configuration file, but thank God I had that backup I had made the day before :)


OR he could just buy another 500gb drive for around 100 bucks and have all the room he needs...
The final word on this is, if you just "deleted" them then you put them in the recycle bin and can restore them (by the way, it's there for people who accidentally delete files -a little like yourself- and want them back later on.) OR if you cleaned out your RB after you deleted the clips, norton will grab em for you. It can read the small fragments that are left from when you deleted it and restore it( once you make more room). Seriously though man, surely you could find some stuff that was easier to delete. And finding a hard drive pretty much anywhere isn't that difficult. Go to a junkyard or something!

As a side note, I can't believe you hated HL2. I'm crying over here, cause you're officially the very first person I know who didn't love every second of it.


I doubt fragments of video clips will be much use to him.

Just think twice next time. ;)

  • 01.01.2008 7:06 PM PDT

Long live the Last Refuge!

one thing you should always remember Vaule makes piece of -blam!- games.

  • 01.02.2008 5:07 AM PDT

Hello! Star Wars FTW. Also, join the MAW group. Please?

Way to contribute to the conversation, halo3leader.[/sarcasm]
Orange box ftw.

And just so it appears that I myself am contributing to the conversation and not just telling off halo3leader, er, yeah the files are gone. How big is your HDD anyway, 10 gigs all told?

  • 01.02.2008 6:54 AM PDT

Long live the Last Refuge!

60 it sucks, also i played that and it sucked I only like portal and that game wasn't that great anyway.

[Edited on 01.02.2008 7:47 AM PST]

  • 01.02.2008 7:46 AM PDT
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Posted by: Ryanman7
I'm crying over here, cause you're officially the very first person I know who didn't love every second of it.

Ugh, make me the second then. The game is far from being baby Jesus.

  • 01.02.2008 8:53 AM PDT
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Posted by: Btcc22
I doubt fragments of video clips will be much use to him.

Just think twice next time. ;)


Not fragmented clips. The way a hard drive works, is that even if you delete something and write over it, (and in some extreme cases, even if you defrag) there are still remnants of the data left over. Norton's programs can analyze these and piece them back together. It's why people who have a buch of child -blam!- on their computer rush to drop a hard drive in the microwave, because even if they delete everything the FBI party van can pick up what was left over.

At least I think so. Never used any of norton's programs (recycle bin ftw) but I believe that is why.

Ah and I know it's not cool to actually like a hit game but to be honest with you, I think Half-Life 2 was an amazing achievement. That game left me feeling in awe at the profound way the world was created. It was believable. At the same time, just the raw emotion that the cityscapes and every empty, desolate environment created just left me out of breath. Combat was not the best ever (friendly AI anyone?) but still in my top ten to be sure. And characters were, just like the rest of the game, easy to get to know and really believe in. It was one of those gems where you didn't have to try to act like you were in a situation... you just felt like you were there. Only other two games that were like that for me were Bioshock and Homeworld.

  • 01.02.2008 6:19 PM PDT

Don't drink to excess– You might shoot at tax-collectors... and miss

Computer: Power Mac G5 CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (2.2) Number Of CPUs: 2 CPU Speed: 1.8 GHz L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB Memory: 1.25 GB Bus Speed: 900 MHz

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Display Type: LCD Resolution: 1680 x 1050 Depth: 32-bit Color

There's a website called versiontracker.com. They started as a resource for Macs only, but have branched out to other platforms. They list all kinds of software and links to where to download it, including freeware and shareware. And people review the software so you can get an idea of if it's worth downloading.

  • 01.03.2008 9:30 PM PDT