Renaming files

[Andante]

Aargh, I'm so upset! Though I've been using AllDup for many many years, today was the first time I tried to rename several files at once.

I selected about 10 files, and I wanted the files to be renamed <original name><space b><original extension>. So I looked at Help and saw how to do it. It should have been: %1 b%2

However, I made a small mistake. Instead I used: %01 b%02

So AllDup left me with only one file!! The rest were all deleted. (No, they're not in the Recycle Bin, and they were not combined into one file.)

Aarghh!!!!

[Administrator]

We added the new option "Replace files with the same name" to prevent further human errors when using the rename action.

[Andante]

Does that mean I have indeed permanently lost those files?

[Administrator]

The content of the files is not really overwritten by AllDup.
Windows just marked these files as deleted and dont show them anymore.
You can try to recover them using a file recovery software.
Stop all actions on the hard disk containing the deleted files.
Boot your computer with a recovery software cd/usb to prevent windows or another software start to overwrite the free space containing your deleted files!

[Andante]

Oh, thank you, Admin, very helpful!

I'm not familiar with any file recovery software. Can you recommend a couple to me? This happened on an old desktop using Windows XP.

Thanks so much.

[Administrator]

data recovery live cd

[Andante]

Thank you, Admin! I'm afraid that the Runtime Live CD process is a bit much for me. Are you aware of something simpler?

[Administrator]

Check out this free file recovery tools

[Andante]

Follow up: The file recovery programs didn't help (I tried more than one), and I was never able to regain those files that I lost.