Seems I forgot to attach a file to an e-mail earlier this week, and since realizing my mistake, I've deleted the file that I was supposed to attach. The big problem is I've dumped the Recycle Bin since then.

So now I'm having my first experience with file-recovery software. This should be interesting. I'm trying Recuva since it comes from the same folks as CCleaner, and I've had good experiences with CCleaner (even if they had a bit of a security scare recently).

Of course, even if I can't recover my missing file, I'll learn something - and there's a decent chance that the person I e-mailed won't notice anyway.

Oh dear. That's never fun.

Hopefully it can be recovered safely before the system decides to re-allocate the space.

Do NOT Defragment your hard drive until you are certain that you can, or cannot recover that data.

Strange. The file I deleted isn't showing up on the list of deleted files. It's not even marked as unrecoverable - it's not showing up at all. Other files I recall deleting recently are showing up, though. I searched both the Recycle Bin and the Downloads folder (where the file originally lived), and I'm not sure why it's not on the list. I tried doing a deep scan, too. I also did some searches to confirm that I didn't misname the file.

It's an odd feeling seeing files I deleted years ago showing up on the list. Many of them are listed as fully recoverable, too. I haven't used my computer for anything sensitive, but it shows why it's important to be careful when dealing with any storage media that may have contained sensitive information.