virtualbox.org

Hi, I’d really appreciate guidance re a lost/deleted file.

My system:
Host: Mac OS X 10.6.8
using VirtualBox 4.1.12 with a single guest instance of windows XP Pro

I have a folder in my OS X User folder. In this folder are some MS Word documents. I can access this folder from my VB Win XP instance, and I can also access it from OS X.

Working in my Win XP guest, I opened a Word document from within this folder, did some work on it, and saved it. Then I accidentally deleted it (I meant to delete a different MS Word document in the same foler). I looked for it in the Win XP recycle bin – nothing in there. I looked for it in the Mac Trash bin – nothing there.

So the first question is, if a file was residing in OS X, but was deleted from within VB Win XP, where would it be?
The second question is, if it is irreparably deleted, what sort of file recovery process should I undertake? Do I run a file recovery wihin the virtual instance of XP, or do I run it in OS X? Or both?

Thanks very much in in advance

M

I expect the file is gone.

If you delete a file from a network folder, Windows does not put it in the recycle bin. And, although I'm not a Mac host user, I suspect OS X will not put files in its trash bin unless the file was deleted using the host shell.

This has nothing whatever to do with VirtualBox. If you had a physical Windows PC networked to your Mac it would have behaved in exactly the same way.

Since the actual deletion occurred on the Mac host, you need an undelete tool for your Mac host - and of course there is no guarantee that it will work, though you can maximize your chances if you avoid making any more filesystem changes on the host. I'm not in a position to recommend a tool.

Since the files were stored in a folder that the host was sharing with the guest you would want to run software on the host to recover.

On the Mac there's two programs that I know of for recovering files that have gotten pretty good reviews:

Disk Drill
Data Rescue

Some features only work if you have the software already installed at the time of the delete, but both can scan for files even after the fact. I think both of them allow you to "try before you buy" to scan (but not recover) for free, and if they find the file you could then purchase to recover. You should read their sites thoroughly before making a decision and especially pay attention to the fact that you should boot from a CD/DVD or USB with their software installed to do the scan. Otherwise anything you download or do to your computer (including downloading their software, so you'll want to do that on a different computer) could potentially overwrite the very file you're trying to recover.

Thanks very much for both replies. I have been trying to solve the problem overnight and from what I've learned I agree with both of you. This is a Windows issue, not a VirtualBox issue -- if a file in a shared folder is deleted, it does not go to the Recycle or Trash bin.

I did run two data recovery programs on the Mac host, they both found some old and deliberately deleted files, but did not find the file of interest. Not sure why -- I did not use the host Mac at all after making the mistake, and downloaded the file recovery programs onto a different computer and used a flash drive. I really appreciate the suggestion of the two file recovery programs, I have already tried Disk Drill but will now try Data Rescue.

Thanks very much for your input.

If you need free tools for recovering deleted files on Mac, I will suggest you 2 ones:
1. TestDisk
2. PhotoRec
The above 2 are free tools that have both Mac and Windows version. I have used them before.
If you prefer to paid tools, I think you can try the Kvisoft Mac data recovery tool which is using by me currently.

If you can't find a file on your computer or you accidently modified or deleted a file, you can restore it from a backup (if you're using Windows backup) or you can try to restore it from a previous version.

recover deleted iPhone photos
recover iPhone contacts

Previous versions are copies of files and folders that Windows automatically saves as part of a restore point. Previous versions are sometimes referred to as shadow copies.

Jathter wrote:If you can't find a file on your computer or you accidently modified or deleted a file, you can restore it from a backup (if you're using Windows backup) or you can try to restore it from a previous version.

Please read a thread before commenting on it! E.g. Windows backup and "Previous Versions" is not applicable to files stored on a Mac and made available in a shared folder. The Mac equivalent of Previous Versions (Time Machine? - I'm not a Mac user) might be applicable.