M2,
And in addition to my post above which was a response to your questions with a couple of my questions thrown in, could you please tell me how to save GetBackData results, so that I don't have to repeat another four hours to get to the completed result?
(I tried File - "Save recovery", however when I tried to open the file on my Desktop I was asked to "Open with", and after all the selections the original 4 hour file was not there.

I didn't try to open a folder it was a file. On the left was the directory and on the right were the files, (Step 3 of GetBackData). I followed your directions because I printed a copy of them and followed each step. "Open with" was not a selection (for me) until I first opened the file. Over 6,300 directories 103,000 files, and 16.9 GB from a 30 GB hard drive located this way. I tried search for specific files and came up empty. I'm not interested in paying for this, just locating as many lost files by this method. Do you think that other free programs can find any more results? After opening each file, you have to go back to Step 2 to open the next file, and none of the names of the files correspond to any names of files I've lost. Do I write "*.*filename.doc" in the Search box to locate a specific file or something else? I've been working with this program for almost two weeks so I only ask you questions about the things I don't know, like what to write in a search box to locate a specific Word file.

Mr2,
Obviously you have a different list of files to choose from.
Did you use the default method to choose how to get to Step 3 or did you select some other method?
Please tell me what you did to get to Step 3.
Did you right click on the right side under the "files" list of Step 3? I saw "Open with" there but it was shaded and not a choice until I first opened the file. Maybe you can send me a screenshot of your step 3?
Do other free programs find lost data differently from one another or do they all use the same method?

To get to Step 3 I did exactly as I wrote in the post with the screenshots - I clicked Next. At this point I see a small window pop up in the centre of the screen that shows all the entries like "3844219:4D 5A 90 00 00 00 20 00" scrolling up in a long list. Then the screen appears as shown in Step 3 of that post, listing the files found in a more intelligible way.

I then right click on a filename in the right hand window and the context menu appears. I showed this in Step 4. You will not see all the entries in that popup context menu on your system as some depend on other utilities being installed (the entry 'Call DiskExplorer' is one). Have you tried pressing Ctrl + Enter (together) to see if the Open With command works?

Also, open My Computer, navigate to My Documents and right click on any file there. If the Open With choice does not appear then there is something going wrong in Windows itself.

Data recovery programs work in different ways but basically they all search the disk for data (files or file fragments) and then try to show the results in a form which we can read and understand. One program may work where another fails. That is why I urge you to try all the programs I mentioned and to experiment with them (the Help files can be very instructional).

mr2,
I did not see a step 4 only step 3 (recovery tree). How did you get to a step 4? In step 3 I right click on a file only to see open, copy, show info, rename, Call diskexplorer, & search files as options available when I right click a file. Open with does not become an option for me until I open a file, then I can open with and choose every program but none of them on the files i selected show any information about the file except gibberish.
The only program I had luck with so far was Pandora

sweets1953,

You did see a Step 4 - you made a statement about it in your post here .

You have not let me know if the Open With option is available from My Computer.

You have not told me what you do to 'open a file' before right clicking.

I know a little about data recovery. I know nothing about telepathy. If you don't tell me exactly what you are doing and what is happening on your computer (as I have tried to do when explaining things) then I cannot provide meaningful assistance.

As you get on better with Pandora then I suggest you stick with that application. If you still can't recover your data then it is time to accept the fact that you have lost those files and move on. A rather harsh learning experience, admittedly, but you now have your external drive to back up your data so you should be safe from this kind of mistake in the future.

I thought you meant an actual Step 4 of GetBackData, there is none. Step 4 was your terminology for what to do with Step 3 of GetBackData.
We need to be on the same page here.
Open with, (via Control + Enter) is an option with the my documents in My Computer.
To open a file in GetBackData I right click on a file and select Open.
One more thing, there are over 109,000 files found with GetBackData, the last 45 files can utilize Open With (some files are in red, what does this mean?), all the other files found do not allow Open With. I would like to continue with GetBackData.

MR2,
Since I will always have this hard drive I will continue to experiment with varoius programs for for file retrieval. If I know the name of the missing Word file, would I always type, *.*filename.doc in the Search box of any file recovery program?
If I don't remember the missing Word file would I always type, *.*.doc in the search box of any file retireval program?
Is the prefix, *.* universal for all file retrieval programs, once I run the program and locate all the lost files? Thank you.

The * character is called a 'wildcard' and stands for any (or no) characters in the filename. Thus mister*.doc would find files named mister.doc, mister2.doc, mister2123456789.doc and so on. Similarly, mister2.* would find files named mister2, mister2.doc, mister2.exe, mister2.xls and so on.

In your case you need to use the following:

If you know the filename then type the full name, for example MyLetter.doc

If you remember only part of the filename then type * for the bit you don't remember.
For example MyLetter*.doc will find MyLetter.doc, MyLetter01.doc, MyLetterToYou.doc and so on.
Typing *Letter.doc will find MyLetter.doc, YourLetter.doc, HerLetter.doc and so on.

If you use *.* then the program will search for every file and so is not much use. This applies to virtually all programs that allow you to search for a particular file.

MR2,
Will typing, *Tax Reporting.doc find things like TAXREPORTING.doc, Tax Reporting.doc, or will typing, *CDR, find variations like CDR2.doc,
CDR-2.doc, CDR 2.doc. In other words all variations and combinations if I cannot remember exactly the wordfile name?

No, you need to use the * to represent the character(s) that may or may not be there.

tax*reporting.doc will do what you need. Even better, I would use tax*report*.doc, which would find the filenames you mentioned and also things like Tax Reports.doc, TaxReport01.doc and even Tax reportinj.doc in case it got spelled wrong.

For the case of cdr.doc you need to use cdr*.doc or *cdr*.doc - that last one will fine any filename containing 'cdr' or 'CDR'.

Mr2,
On a different subject, what would you type in a trusted sites box to indicate all forms of a website that are allowed to be viewed? For instance to cover all forms of netzero.com would you type. *.netzero.com?