Accidentally deleted ALL of my digital copy files from my HDD. Help!

[Chordata]

Know of any good data recovery programs (free preferably)?

I used one, which located what I believe is the folder that stored the files, but it wanted me to register to recover them at $59.

Any suggestions (other than: you're an idiot) are welcome!

[OrlandoEastwood]

You can email Apple through iTunes and they'll give redownloads for free. But, however, if a certain title has been removed from their database, you're S.O.L.

[SellmeyourDVD]

My aunt just recently deleted all of my uncles music on their computer, maybe you guys can start a support group

[Chordata]

Originally Posted by OrlandoEastwood

You can email Apple through iTunes and they'll give redownloads for free. But, however, if a certain title has been removed from their database, you're S.O.L.

You sure about this?

I've e-mailed them about certain songs I downloaded years ago, and they sent me a form response saying, essentially, "you're S.O.L."

I'd love it if I'm wrong!

EDIT: This seems to support their response to me: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1469

Bummer.

[OrlandoEastwood]

It happened to me before and the albums I lost were still in their database and they checked through my records and then gave me redownloads for it.

EDIT: Oh, snap! They've changed their policy I guess. When it happened to me, it was like two years ago.

[brettallica]

Originally Posted by O_V_N

You sure about this?

I've e-mailed them about certain songs I downloaded years ago, and they sent me a form response saying, essentially, "you're S.O.L."

I'd love it if I'm wrong!

EDIT: This seems to support their response to me: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1469

Bummer.

Dude, if this is "the way it's gonna be" for downloaded content, it will never replace physical media. Not everyone is going to be able to back up all of their media; just having enough storage space to have one copy of all your stuff is proving to be challenging enough to some.

At any rate, sorry to hear that, man. If you have completely removed the files from your hard drive, then you will need some sort of recovery tool, be it software or service. My recommendation is to send it to a pro rather than try to do it yourself for the $60 that you'll pay for the software that may or may not work. There might be a local data recovery shop that'll do it on a "recover or don't pay" basis — and for a low price. If they can't get it, basic computer user software certainly won't.

[Chordata]

Went ahead and wrote apple begging to let me redownload them. Expecting a big "screw off dummy" .... We'll soon see. No software worked.

[Vicon]

Stellar Phoenix - http://www.stellarinfo.com/disk-recovery.htm - I use this on client machines. Trial download, not sure how much it will allow you to recover. It will at least let you see if you can.

My advice - stop using the machine until you run that program or decide what you want to do. Lastly, get one of these - http://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-a...ent+go&x=0&y=0 - and enjoy piece of mind. I have one. Saved my ass several times. It automatically backs up every night at 10.

[DJ Manyak]

Originally Posted by O_V_N

Know of any good data recovery programs (free preferably)?

I used one, which located what I believe is the folder that stored the files, but it wanted me to register to recover them at $59.

Any suggestions (other than: you're an idiot) are welcome!

try the trash can

[DarkDune]

Exactly why disc media may never go away -- IMHO of course.

[DonRSD]

quick question guys

i just bought THIS

will i be able to stream from the external hdd to my ps3 or do i havr to plug it into the ps3 usb port to stream?

does this external hdd plug into my router or what?
how can i backup all the different pc's in my house at the same time?

[Chordata]

UPDATE!

My sobbing to Apple worked! Some nice chick named Kelly Ann gave me redemption codes for ALL OF MY DIGITAL COPIES!! She said it isn't common that they do it, and they wouldn't likely do it for me again.

So this time, I'll have them stored on my CPU and then back them up to my HDD (if that's even possible...)

Thrilled with their customer service!

(P.S. I tried every freeware data recovery software I could find -- none did the trick. Problem, I think, is that they cannot find the *.m4v files that Apples uses for the video files.)

[brettallica]

Originally Posted by O_V_N

UPDATE!

My sobbing to Apple worked! Some nice chick named Kelly Ann gave me redemption codes for ALL OF MY DIGITAL COPIES!! She said it isn't common that they do it, and they wouldn't likely do it for me again.

So this time, I'll have them stored on my CPU and then back them up to my HDD (if that's even possible...)

Thrilled with their customer service!

(P.S. I tried every freeware data recovery software I could find -- none did the trick. Problem, I think, is that they cannot find the *.m4v files that Apples uses for the video files.)

That is friggin' awesome news!

Be sure to get yourself some kind of backup system now!

[Chordata]

Originally Posted by brettallica

That is friggin' awesome news!

Be sure to get yourself some kind of backup system now!

Hell that WAS my backup system. Completely forgot that I had them stored there when I deleted it all (and emptied the recycling bin).

[Sussudio]

I've accidentally deleted all of my digital copies before too....I simply contacted the respective studios regarding each specific title (separately) and explained the situation, respectfully asking for another code. Every single studio emailed me back a new code (or told me my old code had been reset) and I was able to download them to my computer again

[brettallica]

Originally Posted by DonRSD

quick question guys

i just bought THIS

will i be able to stream from the external hdd to my ps3 or do i havr to plug it into the ps3 usb port to stream?

does this external hdd plug into my router or what?
how can i backup all the different pc's in my house at the same time?

It is a USB external hard drive, so it will need to be plugged in to a device (like a computer or PS3) for any data to be read from or written to it.

If you wanted to back up different PCs in your house to it, you will have to keep it on a computer that will share its directories to each user in your network, and that computer will need to be on 24/7 (or at least during the times your backups are scheduled). Once you have established the sharing privileges for the drive, each computer in your network should be able to see it. From there, you would tell your backup software to save the backups to that drive. Of course, you'd have to do that over your network, which is not something I would particularly recommend. It's always best to do backups to a hard drive that is connected directly to the computer (via USB, FireWire, etc).

[pokefan]

Originally Posted by DonRSD

quick question guys

i just bought THIS

will i be able to stream from the external hdd to my ps3 or do i havr to plug it into the ps3 usb port to stream?

does this external hdd plug into my router or what?
how can i backup all the different pc's in my house at the same time?

As far as streaming goes, you'd have a hard time transferring things from a PC then being able to hook up to the PS3. They don't really like the same file systems. I hook mine up to my computer in the office and have it wired in via ethernet to the PS3 and run PS3 Media Server to stream them. Works great and handles a lot more file extensions then the PS3 or Win. MP will.

[bandit29]

Originally Posted by pokefan

As far as streaming goes, you'd have a hard time transferring things from a PC then being able to hook up to the PS3. They don't really like the same file systems. I hook mine up to my computer in the office and have it wired in via ethernet to the PS3 and run PS3 Media Server to stream them. Works great and handles a lot more file extensions then the PS3 or Win. MP will.

Yeah PS3 Media Server works great. Better than WMP. You can stream MKVs with PS3 Media Server too..