Any way to recover the files? Please help

I was using a software called "Folder Hider" to keep my thesis work safe from my young niece who is visiting and using my computer while I am not home. Somehow she managed to delete some files apparently necessary for the software to work. If I try to use the software now, it behaves as a fresh installation. My hidden files are nowhere to be found.
Is there some way, any way to recover these files? Please help me. It is over 3 months and around 300 pages of work and my only backup on a flash drive is a 100 pages out of date. I do not have the time time to redo the whole thing before it is due. Please please help....

 

This is a link to Download.com hoating the software I was using...
http://download.cnet.com/Free-Folder-Hider/3000-2092_4-10884537.html

 

Why would you let your niece who seems to have a destructive pc trait use a computer that you have stored such information on?

Check this program out
http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/

 

Well, first off, DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, BOOT FROM THE HARD DRIVE CONTAINING THE FILES.

Sorry for the shouting, but if you want to maximize the chances of getting your files back, you need to make sure that nothing else gets the chance to overwrite those files by accident.

Not knowing how this little app does its stuff, I would say that the simplest way to try recovering the files is to pull the hard drive from the computer, put it into an external enclosure, hook it up to another computer, and then use some sort of file/data recovery software to start looking for the files on the hard drive in question. There are a number of free data recovery apps, as indicated by this google search; however, be prepared to have to pay for a license to recover your work - the best use of most of the free versions of this stuff is to see if the app really can see those files - if it can, then it may be worthwhile buying a license to actually recover them.

 

Try this. I can't tell you how I got this information, as I would be banned from the forum, but I tried the software and found the files located here on my hard drive.

C:\SystemInfomationsIpemVolume.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

 

idq000

Thanks man.. You are a lifesaver. Wherever you got it from, that works just brilliantly. Got every shred of data back, every comma and semicolon I slaved on for a long long time.. Thanks a million once again...

Deathwinger
I couldn't take the lappie with me to college and my niece was supposed to use it under her mothers supervision.. If anyone is to blame it would be my sister.. If I am to believe my niece playing GTA non-stop erases hidden files...lol..

 

lol. This software has a dirty little secret, that, once you know what it is, you'll never need the software again. All it does is when the program runs, it checks for a hidden directory on your main drive called SystemInfomationsIpemVolume.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

If it's there, open the folder and read its contents, and if it is not there, prompt the user for a new password and create the folder. Then, all it does is just move your folders to this hidden location.

That's it! And it costs $19.50 just to move files. Heck, I'll do it for free! So, if you wasted money on this software...gosh...I feel for you.

 

That's sort of what I figured it did; but not knowing for sure I opted for the tried-and-true option of data recovery.