My .PDF files disappeared from my computer. How can I recover them?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
April 6, 2017
1 reply
24048 views

Correct answer Dov Isaacs

PDF files don't just “disappear¨ from a computer. They are deleted either on purpose or accidentally. There is nothing in either Reader or Acrobat that makes PDF files “disappear” by deleting them.

There are utility programs that can, depending upon disk activity since the file deletions, recover files. Deleting files generally deactivates directory entries but does not usually erase the disk sectors that contained the data. If those sectors weren't subsequently assigned to another file since the time you deleted a file, using such undelete utilities (third party, not part of Windows or MacOS) may successfully recover the file. But time is of the essence in attempting recovery.

Of course, the most dependable method of recovering your PDF files is to retrieve them from your disk backup. You do backup your disks regularly, don't you?

- Dov

Dov IsaacsCorrect answer

Legend

PDF files don't just “disappear¨ from a computer. They are deleted either on purpose or accidentally. There is nothing in either Reader or Acrobat that makes PDF files “disappear” by deleting them.

There are utility programs that can, depending upon disk activity since the file deletions, recover files. Deleting files generally deactivates directory entries but does not usually erase the disk sectors that contained the data. If those sectors weren't subsequently assigned to another file since the time you deleted a file, using such undelete utilities (third party, not part of Windows or MacOS) may successfully recover the file. But time is of the essence in attempting recovery.

Of course, the most dependable method of recovering your PDF files is to retrieve them from your disk backup. You do backup your disks regularly, don't you?

- Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

R

ryanaissance

Participant

This is absolutely incorrect. PDF files can disappear. If I download a book in pdf format and take specific note of the file name and folder, it can still disappear, never to be found on my computer again, even searching the entire pc with the correct file name. The pdf files are likely expiring, a heinous practice that all Adobe users are encouraged to duckduckgo a work around.