[Picasahelp]

So I'm trying to recover deleted images that have been deleted "permanently" in the recycle bin. After trying what seems like everything (programs that recover deleted files, programs that can recover corrupted jpgs after I finally recover the pictures), I opened Picasa 3 for kicks. My pictures were still "there"! I could view them in full size and everything (not just a thumbnail), but then after about fifteen seconds the pictures disappeared. After I was ready to rip the keyboard apart, I thought, maybe Picasa keeps copies of pictures somewhere, even after I deleted them? If you can offer any help, I'll appreciate it!

[Elvandil]

If you have lost files somewhere on your drive, the very first thing you need to do is shut off the machine. Every second it runs, and every click you make, makes more of those files get overwritten and unrecoverable.

If those files are important to you, you need to shut Windows down immediately, boot from a live CD that will run in RAM or put the drive in another machine to recover your files.

UBCD4Win

[Picasahelp]

Recovering the files via the regular method is a lost hope unfortunately. Most of the deleted files are corrupted now anyway. That's why my last hope is Picasa, solely due to the fact that I could access full-resolution copies of the images after they were permanently deleted on my computer.

[Elvandil]

The "regular" method would be what I described. No one would try to recover files from a drive they were using if they really wanted them back.

UBCD4Win can be booted and run recovery software. You lost more files just by responding to this post.

[Picasahelp]

Yeah, I know what you described was the regular method. That method doesn't work for me, as those pictures were deleted around four months ago and have been overwritten many many times by the computer. I'm not looking for any solutions regarding this "regular" method.

My last hope is through Picasa, only because I could access full-resolution, non-corrupted copies of the images that were clearly not the original images I deleted after they were permanently deleted from my hard disk.

[vicks]

It is my understanding, that the pictures you put into albums are stored on Picassa, I could be wrong though.
I hope you are able to save them
vicks

[Hughv]

That's an interesting phenomenon. Rt-click one of these images and select "Locate on disk" to see where they are.
Picasa doesn't copy any of your images-it's just a front end for Windows explorer. Have you uploaded any of these images to Picasa Web Gallery?
From Picasa Help:
"When you install Picasa, it scans your hard drive for folders containing image files and displays your photos from these folders. These folders, along with the albums you create, make up the organization of your photos.

Folders in Picasa represent actual folders on your computer's hard drive that contain photos. Changes you make to folders in Picasa affect the corresponding folders on your computer's hard drive. For example, deleting a photo from a folder also deletes the photo from your hard drive.

Albums, unlike folders, exist only in Picasa. You can create an album that contains combinations of photos from multiple folders. For example, you might create an album called 'Pictures with Grandma,' and include photos featuring Grandma housed in different folders. Unlike Picasa folders, your albums don't correspond to real folders on your hard drive. When you delete or move photos from an album, the original files remain in their original locations on your hard drive."