file restoration

[Mark Manzano]

Hi, 
   
  I am using freeBSD Unix and someone deleted a bunch of files from the hard drive. I know when you delete a file from unix, only the pointer or inode is deleted and not the actual file. From a software perspective,  the information is probally gone. However on a hardware perspective I believe the data is still there.  Are there any tools to retrieve the lost files?
   
  This is what I want to do: 
   
    On the hardware level the hard drive is a physical storage device with little tiny "switches" that flip between 1's and 0's. Those switches stay set to whatever they were set at unless they are set to something else. What I want to attach the hard drive to another computer with a second hard drive in it (a blank one) and boot to a floppy disk. From there, a program or tool will scan all the switches ( 1s and 0s) to try to find patterns that indicate the presence of files. Then copy those files to the blank hard drive.
   
   
  Thank you.
   
   

 		
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