I deleted a recorded file by mistake from the DWP vn-480 series and am trying hard to retrieve it somehow!! Is there any hope of retrieval???

You can use Digital Media Recovery Utility to retrieve your deleted data. This software supports all versions of Windows like Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, 98, 2003, 2000 and 2008 Server. I'm use this software and I am happy because this software too good. For more details: http://www.digitalphoto.freedatarecoverysoftware.org/

Try Google for VN 5000 manual, or link your device to your computer via USB cable, and click on your device, you should be able to see your items from there. Re install the file you wish to.!!

try this photo recovery program called asoftech photo recovery, I use the program to recovered the photos successfully.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Asoftech-Photo-Recovery/126127714100611?sk=info

Nope.

I assume you dont have the users manual because the manual is straightforward about how to do this.
To download the users manual go to www.olympusamerica.com

There are many steps in installing Digital Wave Player on VISTA, it is important to follow every step since installing Digital Wave Player on VISTA is dependent on this process.
Install a VN recorder on VISTA
*************************
1. Make sure the device has been uninstalled in device manager
2. Make sure the old version of digital wave player is uninstalled.
{Delete Temp files in Internet Explorer --Tools--Internet Options --Delete Files-- Delete offline content--OK}
3. Install digital wave player (The newest Version).
http://www.olympusamerica.com/files/DigitalWavePlayer.zip
4. Install the 2.1.4 vista update
http://olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/software_results.asp?id=1291&os=w
5. Restart the computer.
6. Plug in the VN recorder to the USB port and turn the recorder on.
"Found new hardware" will appear,
7. install automatically.
This may fail, if you see VNUSB device, skip the final steps and proceed to Digital Wave Player to Download files from the Digital Voice Recorder.
If you will see "Other devices" listed in Device manager with "digital voice recorder" underneath it.
8. Right click on the "digital voice recorder"
9. Select update driver from the pop up menu.
10. Choose the browse computer Option
11. In the next window browse to the location that you downloaded the Digital Wave Player application to
12. Click Next
A security warning window will open,
13. Choose "install anyway" and the device will install.
When successfully installed you will see the "other devices" disappear and a VNUSB device with a "VN series device"
underneath it appear at the bottom of the device manager list. There will be a blue question mark next to the device. At this point you can close the device manager and the properties window and open Digital Wave Player. You will see the recorder listed underneath the recorder folder and be able to download and use the program normally now.

Chances are there to recover such kind of deleted files from your Olympus recorder.

First things first: DO NOT take any more videos or audio with the recorder that you want to recover files from in case you may quite possibly ruin your chances of voice memo file recovery.

Then connect your device to a PC, and have a try of Photo Recovery (also recover audio, voice memos, video files etc), a data recovery program which is good at recovering media files lost. If you are Mac OS X users, turn to Data Recovery for Mac.

Lastly, I hope you good luck. Again you should remember - the more you use your recorder, the less likely you may be able to recover the deleted files back! So STOP using the device ASAP.

Unfortunately because the device has flash memory the voice files once deleted are unable to be retrieved. You may try to google search for companies that specialize in flash memory recovery but it is a very expensive process.

on your computer, you will need some sort of media recovery software. also go to options under the tools menu and uncheck delete after transfer to turn off deletion. this is usually best since you can delete the files through the recorder by the erase button

The internal memory is the place where the recording itself would have been stored, so unfortunately there is no "extra" memory to cover mistakes such as this...that would be like every PC being shipped with two hard drives in case you deleted something!
However, all may not be lost. The most important thing is DO NOT MAKE ANY FURTHER RECORDINGS OR FORMAT THE UNIT till you have definitively ascertained that the recording is indeed irretrievable.
RECOMMENDED: Trawl the Web for a program called "SoftPerfect File Recovery," download it, and install it (it's a tiny program, about 250kb) - I know you can find it at Snapfiles.com.
Read the help file and follow the instructions...with luck, you should be able to get your recording back.
FYI when you "delete" a file you do not erase it from the storage disk; all that happens is the first letter of the file name changes in the file structure, so the data can no longer be accessed as the device doesn't know where to look. So long as the data hasn't been overwritten by further recording or reformatting, invariably it can be retrieved...this is how the FBI catch all those nasty kiddie porn people out who think they've 'cleaned' their hard drives simply be hitting the delete key.
Hope this helps. If it doesn't then do a google search for 'data recovery software' and try another program. There are many (good) free ones out there, although most are designed to recover deleted photos from media cards. Good luck.
p.s. Would appreciate it if anyone can tell me how to turn on the backlight on my denpa mp-36 unit. I've read the manual and can't find it anywhere. I guess I'm missing that elusive button combination...