WP Undelete adds the ability to undelete/restore deleted posts, even after emptying the trash or 'permanently deleting' them.
Please note: this plugin is a first-release version with many features 'missing' or not implemented yet. For now, it will allow you to restore only posts (custom post types/pages support coming in next release!) and comments of deleted posts, as well as tags and category associations, are lost (again, this will be a feature of the next version!)
I'm not the only person who's accidentally hit "Delete Permanently" or "Empty Trash" on posts - just recently a client of mine lost an entire day's work, some 80 items, after emptying the Trash without thinking. It got me thinking "Man, I wish I could undelete stuff."
WP Undelete is like a backup utility for stuff you delete. It operates in the background, without any input from you, and you won't even know it's there - until you need it.
It's lightweight, simple and won't slow your site down in any way.
Please try it out, report any bugs that pop up, and watch out for the next release (0.1) which will feature support for
custom post types and pages as well as
saving of comments and other post-related data.
Check out
WP Undelete Homepage for more info and comments.