Recovering Deleted Files: A Practical Approach

Recovering Deleted Files on Windows

Method 1: Check if the Files Are Really Deleted

There’s a a difference between deleted files and permanently deleted files. Before you move any further, you should verify that the missing files are really deleted and have not just been moved to the Recycle Bin from which files and folders can easily be restored to their original location.

1. Double-click the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop.
2. Right-click on an empty space inside the Recycle Bin window and select Sort by → Date modified.
3. Look for the missing files. If you remember how the files you’re trying to recover were called, you can use the Search bar in the top-right corner to locate them.
4. Select your files.
5. Drag the files from the Recycle Bin to your desktop or other desired location.

Method 2: Restore Previous Versions from a File History Backup

If you’re a Windows user and have configured File History to continuously protect your personal files, you’re in luck because you can easily recover them back.

1. Open Windows Explorer and right-click on the folder where the deleted file was located.
2. Select Restore previous versions.
3. Select the most relevant File History backup and click Open to preview its content.
4. Select the file you want to recover.
5. Click the green Recover button at the bottom of the preview window to recover it.

Method 3: Use 3rd Party Software

Third-party data recovery software applications can recover even permanently deleted files. They analyze the content of a storage device, looking for recoverable data, and putting it back together in a salvageable format.

Disk Drill is a great example of a third-party data recovery software application suitable for regular home users and professionals alike. Its free version can recover up to 500 MB of data using state-of-the-art data recovery algorithms capable of recognizing hundreds of file formats.

1. Download and launch Disk Drill for Windows.
2. Select the storage device on which the deleted files were stored and click Search for lost data.
3. Use the file format filters on the left to narrow down the scan results until you find the file you’re looking for. Select it to see its preview on the right.
4. Click the checkbox next to the file and click the blue Recover button at the bottom.
5. Specify the recovery folder and click OK.

Recovering Deleted Files on Mac

Apple created several safety nets to help Mac users easily restore accidentally deleted files, and you should give them a try before you spend money on a data recovery software application.

We’ve already described most of them on the corresponding page, so here’s just a quick summary:

• Trash folder. Click the Trash icon in the Dock and check if it contains the deleted files. For more information on how to recover files from the Trash, please refer to this page.
• Undo recent change. MacOS lets you easily undo your last action by simply pressing Command + Z on your keyboard.
• Time Machine. If you have activated Time Machine, you should be able to use it to recover the deleted files with just a few clicks.
• Terminal. There are several terminal commands that you can try to recover deleted files.
• iCloud backup. With iCloud, you can recover deleted files from any device.

Recovering Deleted Files from Memory Card

Used in digital cameras, smartphones, and many other electronic devices, SD cards are among the most readily used storage media in the world, which explains why they’re involved in so many cases of data loss.

1. Connect the SD card to your computer using an internal or external SD card reader.
2. Wait for your computer to recognize the SD card.
3. Open your SD data recovery software application of choice.
4. Use it to recover deleted files from the SD card to your computer.
5. Copy the recovered files back to the SD card if desired.

Recovering Deleted Files from USB Drive

USB drives are handy for transferring files between computers and sharing them with other people. Unfortunately, the market is flooded with cheap, unreliable USB drives that use cheap flash memory modules that may cause them to fail unexpectedly. In many instances, it is feasible to retrieve lost data from a USB drive.

1. Connect the USB drive to your computer.
2. Download and install a USB data recovery application.
3. Scan the USB drive.
4. Select the files you want to recover.
5. Begin the recovery process.

Recovering Deleted Files from External Hard Drive

External hard drive recovery isn’t any more complicated than USB drive or SD card recovery. As long as you use a reliable data recovery application, you should be able to easily recover lost files from any external hard drive, regardless of its size or brand.

1. Connect your external hard drive to your computer.
2. Use the same data recovery application you would use to recover files from any other storage device.
3. Scan the external hard drive. Be patient because it may take a while.
4. Select the files you want to recover.
5. Recover the selected files to your computer or a different external hard drive.

Recovering Deleted Files from Mobile Devices

We have become dependent on mobile phones, using them for much more than just communication. It shouldn’t then be a surprise that more data than ever before is lost on mobile devices. The good news is that there are several ways how you can get it back, and it doesn’t matter if you’re using Android or iOS.

Method 1: Recover from a Backup

Both Android and iOS devices can back up content, data, and settings from your phone to cloud storage and restore everything from the cloud backup with a few simple taps.

• 🤖 If you’re an Android user, go to this Android help page to learn how to restore backed-up data and settings.
• 🍏 Are you using iOS? Then, this official tutorial has you covered.

Method 2: Use a Data Recovery App (Android Only)

The Android operating system allows users to access the entire file system and recover deleted files using third-party data recovery apps like DiskDigger by Defiant Technologies.

1. Download DiskDigger from the Play Store.
2. Launch DiskDigger and tap Start basic photo scan.
3. Give DiskDigger permission to access your device’s storage.
4. Select the files you want to recover.
5. Tap the Recover button.

Method 3: Connect Your Mobile Device to a Computer

If you don’t have a backup of the lost files and found no luck with data recovery apps (or use iOS, in which case you can’t use data recovery apps due to restrictions imposed by Apple), there’s still one solution that you can try: connect your mobile device to a computer and use a data recovery software application for Windows or Mac.

Can I Recover Deleted Files Using CMD?

Yes, it’s possible to recover deleted files using Command Prompt (CMD), but the process is far less predictable than you might think. Whereas data recovery software applications like Disk Drill allow you to recover specific files (and even preview them before recovery), CMD data recovery commands present in Windows don’t give you nearly as much control.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that command-line data recovery techniques are typically intended to recover data that has become inaccessible due to a variety of factors, rather than to explicitly retrieve deleted data.

CHKDSK

CHKDSK is a system tool that scans through your entire hard drive to discover and fix file system errors. If errors are found, the problematic files will be moved to the found.000 folder and names file01.chk, file02.chk, and so on. Then, the user has to figure out which file was recovered and what its file extension is supposed to be. This is a huge disadvantage of CHKDSK.

1. Type cmd in the search box on the taskbar and select Run as administrator.
2. Enter the following command (make sure to replace X with the letter assigned to the hard drive you want to fix) and press Enter: chkdsk X: /f
3. Wait for CHKDSK to finish. The process may take several hours depending on the size of your hard drive.
4. If there are errors, the CHKDSK will ask the question “Convert lost chains to files,” and you must answer Y. However, this request doesn’t always come up. Usually, CHKDSK fixes everything automatically.

ATTRIB

ATTRIB is a useful command that makes it possible for the user to change various file and directory attributes. Often, users accidentally set the Hidden file attribute, causing their files to become invisible. Because files with the Hidden attribute have never been deleted, attempts to recover them using data recovery software applications are guaranteed to fail. Instead, it’s necessary to remove the Hidden attribute, and that’s where the ATTRIB command comes in.

1. Type “cmd” in the search box on the taskbar and select Run as administrator.
2. Enter the following command (make sure to replace X with the letter assigned to the hard drive you want to fix) and press Enter: ATTRIB -H -R -S /S /D X:*.*