If files were deleted unexpectedly, accidentally or by mistake, they often need to be recovered, as such deleted files could be very important for their owners. In this article, you can read about the main ways of recovering deleted files in a Windows operating system.

Introduction

It is not always possible to recover user data with Windows integrated tools. Files deleted in a particular way or under certain conditions can be inaccessible when you use standards tools that come with your operating system. If that is the case, you will have to use third-party recovery solutions. In this article, we will try to describe the main ways to recover files deleted without using the Windows Recycle Bin.

The Windows Recycle Bin and Different Ways to Delete Files

The Windows Recycle Bin was featured in the earliest versions of Windows operating systems, and it is still there, being a standard preinstalled system safety tool. It is a special reserved area of the storage space allocated by the system for temporary keeping removed user data. Its main purpose is to ensure safe-keeping and integrity of all data moved to the Windows Recycle Bin with certain settings, and enable safe recovery for files which have been deleted accidentally or by mistake.

User files end up in the Recycle Bin after certain actions and on certain conditions. A single file or a group of previously selected files are sent to the Windows Recycle Bin if one of the common ways of deleting is used:

• You right-click on the selected files, and choose Delete from the context menu;
• After selecting files, you press the Delete button on the keyboard. In both cases, Windows security service will show you a warning message asking to confirm the action, and only then will it launch the process of deleting files.

It should be noted specially, that the specified ways of deleting a file with moving it to the Windows Recycle Bin are only implemented for operations involving internal or external hard disks (HDD). For all other kinds of computer devices, files are removed directly and irreversibly, without an interim stage of putting the deleted files to the Windows Recycle Bin. This is related to design peculiarities of memory devices and the technologies involved (for example, solid-state drives boost read operations with the TRIM function which cleans memory cells from the contents of a deleted file immediately after such file is deleted).

After files are moved to the Windows Recycle Bin they become available for recovery with the integrated functions of this tool.

However, files are often deleted without using the Windows Recycle Bin and here are the main reasons why it happens that way:

• the Windows Recycle Bin is configured to destroy files as soon as they are deleted;
• the files were removed irreversibly with the key shortcut Shift + Delete, or with holding down the Shift button when selecting the * Delete line in the context menu;
• the files were deleted from storage media devices that don’t
• support moving files to the Windows Recycle Bin, for example, USB drives or memory cards of various formats, and so on;
• the Windows Recycle Bin was emptied deliberately;
• the amount of data exceeds the maximum size of the temporary storage specified in the settings of the Windows Recycle Bin, and it triggers automatic removal of the files previously sent to the Windows Recycle Bin;
• effects of various malware (viruses) that may delete important user data and so on. In such cases, you cannot recover the deleted files with the Windows Recycle Bin, so it is time for other methods.

You can learn more about methods for recovery of accidentally deleted files or folders from a Windows device on our YouTube channel by watching the video guide “Restoring a Deleted Folder from Recycle Bin, Archive or with Specialized Software”.

YouTube:

Why is File Recovery Possible in a Windows Operating System?

Based on the things above, we can make a conclusion that files can be deleted for a number of reasons and in a number of ways. Anyway, the process of deleting files suggests their possible recovery, with some rare exceptions (for example, in most cases you can’t recover files deleted from an SSD). Visit our channel to watch an introductory video about recovering data from solid-state drives and when it is possible: “Recovering Data from an SSD After File Deletion or Disk Formatting”.

However, it would be wrong to state that when files are deleted, they are removed completely from the hard disk.

When files are deleted in a common way, they are moved to the Windows Recycle Bin and remain there until it is emptied in one way or another. If the deleted files are in the Windows Recycle Bin, you can recover them easily with the tool’s integrated functions.

When deleted irreversibly, the files are never placed into the Windows Recycle Bin though they still exist physically on the hard disk – but in the form hidden from the operating system. When a file is deleted, only the information indicating the file location, size and other settings disappears, while the file contents are still on the hard disk.

The operating system uses a clearly structured table to allocate files and create a catalogue which is made up of indexes specifying the place of every file in the hard disk. When such an index is deleted, the corresponding file becomes invisible for the operating system, and the disk space occupied by the file is marked as being free. It means that this disk space does not contain any data and is available for writing new information at any time. After the space without indexes is overwritten, recovering the deleted files which used to be there before saving the new data will become quite a challenge. To cut the long story short, the longer the free disk space exists after indexes were removed, the higher are the chances for that space to be overwritten – which means losing the previously written data. So the shorter is the period of time between the moment of deleting files and beginning recovery actions, the higher are the chances for successful recovery.

That is why you should start working on file recovery immediately after the files were deleted.

The deleted files which you cannot see in the Windows Recycle Bin can be recovered either with the utilities integrated into the Windows operating system or with third-party file recovery software. Now let’s analyze every method in detail.

Method 1. File Recovery with Windows Backup

File recovery with Windows backup is possible if there is a backup which you saved previously. There are several simple actions to take for recovering deleted files. You can open the window of the application to help you recover files from a Windows backup by going to the Control Panel or Settings. As Microsoft developers are trying to move the main settings of the Windows operating system to the application of the same name, Settings, to make things more convenient for users, that is where we go to show you the first method.

Open the Settings app in any way you prefer, for example, by pressing the key shortcut Windows + I. In the application window, drag the slider down and select the section Update and Security.

In the left panel of the new window, go to the tab Backup. In the right panel, find the section Looking for an older backup? and click on the hyperlink Go to Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

In the next window, scroll down to the Restore section and click on Restore my files.

It will start a step-by-step file recovery tool working with a Windows backup. In the new window, click on Browse for files or Browse for folders and add to the main panel the list of files you are going to recover.

As soon as you have chosen the necessary files, click Next to move to advanced settings.

Then, specify the directory where to save the files after recovery. You can choose to save them to their original location or give new path by checking the corresponding option. When you’ve done that, click Restore, and all selected files and folders will be recovered and saved in accordance with the settings you have chosen.

Method 2. File Recovery from Previous Versions

This tool of the Windows operating system to recover user files from previous versions can be launched from Windows File Explorer and it only takes a few steps to use it.

Open the File Explorer – for example, by double-clicking the shortcut on your desktop, and go to the folder where the deleted file used to be. Then right-click on the folder to open the context menu; from the list of available actions, select Restore previous versions.

In the Properties window of the selected folder, you will see the previously saved versions. Choose the version you need and restore it.

Method 3. File Recovery with File History

The File History tool lets you restore permanently deleted files on condition that the File History backup function was enabled in the Windows operating system on this particular device, and the folders containing deleted files were selected for backup.

Use the previously described method to open the Settings app, go to Update and Security and find the Backup tab in the left panel. In the right panel, make sure that the slider Automatically back up my files in the section Backup using File History is set to On position. Then click on the hyperlink More options below the backup slider.