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Overview on recovering permanently deleted files in Windows
Typically, when we delete a file in Windows 10/8/7, it is moved to Recycle Bin. This is a temporary deletion, as you can easily get it back: Open Recycle Bin and you can find and restore the deleted files to the original location. How does a file get permanently deleted in Windows? When we delete a file using Shift + Delete, the file won't go to Recycle Bin and gets deleted permanently.
Here are some situations that files can be deleted permanently in Windows 10/8/7:
- Empty Recycle Bin or delete files from Recycle Bin accidentally or intentionally
- Delete files by pressing Shift + Delete keys
- Delete files from removable disks, such as SD card, USB flash drive, etc.
- Files gets deleted by virus or malware
Can we recover permanently deleted files in windows 10/8/7? Yes, most of the time, deleted files are recoverable and there are a couple of methods to get back deleted files, for instance, recover lost files from backup or using recovery software. Next we'll talk about 4 methods to help you undelete files.
Method #1: How to recover permanently deleted files with free recovery software?
One of the recommended methods to recover permanently deleted data is using free recovery software – Eassos Recovery Free. This free deleted file recovery software supports to recover deleted files from PC, internal hard disk, external HDD, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc. in Windows 10/8/7. If your files get deleted and there is not backup available, you can undelete files with the help of Eassos Recovery Free. The process of restoring deleted data is very simple: Install the program > choose a recovery mode to scan device > recover lost data.
Step 1. Free download and install the deleted file recovery freeware.
Download and install Eassos Recovery Free onto a drive which does not need data recovery. It is important to prevent overwriting of lost files you want to recover. If you write any data to the drive where deleted files were stored, lost files are likely to be destroyed forever.
Step 2. Launch Eassos Recovery Free and scan the drive for lost files.
You might be prompted by UAC when launching the software, just give the confirmation to run it on your computer. Now you can see the home interface of this free file recovery software, choose the proper recovery option based on data loss reason. In this guide, you need to restore deleted files, the option Recover Deleted Files should be chosen.
Choose the location where you deleted files permanently and click Next button to start scanning process. The software automatically carries out a quick and deep scanning of the selected drive and displays data during scanning.
Step 3. Preview and recover lost / deleted files.
Recoverable files will be listed under two tabs: Directory and File Type. Files of Directory are recovered with original names and paths and files under File Types are recovered via deep scanning and classified by file types. You can view all listed files to find out what you need.
Preview: Double click a file and you can open it from a previewing window so as to check file content clearly.
Filter: click Filter Files button and you can screen file via type, name, date, etc.
Save recovered files: choose files and folders in scanning result and click Recover button. Then you will be asked where to save recovered data. You can set a location which does not need recovering data so that you won't overwrite lost files. After files are saved to specified location, the recovery task is done.
Frequently asked question on Eassos Recovery Free
1. Is there a limit on how many files I can save after upgrading to Full version?
The only difference between the Full and Free edition is how much data can be saved after scanning. The free edition can save 1GB found files and the registered edition saves unlimited amount of data. With the Free version, you can verify recovery quality easily. If you are satisfied with the Free version, you can purchase a license code to upgrade it to Full version.
2. Why recovered files cannot be saved back to the original drive directly?
Lost files are prone to be affected or damaged by any changes on the drive. If recovered files are saved back to the original drive, lost files might be overwritten, which means permanent loss of rest data. So, it is strongly to save data to a different location.
3. How long does it take to complete the scanning?
The scanning speed is mainly up to the disk speed itself and computer performance. In general, the scanning of a 1TB healthy hard drive needs around 1-5 hours. Sometimes, there is no need to completely scan the drive, and you can stop scanning in advance if desired files are found.
Method #2: How to recover permanently deleted files using DiskGenius?
DiskGenius provides professional solutions to recover deleted files in Windows and it has helped numerous users over the years. With this recovery software, you do not have to do almost anything, for it is very convenient to complete recovery task. Even if your PC cannot boot, it offers a solution to create a bootable disk. Apart from recovering deleted data, it also supports to recovering lost data from formatted partition, RAW drive or lost volumes. If you are facing data loss issue and need an advanced recovery tool, then you can try DiskGenius Free edition to verify recovery quality. Just follow instructions below to get back deleted files, photos, videos, documents and other data from PC, Recycle Bin, USB flash drive, hard disk, virtual disk now.
Step 1. Download, install and launch DiskGenius.
Free download DiskGenius trail edition and you can install it on your computer. The default installation path is C:\Program Files\DiskGenius, but you can change the path to other partition or USB disks you need. Just take care, do not install this program to the drive where your want to recover files. Otherwise, lost files will be destroyed and become unrecoverable.
Step 2. Select the drive where you wish to recover deleted files and click File Recovery button.
It is easy to locate the drive that needs to recover data, for DiskGenius displays disks and partitions with detailed information clearly. File Recovery applies to the recovery of deleted, lost or formatted files from various devices.
Step 3. Scan the drive to look for lost files.
Choose recovery options from the pop-up window and click Start button, then DiskGenius begins to search for deleted or lost files. There are 3 recovery options here and each represents a scanning method; you can select all of them to make sure you can get the best recovery result.
Step 4. Preview files and locate what you need.
Previewing files of scanning result is supported, which helps to estimate recovery quality before actual recovery; file preview supports various types of data such as photos, pictures, video, audio, text, PDF, MS Office files, etc.
Step 5. Save and recover lost files.
Choose files you want to restore, right-click on them and select Copy To. Then you'll be prompted to set a location to save recovered data. After files are saved to target folder, these permanently deleted files will be recovered.
Frequently asked question on DiskGenius
1. Will the final recovery result be different from the scanning result?
The file saving process does not change directories of scanning result; thus, you can get folders like what you see in scanning result.
2. Sometimes recovered files cannot be opened, what are the possible reasons?
Windows stores a file in two separated parts: directory information (such as file name, size, location, etc.) and data content. If a file recovered with original name cannot be opened after recovery, its directory information might be damaged or corrupted, thus the corresponding data content is not correctt. In this case, there is a chance to recover data content by file type.
3. How to check if files can be recovered correctly before purchase?
The free trial edition works the same as the registered edition when scanning and previewing files, thus you can easily verify whether your files can be recovered properly before purchase.
4. Which edition should I choose?
Currently, DiskGenius has 3 editions: Free, Standard and Professional Edition and you can choose based on the function you want to use. You can refer to Edition Comparison page to choose the proper edition.
Method #3: How to get back permanently deleted files from backup?
If you have backups, you can check if deleted files have been included in your recent backup. The backup can be Windows backup created by Windows built-in utility, network backup or local disk backup. If you are used to uploading files to cloud drives such as Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, Tresorit, etc. you can log in your account and restore data easily. If you've enabled Windows backup, you can follow steps below to recover permanently deleted files.
Step 1. Type restore files in the searching box and choose Restore your files with File History.
Step 2. Locate the file you want to restore. You can look for files with the help of arrow keys.
Step 3. Once the needed version is found out, you can select Restore to save it in original location or Select Restore to to save it on a different location.
If your backups are created in previous versions of Windows, you can find backup in this way: type control panel in searching box to launch Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore (Windows 7).
Method #4: How to restore permanently deleted files from previous version?
If you cannot find a file on your computer or you deleted it by mistake, you can try restoring is from a previous version. Previous versions are created by Windows to record restore points, which is similar to shadow copies. This function is not enabled by default; thus, this recovery method won't work if it is not enabled on your PC.
Step 1. Open File Explorer and find out the folder which contains deleted or lost files.
Step 2. Right-click on the folder and choose Restore previous versions. Then you can see a list of versions of the folder and one of them might include your lost data.
Step 3. Find out the wanted version. You can select a version and click Open button to check if it is the one you need.
Step 4. Select the needed previous version and click Restore button. Note: current version will be replaced, and the operation cannot be undone.
Deleted file recovery software free download full version
You may need to consider deleted file recovery software if the deleted files are of great importance and there are not any backups for you to retrieve data. DiskGenius is recommended to help you recover deleted data in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. This recovery software has lots of highlights.
- Apply to various data loss situations: recover lost files after deletion, formatting, RAW drive, partition loss, system corruption, bad sectors, virus attack, etc.
- Deleted file recovery enables you to recover deleted files from hard disk, USB flash drive, SD card, emptied Recycle Bin, desktop, and more.
- Partition recovery: restore deleted or lost partitions as well as retrieve data from formatted, RAW and corrupted drives.
- Support bootable recovery: the free tail version can create a bootable WinPE-based USB disk with which you can boot a crashed computer and recover lost data.
- Supported file system types: NTFS, FAT, exFAT, Ext2, Ext3 and Ext4.
Conclusion
Getting files permanently deleted is a difficult situation, fortunately, there are solutions to fix data loss issues. These ways of recovering deleted files in this page are fast, simple and effective, and you can try them one by one to get back lost data. It is important to keep updated backups so as to avoid data loss issues, and you can keep backups on either local hard drive or network disks. Moreover, a data recovery program such as DiskGenius will come in handy to restore permanently deleted files when data backup is not available. Hope this tutorial helps you fix the problem and restore lost data successfully in Windows 10/8/7. Should you have any suggestions, please share with us.
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