Retrieve Deleted Files: How To Recover Lost Files

Retrieve Deleted Files

In everyday life, you create new files and copy files from various sources. If you do not need any file, you could delete it at any point of time. The deleted files will be stored in the recycle bin.

If you delete files from the recycle bin, those files are not visible and they will disappear forever. In this scenario, if you delete some critical files accidentally, you would want to get them back.

Even though it is not impossible to retrieve permanently deleted files the retrieval will depend upon various factors. Let us check how we can ensure safe methods so that files can be retrieved if required.

Data backup

You are advised to take a backup of the data at regular intervals. There is a provision in the operating systems to take a backup of data. You can utilize the feature so that you will be on the safe side.

You can take backup copy either on DVDs or on external hard drives. In between DVDs and external hard drives, DVD should be the absolute choice.

The very reason that you are taking backup of data present in the hard disk is that the hard disk may crash or the operating system might fail at any point of time.

The same risk that you face with hard disk should also be borne by the external hard drive. Hence, DVD is the perfect choice for data backup as you can easily get life of around 20 years depending on their usage.

Retrieve Deleted Files: How to go for backup?

If you are using Windows 7, you can implement the following steps to backup the data:

Start->Control Panel->Backup and Restore ->Backup files

You can follow the further steps to continue the data backup.

Similarly, if you are using Windows XP, you can implement the following steps to backup the data:

Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools-> Backup

And, you should follow the further steps to backup the data to the external hard drive or pen drive or DVDs/CDs.

How to prevent hard disk crash/failures?

If you can provide good and uninterrupted source of power to the computer, you might enhance the life of the hard disk and the mother board. In order to prevent hard disk crash, you might want to incorporate power surge in between the wall socket and your computer.

The power surge will manage the differences in electrical voltages. As you go for a good quality power surge protector, you can prevent the chances of hard disk or mother board failures to the most possible extent.

You should also install good quality anti-virus software in your computer. This will help you block malicious and virus infected files. As you keep the hard disk clean, your files will not be affected.

Can’t we retrieve the permanently deleted files?

This procedure should be done very carefully. There are premium tools and free tools as well which help you recover the data that was deleted permanently. Professionals can be approached if you remove the data that was very essential for your business.

The important precaution is that you should not use the system after realizing that you had deleted an important file. This will maximize the chances of retrieval of permanently deleted files.

16 thoughts on “Retrieve Deleted Files: How To Recover Lost Files”

  1. I was looking out for this post only as I have deleted some files and they are not available in recycle bin also but I need them back. As you advised will try to do data backup hope it will work for me.

    Reply
  2. Some very interesting tips. I think it is possible because of an overwriting process. Nothing is ever deleted from your hard drive, just marked for deletion and overwritten. Hence the important step of not using the system after deleting an important file.

    Reply
  3. This is extremely important information! Thanks for sharing this! I never knew where to save my back up file; thought the cloud, but I’m not totally on board with the cloud yet. Do you use it for anything?

    Reply
  4. Hi Jane, Excellent article. I haven’t ever needed to retrieve a file after I emptied the Recycle Bin, but I have retrieved files from there before I emptied it.

    I have been storing more and more of my data in the cloud. Dropbox has made life very convenient for me so I can access my files from numerous computers and on my mobile device.

    I have also used Windows Restore when a hard drive was corrupted. That was very helpful to avoid a hard drive failure. That is extremely scary to have that happen so I was glad that worked.

    I haven’t tried to retrieve deleted files by using Windows Restore. Do you think that would work? I’m thinking that it would because the computer goes back to a specific place in time.

    Reply
  5. Hi, finally a helpful post! I’ll definitely do thig as you explained here. My worst habbit is that I delete files whit SHIFT+DELETE. I cannot get used to simply pressing delete button. This means that sometimes there are accidents, which make me furious….

    Reply
  6. I was a frequent victim of data crashing and losing files because of some system malfunctioning before. It was hard when I experience it but because of your idea of making a back-up plan, I can definitely feel secure about my files. Kudos, Jane!

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  7. I have no idea before that we can actually retrieve those lost data. Thanks to your blog, I can now try to recoup those lost files because I was being careless. Thank you so much!

    Reply
  8. Cool! I will try to do those steps. This is such a great aid to people who are not that techy and do not have enough knowledge on computers like me. Thanks a lot!

    Reply
  9. Do you know how they ‘revive’ hard drives? There had been a time when my 1 TB HDD got corrupted and I had to shell out almost $300 just so they can “revive” it and have my files available.

    Reply
  10. It really matters a lot when we accidentally delete some of our important files from our computer. The best thing to do after such situation is not to overwrite any new data. However you can recover them with any file recovery software available on the internet. The one software which comes to my mind whenever I delete any files from my Windows OS is Yodot File Recovery Software. It retrieves deleted files with ease.

    Reply
  11. I think it is possible because of an overwriting process. Nothing is ever deleted from your hard drive, just marked for deletion and overwritten.

    Reply
  12. I cannot get used to simply pressing delete button. This means that sometimes there are accidents, which make me furious….

    Reply
  13. Hi Jane,

    I have a pen drive with lot of important stuffs and i am not able to access it from my laptop as its not reading it.

    Is there anyway to recover the data from it?

    Would really appreciate your help.

    Thanks

    Reply

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