How to recover documents on a computer. Restoring files after deleting from a hard drive or flash drive

A headache for PC users is the loss of files: photos, documents and other data. We will not touch on theory: this practical guide explains the basic principles of file recovery. We hope you can put them into practice.

Consider three main scenarios for recovering deleted files on a computer:

Programs used in recovery:

Is it always possible to recover deleted files on a computer?

Not always, but in many cases it is quite possible. Let's explain.

After deletion, the files remain on the hard drive. In the file table, they are assigned a label - “0”. This means that this space is not occupied and can be used to record other information.

Thus, the file is hidden from your eyes, it is only conditionally deleted and can be restored until it is overwritten with other data. (By the way, you can recover files after overwriting, but there is a risk that they are partially damaged and cannot be returned).

How to estimate the chances of recovery after deletion?

The probability of recovering files depends on many factors. The checklist looks something like this:

  • How the deletion was done - through the Recycle Bin, bypassing it (Shift + Del), through the formatting command
  • Time elapsed since deletion - the further, the higher the risk of overwriting files
  • Type of deleted files - some files (images, videos) can be partially restored, others cannot be returned if even one byte of data is lost
  • Storage device type - HDD, RAID array and more.
  • File system type - NTFS/FAT/exFAT, etc.

With luck, the files can be restored completely or partially. It is impossible to determine the probability in numbers, but it is worth a try.

How to recover files from the Recycle Bin

Usually, after deletion (via the Del key), files are sent to the Recycle Bin. The Recycle Bin is a temporary storage, the data is there for 30 days, after which it is automatically deleted. If during this time you change your mind (for example, remember that there are necessary files among the deleted ones), check the contents of the Recycle Bin and restore the files. How to do it:

  1. Open the Recycle Bin via the desktop icon or via File Explorer
  2. Select the files to restore and use the Restore item in the context menu
  3. The files will be restored to their original location

How to recover files if the Trash is already empty

Even when you empty the Recycle Bin, the files are not permanently destroyed. However, you will need additional utilities and time to successfully recover deleted files. Recovery programs work according to the same principle: they scan the file system, look for sectors marked “file deleted” on the computer.

Note. By installing the program, you inevitably make changes to the file table, reducing the chances of recovery (depending on the amount of computer information written to the hard drive). We advise you to install the recovery program on a USB flash drive, another computer, or a disk partition that was not used to store deleted files.

Restoring files after formatting

Let's move on to more "heavy" cases. In particular, after formatting, not only individual files, but the entire hard disk partition is subject to changes. The result is irretrievably deleted files.

Is there a chance to recover data on a PC in such a situation?

  • After quick format - yes
  • After a full format, the chances are minimal

What programs will help you recover files on your hard drive?

In fact, there are dozens of recovery programs. We do not recommend taking the first one that comes across: there is a risk that you will not only not recover your files after deletion, but also spend money on useless functions. We will list the top three programs that have been tested and respected by other users.

1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: advanced file recovery after deletion (in difficult cases)

  1. Convenience. Data Recovery Wizard is perfectly integrated with the file system and Windows OS. Thanks to the built-in recovery wizard, it is convenient to work with it.
  2. Protected Cart. Unlike the standard Recycle Bin, you can store deleted files in it and recover them even after cleaning.
  3. Solving complex cases. Recovery of files deleted without Recycle Bin (via Shift+Delete), after formatting or on HDD partitions with “raw file system”.

2. Recuva is an all-in-one file recovery solution

Recuva is a free and actively developing program for the Windows platform. It is very easy to restore files on your computer with it, plus it does not require money for basic functions or removing limits. By the way, on the pages of Softdroid "and we have already told you. Read our detailed guide.

We note three main features of this program.

  1. Simplicity. For beginners, Recuva offers a wizard to recover deleted files. Here you can specify certain types of files (for example, only photos), choose a place to search, and set other parameters for finding deleted information.
  2. Deep scan. By activating the option, you increase the chances of recovering a deleted file, even if nothing was found during a normal scan using other recovery utilities.
  3. visibility. All found files are marked. The color indicates the probability of recovery: high, medium, low. A quick preview is available for the found images.

3. DiskDrill - recover deleted files on PC and Mac OS X

DiskDrill is a young product in the computer recovery software market, but good technical support and community speaks for the maturity of the program.

The functionality of DiskDrill is suitable for recovering most files stored on a PC: images, music, videos, documents, archives. There is a version of the program not only for Windows, but also for Mac OS. Regardless of the OS, you can recover 100 MB of found files for free (and this is a generous limit).

DiskDrill Features:

  1. Selecting the type of data to recover. You can select only those file types that will be in the search results. Filtering by attributes and flexible search among recovered files are also available.
  2. Pause / resume scanning at any time. Convenient if you have a large HDD/SSD.
  3. Rewrite protection. By locking partitions while DiskDrill is running, you will insure your hard drive from overwriting deleted files.

Restoring files on a computer using Hetman Partition Recovery


Hetman Partition Recovery: universal recovery toolkit

Question answer

The photos were deleted from the computer in an unknown way. I suspect that some kind of virus could have done this. I tried to recover a deleted file using Wise Data Recovery. All files that were found are in the "LOST" state. I take it they are non-refundable? Did the virus eat them up? Or is it possible to somehow cure these files and still restore them?

Answer. See if Wise Data Recovery has a deep scan mode. Probably not. Install other recovery programs. For example, Recuva has an in-depth scan feature that increases the chances of recovering deleted files. You can also use PhotoRec to recover photos on your computer. Both recovery utilities are free.

Any computer owner can inadvertently delete important files from the hard drive. In this case, a logical question arises: “How to recover deleted files on a computer on your own?”.

As a rule, all deleted documents are placed and stored in the recycle bin until the owner empties it himself. Therefore, you must first look for files there. As you know, you can restore them from the trash in one click, while they will be sent to the same place where they were before deletion.

If the necessary documents are no longer there, this does not mean that they are gone forever. In some cases, information can be recovered.

How to recover deleted files on a computer after emptying the recycle bin? You should be aware that immediately after deleting a document, only its name in the registry disappears, and the file itself will be stored on the hard drive until new information is written in its place. After realizing that important documents were in the basket that was just emptied, it is important not to save any information on the computer that could take the place of files deleted by carelessness.

Recovering information from the HDD is carried out using third-party programs, so it is advisable to install such a program in advance, otherwise, when loading, it may displace the files that you want to find and save. In this case, you can move the hard drive to another computer that already has such a program, but this option is not always available.

There are many programs for recovering files from HDD, among which there are both free and paid services. The latter are more functional and provide more options.

How to recover deleted files on computer for free? To do this, you need to download the Recuva utility from the Internet. This is a convenient application with a simple and intuitive interface that even a beginner can master. With the help of the utility it is possible to video, text documents.

Once the program is downloaded from the web, it must be unzipped and then installed and configured using the Recuva wizard. After that, you can proceed to the main actions.

How to recover deleted files on a computer using the free Recuva utility? After the installation wizard finishes its work, you must click the "Start" button and start searching for the necessary files. After the search process is completed, a list of files will appear. On some of them will be the inscription "Viewing is not possible." This means that other information has already been recorded on top of these documents and they cannot be restored.

Files that can still be saved should be ticked and click "Restore". After that, you will need to specify the folder in which you want to save the documents, and confirm by clicking "OK".

You can restore files in Recuva in a different mode. To do this, click on the "Go to advanced mode" button. A window will open in which the found files will be arranged in a table. The contents of the document can be seen in the "View" tab, the parameters - in the "Summary" section. For you need to mark them with checkboxes and start the process. The information will be saved to the specified folder.

Of course, the program will not be able to save all deleted files, so it makes sense to store especially important information on removable media.

Most users encounter such a problem as inadvertently deleted files from computer, usb flash drive or from an external hard drive, loss of files after a system failure and then wonder how to restore them, and is there such a possibility at all. But it turns out that there is and will help us the Recuva program from the creators of CCleaner. With it, we can recover various information from various media, and it is also possible to recover files from damaged hard drives. There is a free and Pro version, the free version will be enough for us. Their main differences are that the Pro version has automatic updates and support for virtual hard drives. Even a non-experienced user can use this program, since it is very easy to use. The advantage of the program is that it has been translated into many languages, including Russian, how to enable it will be discussed below.

Installing Recuva

You can download the free version of the program from the official site piriform.com, select For Home->Recuva->Download Free Version->Free Download in the window that appears under Recuva Free Download from: click on any link, the download will start automatically. After downloading the file, run it to install.

We see the following window

In the upper part of the window, select the Russian language and click on the Install button, the program will be installed, after which it will require you to restart your computer


Click on the Finish button. All installation on this is completed after rebooting the PC, a Recuva shortcut will appear on our desktop, launch it and proceed to the next step.

PC file recovery

After starting the program, we will see a welcome window in which we click on the next button.

In the next window, you will need to select the type of file you want to recover and click the Next button

and click the next button and in the next window select the start button, I also want to note that in this window you can select the type of scan if you check the Enable in-depth analysis checkbox, then the scan will take longer, but the possibility of recovering files also increases. Next, we wait until the program analyzes the deleted files, the analysis takes place in three stages, after the analysis is completed, we see a window with the following content


Select the necessary files and click on the restore button and specify the path where the file will be saved. After recovery, we try to open the file, if everything is fine, the file will start. To increase the chances of recovering deleted files from a computer, it is advisable to try to restore it immediately until its memory cell is overwritten with other data, i.e. it turns out that if after deleting the file you did not make any changes on the hard disk, namely, you did not copy any data, did not download movies, etc., then the probability of recovering the file increases.

I wish you all good luck in recovering deleted files from your computer be careful and reliable hard drives.

Accidental pressing of the "Delete" button, inattention, program failure, unsuccessful mouse click, virus activity - all this can cause information loss. Files can be easily deleted unintentionally on a hard drive, flash drive, CD and DVD discs, on any other storage medium. If it is very valuable, then it is worth fighting for its restoration. Most often successful.

Start with the trivial - look in the "Basket". It is highly likely that you will find accidentally destroyed data there. Without succumbing to panic, open the "Basket". This folder stores all deleted information until it is completely cleared. Restoring from it is simple: open the "Recycle Bin", right-click on the desired file (folder), select "Restore" from the list of commands. The file will return to its place where it was deleted. In more complex situations, when the file is not in the Recycle Bin, you will need to resort to the help of special programs. There are a lot of them. Consider the work of the most popular and proven. These include - Recuva. The utility easily copes with the return of lost files of any type: document, picture, spreadsheet - almost everything deleted.


Recuva will help you more effectively if you start recovering losses as quickly as possible. When working with a disk, a new file can be written to the place of the lost file, and then the chance of its return is almost zero. Start by downloading the utility, stopping working with disks. The program is free, small volume, for home use. Its interface is intuitive, even a novice user can handle it. Displays all deleted files after scanning the disk. Their status displays the probability of recovery.


RS File Recovery saves files even on a formatted drive. It doesn't matter if the disk partition was formatted NTFS, FAT or the file was just deleted. The interface is simple, files can be returned on any disk or memory card. The "Explorer" of the program displays the contents of the disk in a similar way to Windows. Select the desired disk by double-clicking the mouse, set the scan command. After completing the analysis of the disk, the program will display all the information on it, marking the deleted one with a red cross. Set the "Restore" command for the necessary files. Specify a place for them on another disk. The program is paid. It is possible to recover even long-deleted files using the R-Studio program. It is represented by a set of useful utilities that will restore files on any media. Files can be returned in most cases from the cleaned "Recycle Bin", deleted outside the "Recycle Bin", as a result of a virus attack, a computer power failure. It is possible to recover information even after formatting the disk to another system. The PC INSPECTOR File Recovery program will provide invaluable assistance in recovering lost information on damaged disks, memory cards, flash drives. Although it does not provide 100% recovery, it works well. Most importantly, install it not on the disk where you want to find lost files, but on any other independent medium. If you do not want to download and install programs, then try to use the internal tools of Windows - look for files in the archives. Windows creates "shadow copies" of files. This means that while working with documents, copies of files are automatically created and saved in special folders as part of the system restore point. Follow the steps: "Start" - "Control Panel" - "System and Maintenance" - "Backup and Restore". Click the Restore My Files command. The wizard will then indicate your next steps. In Windows 8 - "File History".


Always restore files using programs to a different drive, and not to the one where they were previously. The main thing is to act deliberately, without panic, but quickly. When working with important information, be careful and attentive, do not forget to create backup copies of files periodically.

Hello dear blog readers
Who among you has not encountered such an unpleasant situation when a folder with files was accidentally deleted. This article provides several effective ways to recover deleted files that not everyone knows about.

If you accidentally deleted from your computer, for example, from the desktop or somewhere else, some necessary folder or its contents, do not despair and do not rush to search for recovery programs on the Internet, they cannot always help you.

From my own experience, I can say that when I was with a computer on you, I accidentally deleted one very important document for me. With the help of a special utility, I still managed to restore it, but only the text part, the graphic, to my regret, was lost.

The second time my child did such a thing that I returned deleted folders with different programs for several days, and the result was disappointing. More than 60% of all information could not be recovered, it was completely lost!

(After this incident, I started a separate one for each family member). I used, of course, free software, and perhaps that's why I got such a deplorable result, I can’t say what paid utilities are. But I know how to use the standard features of Windows with 100% result and I will teach you!

Recovery methods

  1. Cancel actions

A deleted folder or file can be restored using the Ctrl + Z hotkey combination. Or, by analogy, right-click in the directory of the deleted object (the directory is a folder for files or any disk will also be a directory for folders) and click the Undo tab. But this method will only work immediately after deletion.

2. Restore from trash

If the deletion was made earlier, then it makes sense to check the trash. We find the deleted object in the trash, right-click on it in the menu that appears, select Restore.

This method will not work if you have deleted the file bypassing the Recycle Bin using the Shift + Delete keys or if the Recycle Bin has already been emptied before. But don't despair, the following 2 methods will even help you recover a folder deleted from the recycle bin.

3. Restore from previous version

Using the example with a folder located on the desktop (or any other place on the computer, it doesn’t matter the algorithm of actions is the same), in my case it is 5555 - I delete it.

Right click on trash can ⇒ Empty.

Everything, it would seem, my folder is irretrievably lost if it is not in the basket, but this is not so, and now you will see for yourself!
Open My Computer or the Start menu ⇒ Explorer, find Desktop RMB, call the context menu, select the Properties tab.

In the window that opens, select Previous Versions. As shown in the screenshot, I have several of them in one of the folders, the objects you need will be found.

With a double click of the LMB, I open the saved versions of the desktop, where I see my daddy 5555 safe and sound! Now you just need to drag it to the desktop or copy it, then paste it into the place I need.

4. Restoring from the archive

In order to use this method, you must have archiving configured. The article describes everything in detail how to use it, and most importantly, why it is so necessary to configure archiving, what is its importance for the user.

That’s all for me today, I hope this article has managed to save many nerves and a lot of time, now you can restore an accidentally deleted folder or its contents at any time without any problems in almost a couple of clicks.

Good luck, be careful.

Any questions, I'll be happy to help!

And for clarity, watch the video on this topic.