Recover Permanently Deleted Files on Windows – 2023 Guide
Deletion of files and folders from a computer or laptop running on Windows is a prevailing issue faced by almost every single Windows user at some point or the other.
Imagine you have saved hundreds and hundreds of important files (Work files – Excel sheets, Word documents, Powerpoint presentations, photos and videos of our loved ones, etc.) in a folder or a drive or any external storage device. And while deleting some of them you have accidentally deleted some of those files or all of those files.
What a terrible situation to be in right? However, thousands of Windows users face this issue every single year.
We agree deleting files and folders permanently can be a frightening situation. But fortunately, we do have ways of recovering files and folders that were deleted permanently from any Computer or Laptop running on any version of Windows OS.
How Do Windows Users Delete or Lose Their Files Permanently?
The reason can be anything right from deleting files using the Shift + Delete keys, emptying recycle bin, deleting files from Recycle Bin, enabling the “Do not move files to recycle bin” option, deleting files using Command Prompt, deleting files without having a proper backup, etc. are some of the most common ways users delete their files permanently.
Is it Possible to Recover Permanently Deleted Files?
The answer is Yes as well as No.
“Yes” because irrespective of what method you have used to get rid of the files forever. Those files are still available in the drive of your system. It’s just that those files are no longer visible.
The answer is “No” because if your files have gotten overwritten by new files. Data recovery becomes an impossible task.
So as long as your deleted files have not been overwritten with new data, you still have a shot to get them back.
In this article, we have explained to you all the possible ways of restoring permanently deleted files on any version of Windows OS.
So, without wasting any more time, let’s start the permanently deleted file recovery process.
How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files?
The solutions range from restoring backup copies of files that were permanently deleted to using free as well as paid data recovery tools.
Method 1 – Restore Backup Copies of Original Files
- Copying files from External Devices
- Restoring files using the File History option
- Restoring files from the Cloud (Google Drive and One Drive)
Method 2 – Retrieve Permanently Deleted Files Using Free Data Recovery Tools
- Recover Files Using Microsoft Windows File Recovery Tool
Method 3 – Recover Permanently Deleted Files on Windows Using a Specialized Permanently Deleted File Recovery Tool
- Recover Permanently Deleted Files Using Remo File Recovery Tool
Method 1 – Restore Backup Copies of Original Files
Backups are a great way to prevent data loss if you have a backup of files that were deleted permanently. Then this section explores all the possible ways of restoring backup files.
Copying Files from External Devices
If you have saved files in any external drive such as External Hard Drive, SSDs, or any USB, etc. Then you can move those files by connecting the drive to the computer and simply dragging and dropping those files or by simply copying those files from the drive and pasting them on any location within the system.
Restoring Files using the File History option
File History option is a free utility available on all Windows OS that can help the user to take a backup of any and every file(s) which is saved in folders such as the Desktop Folder, Music Folder, Photos Folder, Videos Folder, and the Documents Folder.
Just type in File History in the search bar, select the appropriate version of the Backup that you would like to restore, select the files and click on the Green Restore button.
Restoring Files from the Cloud (Google Drive and OneDrive)
Cloud storage solutions such as Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive or any other third-party solutions like DropBox, Box, Sync, etc. Are one of the safest solutions to store data as well as the easiest way to restore them.
All you need to do is just log in to your Google Drive or OneDrive account using your credentials. Select the files and the folders that you want to restore and finally click on the Download button.
Lo and behold the backed-up copies of the original files that are gone forever are now restored.
If you don’t have a backup, then there’s no need for you to worry. The next solution can help you recover deleted files.
Method 2 – Retrieve Permanently Deleted Files Using Free Data Recovery Tools
Data is one of the most valuable things in this present age. But as discussed earlier millions of users lose data every year.
With many tools available in the market. Ranging from specialized data recovery tools like Remo File Recovery Tool (More on that later) Stellar, and RStudio to name a few, and other freeware tools like PhotoRec, TestDisk, FreeRecover, etc.
Recently Microsoft has also joined the club with its own data recovery tool called – Microsoft Windows File Recovery tool, which is an absolutely free command line utility available for Windows 10 and Windows 11 users.
Recover Files Using Microsoft Windows File Recovery Tool
Do note – recovering permanently deleted data using the Windows File Recovery tool is a daunting task. You are required to be comfortable using the command line interface, you should also know a couple of commands and are also required to have lots of patience.
If you have decided to give Windows File Recovery tool a shot, here’s how you can use Microsoft’s free data recovery software.
You need to download the application from the Microsoft application store, launch the tool, and type in a command.
Winfr (Drive Letter from where you want to recover files): (Drive letter where you want to save the recovered files): /regular /n *(file type that you want to recover) /n.
Let’s just say you want to recover JPEG files that you have deleted from the C drive and want to save those files in the D drive, so the command you will be typing in is –
Winfr C: D: /regular /n *.jpeg /n *
Where you need to mention what type of file you want to recover and also need to mention from where, you also need to mention where you want to save files after restoring them.
Method 3 – Recover Permanently Deleted Files on Windows Using a Specialized Permanently Deleted File Recovery Tool
Remo Software is a market leader in the data management arena. With products ranging from their renowned file recovery software called Remo File Recovery Tool, to data erasing utilities namely Drive Wipe and File Eraser. Remo makes solutions to help you manage data effectively.
Remo File Recovery Software is one of the most used and well-appreciated data recovery software currently available in the market.
We decided to give it a shot by trying to recover permanently deleted files to see if the tool is actually worth it’s salt.
Recover Permanently Deleted Files Using Remo File Recovery Tool
Step 1: You need to download and install the Remo File Recovery tool on your Windows system.
Step 2: Launch the tool and select the folder or the drive from where you want to recover files that were permanently deleted and click on the Scan button.
Step 3: Remo’s best feature is the Dynamic Recovery View, which allows the users to view the files that were recovered even before completing the scanning process.
Step 4: Once Remo is done with the entire drive scanning process, it will display a list of all the recovered files and folders that were deleted forever, on your screen.
Step 5: You can use the filter option to find the files based on various criteria such as Author name, File Size, File Type, File Status, etc.
Step 6: Once you are done sorting and filtering files. You can quickly Preview them by simply double-clicking on them.
One of the best things about the tool is, it lets you select the files that you want to recover without bringing in any unwanted files.
Step 7: Select the files you want to restore and also select the location where you want to save the recovered files.
That’s it, I was safely able to recover permanently deleted files using Remo File Recovery Tool, and I am also pretty sure that you will as well.
Winding up the Article:
We have discussed all the possible ways of recovering permanently deleted files on all versions of Windows. We have shown all the ways that can help you restore backup files (mainly restoring them from external devices, restoring files from Cloud, as well as using the Backup and Restore option in Windows. We have also tried recovering files that were permanently deleted using Remo File Recovery software, which is a renowned permanently deleted file recovery tool by Remo Software.