How to Recover Deleted Files from your Computer

Most people have done it from time to time, having accidentally pressed that delete key instead of another button, or deleted before saving your work. It gives you a sickening feeling - all that hard work gone and no way to get it back.

However, there may be a way for you to recover that lost information, so you won't have to do it all over again. Try these simple tips to try and recover your deleted data and put your mind at rest.

Run a Search

Even though you have deleted the file, you might still have a copy saved somewhere on the computer. Because it might be in a different location, you might not know that it exists, so attempting to search for it is a good idea.

Try to search your drives for the file name and see what comes up on the list. If you are fortunate, there will be a copy somewhere that you can click and it will take you to the location of the file.

Recycle Bin

It might sound like an obvious place to look, but the recycle bin can be the first port of call for your deleted file. If the file is in the recycle bin, it is a simple procedure to recover it again. All you need to do is right click on the recycle bin icon and select recover file. It should then return to the folder you saved it in originally.

One point to remember is, that if the file is very large, it might not be able to fit into the allocated space the recycle bin holds. It should pop up a message to say that it will just be deleted forever. If you deleted it in this way, it would need a little more work to recover it.

Data Recovery Software

Because of the way a computer saves and deletes data, the file you lost should still be on the hard drive if you haven't saved anything else since then. That is because the computer will only delete the location of the file and mark it as reusable. It means if you have not saved anything else to your drive, the original file might still be intact.

You can use data recovery software free download that you can get from sites such as Secure Data Recovery. It can search your drives and look for the data you have lost by asking for parameters to search. It is important to note that you don't want to install this software on the drive containing the lost file, or it may delete it inadvertently.

With luck, you will be able to recover the data, but as it may have to search the whole drive, it can take a while to find the file you need.

By using tools such as these, you can normally recover most files on your PC or laptop. Even disc failures can be recovered, so don't worry, your data might not be lost after all.