Most of us have found ourselves in a tight spot after deleting some important documents by mistake. In such a situation things can mess up further if we don’t know how to recover deleted files. It’s common practice to delete files at some point in order to free your system from unnecessary data and realize its importance after a while.
In case you’re wondering if it is at all possible to recover those files then your answer is, yes! In some situations it is possible to recover deleted files whereas in others the file may be lost forever. It’s very important to understand where your file resided before deletion and take measures accordingly. In this article you will understand in what situations you can recover your deleted files.
Look into the recycle bin – if you deleted a file from a laptop or your local system, then just visit the desktop and double click on the recycle bin or the trash can that you see there. In this folder you will find all the files that you have ever deleted from your system. By right clicking on the required folder or file you will get an option of restore. On selecting this option your file will get restored at the same path where it was earlier. Another thing that you can do is backup your data in such case. If you have been taking backups of all your files then you can easily recover an older version of your file from your backups.
Using file history to recover deleted files – If you are not manually taking any backups of your files then there are chances that you have already turned on the file history backup mode. For all the users of Windows 10, go to Start, then go for settings, then go for update and security, then select backup and finally added drive. After performing all the steps, choose an external drive or a network location for your entire backup.
If you want to restore a specific file – In case you want to restore a specific deleted file then in the search box of the Taskbar type Restore files, and then choose restore your files with file history. In the second step look for the file required and use the arrow to see all its versions. Once you are able to search the required version of your file, click on Restore to save it to its original location. In case you want to save it to a different location, Press and hold restore then select “Restore To” then choose your required location.
All these solutions are applicable only when you have a backup of your files and folders. But what if you don’t have a backup of your files and folders. Let’s discuss further what solutions can work for us in such a situation. In case of a “no backup” situation you may have to try one of the many programs that are available out there. Some of these programs are free and some are available for commercial use. Another option can also be used is Disk Drill, specifically designed for Mac. But now it is available for the Windows operating system as well. This provides you a solution with partition loss, hard drive reformatting, failed boot up, accidental deletion of files and many more such issues.
There may also be a possibility that you may have emailed the file to somebody. In that case you may have saved the copy on cloud based services like iCloud, SkyDrive or Dropbox. Such copies can come in handy in order to recover deleted files. Even if you still lose the most recent changes that you made to your file, it’s better than having nothing.
It’s good to know that there are a lot of options to recover deleted files in case you accidentally deleted them. In such a case you will be prepared for next time. Although it’s always recommended to have a backup of your files either in your laptop itself or on a cloud based service for all such situations. Cloud based services are capable of storing a large amount of data in them. Even if you delete your files and folders from your system you have an automatic backup of all your data. If you still lose files, using the programs that help in recovering deleted files and folders can save you from a lot of mess.