Recovering Permanently Deleted Files: Possible or Not?
People can be divided into two types — those who delete files using the Recycle Bin or the delete button, and those who prefer the “Shift+Delete” keyboard combination to keep the Recycle Bin clean and delete everything permanently.
People of the second type can face some difficulties if they have removed something they needed. In this case, the first type of people will just restore the files from the Recycle Bin, but people of the second type might need some special methods to recover permanently deleted files.
If you belong to those who delete everything permanently and realized you just deleted the annual report, for example, keep calm! After reading this article, you will have at least two ways to recover permanently deleted files on Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista. Even NAS data recovery is easy with this tool. But we will start with the most common causes for data loss.
The Most Common Causes for Data Loss
1. Your hardware or operating system function poorly.
More than 40% of all users lose their data because of system or hardware errors. This is the most common reason for data loss or corruption. If we will take a closer look at this reason, we will see specific failures like:
- controller failures;
- electrical failures; and
- head crashes.
2. The human factor.
Human errors or misunderstanding of some functions are the second biggest reason causing data loss worldwide. Anyone can accidentally click the Delete or Format button, just because they were exhausted, for example. Also, the device can be physically corrupted because of dropping it by accident. For these reasons, you can lose all the data in seconds. But you still can recover permanently deleted files.
3. Software failure or corruption.
Sometimes the software just shuts down for several minutes for no apparent reason. If it happens on a regular basis, you might check the computer diagnostics, but if the software shuts down less than once a month, it is OK. The data loss that has happened for this reason can be pretty uncomfortable, but you always can recover permanently deleted files.
4. Malware.
It can be downloaded by accident. To avoid this, you might carefully check every software package you install and have strong anti-malware software installed. Anyway, you can recover deleted files with the Uneraser™.
Why Aren't Permanently Deleted Files "Permanently" Removed?
Actually, after the data is deleted for you, even permanently, it is still on the disk, so you can undelete files. The computer removes only visible links to the data, but the information is in the depths of the disk. To recover permanently deleted files, you might need the Uneraser™ by DiskInternals, your computer, and some time. The essence of the recovery process in Windows is simply restoration of access to the file’s links.
Previous Versions in Windows and the Way It Can Help You
If you deleted the data, but have some versions on your computer saved before, this can be useful. Follow the step-by-step guide below to recover permanently deleted files or lost files with the Windows built-in tools.
1. Create a new file or folder with the same name as the deleted folder/files.
2. Right-click on the file and select “Restore previous versions”; Windows will automatically find and restore the previous versions of the permanently deleted files. The algorithm will look up the deleted files and folders with the different dates and times.
3. Select the latest version and click “Restore”.
If that didn't work, you might try some special tools like Uneraser™ to undelete files.
Recover Deleted or Lost Files Using an Uneraser™
Works with FAT, FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, ExFAT, HFS+(Mac), Ext2, 3, and 4 (Linux), ReFS, NTFS, NTFS5, UFS, XFS and ZFS.
DiskInternals Uneraser™ is the ultimate tool to recover all kinds (including pictures, music, photo, video, etc.) of deleted files and documents. This is the tool that is able to help with all steps of the file recovery process, even those that cannot be taken with regular methods.
Tired from tools with interfaces you cannot understand? DiskInternals Uneraser™ has one of the most user-friendly and understandable wizards that will restore permanently deleted files in a couple of steps. Below is a guide for anyone who would like to restore permanently deleted files and documents.
- 1. Download the file and launch the installation in Windows. When it is complete, start the process of recovering files.
- 2. Select the Wizard icon. The new window will be opened and the drivers and folders for scanning will be launched. Pick a folder or disk you would like to recover and click on the Next button.
- 3. Select the type of the file you would like to restore.
- 4. Scanning may take some time. After this, you will see the list of files and you will be able to recover deleted files.
- 5. The lost files you selected will be restored automatically.
Good luck! Use the DiskInternals Uneraser™ in case you need to recover permanently deleted files. Also, it performs NAS data recovery. Now you understand how to recover deleted files from NAS drive and undelete files in Windows.