Full Guide to Recover Files from Network Drive in Windows 10

User Case

Have you also encountered the situation described by the above user? While organizing your files, you accidentally deleted some important files by mistake. If you haven't made any backups of your files at this point, you might be panicking. However, if you accidentally delete a file stored on a network drive, there are ways to rescue it. Read on to learn how to recover files from network drives.

How to Recover a Deleted File or Folder from a Network Drive in Windows 10

There are two scenarios here: one is to recover files you deleted on a network drive, and the other is to recover files you deleted on your computer from a network drive. The premise of the second case is that you have backed up the files on your computer on a network drive in advance.

#1. Recover Network Drive Deleted Files from Previous Version

Previous Version is the backup and restore feature on Windows that can be used to recover deleted, formatted, modified, damaged or lost files and folders. If you created a restore point before the data loss disaster, you can use this feature to recover files from network drive shared folder. The specific steps are as follows:

1. In the exact location where the shared folder files located, right-click on the empty space and choose Properties.
2. Under Previous Version, there should be a list of files or folders that were backed up at different times and dates. Select a version of the folder before the file was deleted and click Open. This will open the folder where you can view all previous files.

3. Browse to the file that was deleted and select Copy to copy it back to your network drive.

#2. Recover PC Deleted Files from Network Drive via Window 10 Built-In Tool

If your computer files were backed up on a network drive via Backup and Restore (Windows 7) before they were lost, you can restore deleted files directly from the network drive. Here's how to do it:

1. Tap the Search button on the taskbar and type “backup” in the search box. Click Backup Settings from the search results and select Backup and Restore (Windows 7) in the pop-up window.
2. Click Restore my files to recover deleted files from network drive.

3. In the Restore Files page, click Search, Browse for files or Browse for folders to find files or folders you want to restore and select them, then click Next.

4. Select In the original location or In the following location to store your files. Click Restore to start the pending operation.

Free Network Drive File Backup & Recovery Software – No Data Loss

If you're lucky enough to get your deleted files back, that's the best. But both of the above situations require you to make preparations in advance to get back the deleted files from network drives. The first case requires you to create a restore point in Windows 10 in advance, and the second case requires you to back up the files on your computer to a network drive in advance.

Losing files is always annoying no matter what situation you are in. Therefore, it is recommended that you back up your files in advance using a free network drive backup software. AOMEI Backupper makes backup a breeze, you can do it with just a few mouse clicks. Let's see what advantages it has.

◑ It supports backing up system, disk, partition and files to all kinds of NAS or network share, such as, QNAP NAS, Synology NAS, network share, etc.
◑ It allows you to set up automatic backup files to your network drives. You can use daily, weekly, monthly frequency freely.
◑ In addition to backup to network drives, you can also backup to external hard drives, SSDs, HDDs, USB flash drives, and SD cards. For example, you can use it to backup only new files to external hard drives.

Next, I'll show you how to back up your network drive files in Windows 10 with this freeware. First, click the download button below to install it on your computer and launch it.

Step 1. Click File Backup under Backup tab.

Step 2. Click Add File or Add Folder according to your needs.

Step 3. In the pop-up windows, click Share/NAS -> Network location successively. Select the network drive files or folders you want to backup and click OK.

Step 4. Click the second box to select the destination path you want to back up and click Start Backup.

More Useful Settings:

▶ Options: you can write a comment for your current operation, and set up email notification so that you can receive timely notifications about task results.

▶ Backup Scheme: you can choose the backup methods here. If you enable automatic backup cleanup option, it will help you manage destination storage by auto-deleting old backups. This requires a Standard upgrading to AOMEI Backupper Professional edition or higher ones.

Tips on how to recover files:

After you have created a backup using AOMEI, next time you want to recover files from network drive, navigate directly to Restore -> Select Task/Select Image File.

Or you can use the Explore Image feature under the Tools tab. It is really useful when you don't have a file backup, for example, you create a system backup. It will mount all the partition (s) on the system image, you can view them in the Windows Explorer and manually copy any files you want to another location.

If it is a file backup, It will save all the files to its original location without manul copy and paste.

Final Words

After reading this article, hope you can recover files from network drive. No one wants to go through the pain of losing files. To avoid being caught off guard in similar situations in the future, it is recommended that you back up your files or system through AOMEI Backupper in advance. Whether you experience data loss or a system crash later, you can use it to retrieve your files or restore your computer to a working state easily.

There are many other powerful features of this software, such as Clone, Sync, other tools, etc. You can use it to create bootable media to help you start your computer successfully if it doesn't boot properly.