[2024 Guide] How to Recover Deleted Files from PC Free

Scenario: How to recover deleted files from PC?

Did you delete some files accidentally or permanently and be bothered a lot because you don’t have any idea about how to recover deleted files on a PC for free? Don’t worry, as a matter of fact, recovering your deleted or lost files is totally accessible and you could master the solutions with detailed steps in this guide.

How do I recover a deleted file on a PC?

After you deleted your files, the files are not actually erased from the root. Instead, they are stored on the hard drive of a PC. Here are 5 solutions that could help you how to recover deleted files from a PC’s hard drive for free.

Solution 1. Restore deleted files in Recycle Bin

If you didn’t empty your Recycle Bin regularly, then you could undo your deletion from it. Now follow me to operate.

Step 1. Open the Recycle Bin on the desktop.

Step 2. Locate the deleted files. Right-click and then select “View” > “Details” to locate your files.

Or you can search the name of your deleted files in the search bar on the top and right corner of Recycle Bin window.

Step 3. Right-click on deleted files and click “Restore”.

Then you will find the deleted files will be recovered to their original location.

Solution 2. Restore deleted files with a keyboard shortcut

If you just deleted your files, folder, and something else a few seconds ago, the quickest and most efficient way is to press the “Ctrl + Z” shortcut simultaneously to undo your operation. It works in most cases. And if there's something wrong with your keyboard shortcut, you can also act “Undo Move”.   

Step 1. In the File Explorer, go to the folder where the deleted files were located before.

Step 2. Right-click inside the folder to open the menu.

Step 3. Click “Undo Move”.

Step 4. Then the files will be back in the folder.

Solution 3. Restore Deleted files with Windows File Recovery

But what if you clear your Recycle Bin regularly and you have deleted your files several days or months ago, then do you have any idea about how to recover permanently deleted files from a PC’s hard drive for free? For this case, we can use Windows File Recovery, a tool that can be accessed in Microsoft Store in order to recover deleted or lost files on the hard drive for free.

Before the operation, it needs to mention that the operation is a little bit complicated for someone who is not very familiar with the computer. And the tool is only working with Windows 10 versions 2004 and later.

Step 1. In the search box, enter “Store” and then choose Microsoft Store. Then search for “Windows File Recovery” and then click on “Install”.

Step 2. When the installation is completed, search “cmd” in the search box and then click on “Run as administrator” to open it.

Step 3. There is a window popping up, enter the following command:

winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]

Step 4. Now run a search in regular mode. Suppose your deleted files are called “myresume.docx” stored in your C drive and you’ll save the recovered data on the E drive, then you could run the following command (replace “username” with your username on PC):

winfr C: E: /regular /n users\\documents\myresume.docx

Step 5. After that, the tools will prompt you to continue and end by asking you if you want to view the recovered files. Enter “Y” and then you’ll see the files on the destination drive.

Step 6. Finally, go to E drive, and then you’ll find your deleted files.

Note: It might not retrieve all the files with File Recovery. If the solution is a little bit hard for you or not all files get back, let’s try the next solution.

Solution 4. Recover a deleted file from File History

File History is a backup tool from Windows 10. If you have enabled the feature on your PC, then you could find and recover the deleted files from the hard drive for free. Firstly, let’s check whether you enabled it or not.

Navigation: Open “Control Panel” > Click on “System and Security” > Choose “File History”. If it is shown “Turn off”, then the File History is been enabled.

Step 1. Search “restore files” in the search box and open “Restore your files with File History”.

Step 2. Check the folder where your deleted files are saved. Click the Recycle icon to restore your deleted files.

And you could also right-click the folder which includes the deleted files and select “Previous Versions”. According to the time, you could get the folder back to a previous date by clicking “Restore”.

Note: File History is mainly available on Windows 10. And there’s no File History on Windows 7 or earlier versions. Then how can we get the previous version on Windows 7? Here are the steps.

Step 1. On the desktop, click on “My Computer” and then locate the folder that stores the deleted files before. Right-click and then choose “Restore previous versions”.

Step 2. There will be a “Properties” window that pops up. And then you’ll find the accidentally deleted files. Click on “Restore” and then the deleted files will be back.

Solution 5. MyRecover-- Restore your lost data easily from the PC

By following the ways above, you may have a thorough idea about how to recover deleted files from a PC’s hard drive for free. However, if the solutions above are not working for you or some of them are too troublesome and complicated for you, then why not choose a free & professional third-party tool-- MyRecover, which can help you recover your files easily, including permanent and accidentally deleted files.

★Tips:

 AOMEI Data Recovery is compatible with all kinds of Windows versions, like Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7.

 You could recover various files type with it, for example, your deleted PPT, WORD, Web pages, and so on.

 The operation is fairly simple, which allows you to recover your files with a few clicks.

 It works the way as Quick Scan and Deep Scan, and it will be run automatically. 

Step 1. Download and install MyRecover on your computer.

Step 2. After loading the disk, hover the mouse over the drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan.

Step 3. You can see there are “Deleted Files” and “Other missing data”. First of all, choose “Deleted data” to have a Quick scan. If the files are not in this folder, you can choose “Other missing file” to have a Deep scan.

Step 4. Choose a new location to save your recovered files. Then select your needed files, and click the “Recovery x files” button. After that, go to your destination place to check them.

Conclusion

In this guide, we show 5 solutions on how to recover deleted files from a PC’s hard drive for free, such as recovering from Recycle Bin, using the keyboard shortcut, retrieving from Windows File Recovery... But if you want to save labor and resort to an effective way to restore, we believe that AOMEI Data Recovery must be your best choice. If you are afraid of data loss on your PC, it is strongly recommended to backup your Windows data with AOMEI Backupper.