How to Recover Large Permanently Deleted Files?

Can large files be recovered after permanent deletion?

When the storage device is about to be full, you might choose to delete something unimportant to free up the space.

For the sake of efficiency, users tend to delete some large files to save time; e.g., you may delete large video files, a big zip file a whole folder that was loaded with tons of files, etc.

Then a message popped up to ask if you really want to permanently delete it.

At that moment, you won’t think of the item you were about to delete would be useful again one day. You were in such a rush to free up space for your drive, and then one day, a disaster might happen – you found you need that file/folder.

What to do? Questions were lingering in your mind: Does the Recycle Bin have a limit? What is the default size of Recycle Bin? And, where do permanently deleted files go?

Don’t panic, this tutorial will give answers to all these questions and help you solve the problem: how to recover large permanently deleted files.

Does the Recycle Bin have a limit?

Yes. The Recycle Bin does have a SIZE limit. The default storage capacity for the Recycle Bin is roughly 5% of the overall size of your disk drive.

You could also customize the size according to your preferences. Right-click the Recycle Bin icon > click Properties > view the Maximum size of all Recycle Bins on your computer.

How long does the Recycle Bin keep files?

Just as mentioned above, the Recycle Bin only has a size limit but no time limit.

Generally, you will have a Recently Deleted folder that works as a Recycle Bin on your phone, automatically deleting items after 30 days, which aims at optimizing the storage space of your phone.

But things are different on a computer. The storage space and the files you stored on the computer will be times larger than on a phone. So there is no need to set a time limit.

When the files you deleted exceed the size limit, they will be permanently deleted, making it impossible to directly recover files from Recycle Bin. Also, this is one of the reasons why you found deleted files not in Recycle Bin.

Where do permanently deleted large files go?

If you have deleted an extremely large file/folder that exceeds the size limit of the trash bin, it will be permanently deleted. It will bypass the Recycle Bin and get removed from your storage device.

More specifically, when files get deleted, they will be tagged as “deleted”, and the access to the files will be wiped. And the place where the files were stored will be marked as “free/wait for being occupied”.

The moment you add new data to the space, the files deleted will be overwritten and will be gone forever.

So, as long as the files haven’t got overwritten, you could still recover permanently deleted files.

How to recover large permanently deleted files?

In this part, 3 practical methods to recover files too large for Recycle Bin will be introduced.

Simply put, you could utilize backups, Windows official tools, and third-party tools to restore deleted files. In addition, restoring files using the Recover command in Command Prompt is also an option, but will be quite complex.

Method 1. Recover files too big for Recycle Bin from Windows backup

Firstly, you could recover permanently deleted files without software via Windows backups. Backup and Restore feature facilitates users to regularly back up whatever they want and whenever they need.

Step 1. Start Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

Step 2. Click Restore my files.

Step 3. Click Browse for files/folders > select the files you need > Next.

Step 4. Specify the destination according to your preferences > click Restore.

In this way, you could solve the problem “How to recover large permanently deleted files” via a backup.

Method 2. Recover permanently deleted files via File History

File History will also be a choice for you. But note that this feature can only save copies of the files stored on the C: drive.

This tool works similarly to Previous Versions, if you have made restore points/backups, you could also restore previous versions of files or folders to get them back.

Specifically, Desktop files, Downloads, Favorites, Pictures, Videos, etc., are covered in the File History.

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > click System and Security.

Step 2. Click File History.

Step 3. Click Restore personal files.

Step 4. Go to the path where the deleted files were stored > select and click the Recover button to get them back.

If you possess a File History backup, you could retrieve deleted files in Windows10 easily.

Method 3. Recover files too large for Recycle Bin using data recovery software

Quite many users don’t have the habit of backing up data. When there are no backups available, how to recover permanently removed files/folders too big for the Recycle Bin?

Compared to trying so hard to get files back using commands and backups, users might as well pick an efficient Windows data recovery utility to help them.

• A good data rescue tool would be easy-to-operate, applying to all users no matter with or without expertise.
• What’s more, it should be efficient, and able to restore multiple types of data, including photos, videos, texts, documents, etc.
• And users need it to be compatible to work with multiple storage devices, Windows operating systems, and file systems.

With all these considerations, MyRecover will be the one outstanding tool.

Just follow the easy process to recover large permanently deleted files.

Step 1. Install and run the software > hover the mouse over the affected drive/partition > click Scan.

Step 2. Preview the scanning result or select files to restore now.

Step 3. Go to the Deleted files > navigate to the path where the files were deleted/stored > select the files you need > click Recover x files.

In this way, you could easily recover large permanently deleted files. What’s more, as a useful and efficient tool, it can also undo flash drive delete.

Minimize data loss risk

In this post, some Q&A about Recycle Bin and large files have been offered, and most importantly, 3 feasible methods to recover files too large for Recycle Bin have been detailed as well.

Apart from solving the problem of how to recover large permanently deleted files, to minimize the data loss risk you might run into in the future, some extra info is ready.

• Do not empty the Recycle Bin in a hush. Thus you could recover them after accidental deletion.
• In case you may need the deleted files one day, saving a copy first before deleting is suggested.
• Use an external hard drive or other storage devices to back up your important data.

AOMEI Backupper would be a good choice with its useful backup features: Disk Backup, Partition Backup, File Backup, System Backup, etc.