How to Recover Recently Deleted Files in Windows 10, 8, 7 & 11?

“Help! How do I find deleted files that I recently removed?”

No matter what sorts of storage devices and machines you are using, you must have met file loss during use. Among all the reasons and triggers why data gets lost, accidental deletion is the most remarkable one. And thus many users are in urgent need to recover accidentally deleted files.

Some users responded really fast – they came to search for methods to recover recently deleted files not so long after files were removed, which improved the success rate in file recovery.

Files in Windows that were deleted several minutes ago can be recovered with a big chance. Now, you may wonder why deleted files can be recovered, check the answer below.

Why deleted files can be recovered?

When you delete a file, it will be moved to the Recycle Bin, where you will be offered a second chance to decide whether to restore it or not.

Even if you deleted them again from the Recycle Bin, they won’t be immediately and totally wiped from your hard drive, but remain and wait for being overwritten by new data.

If you ceased using the affected hard drive/partition the moment you have removed the data, then no new items are added, thus you could absolutely restore those important files you need.

A bunch of users may question why some deleted files are recoverable and some are not. Well, it depends on whether the deleted info has been overwritten by new items added.

How to recover recently deleted files?

Now this section will walk you through several quick fixes and practicable methods to retrieve recently deleted files from hard drives. Check if anyone can apply for your situation.

Before you start Windows data recovery

Prior to the actual solutions, a couple of quick fixes may solve your problem.

>> Fix 1. Search for the files in File Explorer

In case you may just lose access to your files in their original location, perhaps you could try searching it in File Explorer to navigate to it. You could also find all photos on the computer in File Explorer.

Tab on Win+E to open the File Explorer window > type the filename or extensions in the search bar > Enter.

Don’t forget to save it in a safe place.

>> Fix 2. Take a peek at the Recycle Bin

If you have deleted your files normally, which means by clicking “Delete”, or dragging it to the Recycle Bin, it will remain in the Recycle Bin. It allows users to easily recover deleted files from Recycle Bin.

Go check the Recycle Bin for your deleted data.

But, if you have deleted data by pressing the “Shift+DEL” or using the “del” command, it will be permanently deleted.

What’s more, if the files you deleted are bigger than the Recycle Bin capacity/volume, or you deleted them from an external storage device (including SD card, USB, etc.), they would bypass the Recycle Bin, and be directly wiped from your computer.

Don’t worry, you still have chances to recover files recently deleted from Recycle Bin.

>> Fix 3. Turn to your backup

Check the Windows backups you have made. Backups can save you when data loss issues occur. If you don’t have a backup routine habit, you really should. Seeking help from professional backup software can free you from many data loss worries. AOMEI Backupper could help you do so.

Now check the solutions below if all the quick fixes cannot help you out.

Method 1. Access recently deleted files via File History

File History is the embedded tool in Windows. Machines above Windows 8 can utilize it to restore deleted files that were stored on your boot drive (usually C: drive), including your desktop files, Favorites, Downloads, etc.

If the files you have lost were stored on the C: drive, you could follow this method to get them back.

This method only works when you have enabled File History.

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

Step 2. Click File History.

Step 3. Select Restore personal files.

Step 4. Select the files you need > click the Recycle icon.

Thus you could find deleted files that used to be stored on your C: drive.

Method 2. Restore recently deleted files using the “Recover” command

For those who have never activated File History, Command Prompt is also feasible. Some users will seek methods to recover data from hard disk using command prompt.

The “Recover” command uses the specific file path and filename to scan your hard drive sector by sector.

Notes:✎...

It requires the exact filename and directory.

It can only restore one file at a time.

Step 1. Run Command Prompt > Run as administrator.

Step 2. Input diskpart > list disk > select disk 0 > list volume. Replace 0 here with the actual number of the affected drive letter.

Step 3. Then input select volume 0 > recover [drive:][filename].

Please input the actual file path and name.

E.g., input recover d: \pictures\catloaf.jpg

With this command, you could retrieve one jpg file named “catloaf” on d: drive.

Method 3. Retrieve recently deleted files with file recovery tool

The methods above are pretty limited. File History cannot restore files from a basic data drive, while the command only restores one file each time.

If you need to restore a bunch of files, a professional data rescue tool designed for Windows users is preferable.

MyRecover is equipped with excellent scanning techs, scanning and detecting missing and deleted files from almost all Windows operating systems: Windows 11/10/8/7.

It uses Quick Scan to find deleted files and meanwhile keeps their filenames, formats, and directories intact. In addition, Deep Scan can locate all missing files sorted by file types.

Now download it to start an easy Windows data recovery.

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

Step 2. Filtering and searching for wanted files are also feasible with the filters: Type, Size, Path, etc.

Step 3. Select the files you need > click Recover x files to retrieve recently deleted files.

In this way, you could solve the problem “How to recover recently deleted files”. What’s more, it can retrieve data from formatted hard drive.

Wrapping up

To find recently deleted files from hard drives, File History, Command Prompt, as well as a reliable data rescue utility – MyRecover can be of help.

File History only restores files from C: drive, while the “Recover” command retrieves one file each time, which is quite inconvenient.

For convenience and efficiency’s sake, why not choose a good recovery tool for Windows users? As a versatile and compatible tool, it can also restore files from SD card, flash drives, and so on.