How to Recover Files Deleted 3 Years Ago in 3 Free Ways

Can you recover deleted photos from 3 years ago?

What if you delete some files by mistake and it takes a long time to remember that they are important? Can old deleted files be recovered? Usually, it's possible. When the system performs a deletion, it just removes your files from the file system and then marks the hard disk space occupied by the file as free.

On the surface, the files are gone and there is more space available on the hard disk. In fact, the files were not immediately wiped. As long as the deleted files have not been overwritten, it is not difficult to retrieve files that were deleted three years ago or even longer. This page will include practical solutions to help you recover deleted photos, videos, and all kinds of files.

How to recover files deleted 3 years ago or longer

How to recover deleted files from 3 years ago or more? There are three possible solutions, which are to use professional file recovery software, restore files from backup, and retrieve files from previous versions.

Next, we will show you detailed guides on how to recover files deleted years ago using each method.

Method 1. Recover files deleted long time ago with data recovery software

The easiest way to recover files deleted long ago is with the help of a professional data recovery tool. MyRecover, a free file recovery utility, has made great achievements in the field of data recovery, focusing on helping users get back files lost in various situations.

Besides old deleted data recovery, it also supports permanently deleted data recovery, formatted file recovery, partition loss file recovery, system crash data recovery, etc. It lets you recover deleted files from multiple storage devices, including local disks, solid state drives, SD cards, USB drives, and so on.

Supporting recovering pictures, videos, emails, documents, zip files, and other 200+ types of files, you can recover photos deleted years ago with this tool referring to the guideline below.

Step 1. Click the download button below to install MyRecover on your PC.

Step 2. Hover the mouse over the partition where you have deleted files and click Scan.

Step 3. The program immediately runs to detect deleted files and other missing files in this partition. You can choose “Images” in the filter type to quickly locate your photos. You could also select the “Video” filter to find and recover deleted videos easily.

Step 4. No need to wait for scanning to complete, you can select the items you want to recover, tap on Recover x files, and then select a path to save the recovered data.

Method 2. Recover deleted files from years ago from Windows backup

The second option we are going to introduce on how to recover deleted photos from 3 years ago and other types of files is to retrieve them from a Windows backup. This option relies on the Backup and Restore component in the Windows system that can be used to restore data if you have used it to create backups for your files.

Note: You could also recover files from Google Drive backup, iCloud backup, OneDrive backup, or File History backup. No matter what software you have used to back up your files, you can restore the backup file when you need to retrieve the lost data.

Step 1. Type “Control Panel” in the search bar and open it. Click on System and Security and select Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

Step 2. Under the Restore tab, hit Restore my files option.

Step 3. Tap on Browse for files or Browse for folders to pick the previously created backup > click Next.

Step 4. Choose to restore files to the original location or a new location, and hit Restore to recover files deleted 3 years ago with ease.

Method 3. Retrieve old deleted files from Previous Versions

If you have enabled File History or created restore points for your Windows, the Windows system may have saved copies of your files. In this case, another solution to how to recover deleted photos from 2 years ago or longer is to revert your folder to its earlier date and get lost files back.

Step 1. Open This PC or My Computer.

Step 2. Then find the folder that used to contain your deleted files. Right-click it and select Restore previous versions.

Step 3. Available previous versions will be listed in the Previous Version section. Select the one you need and press Restore.

Concluding words

That is all about how to recover files deleted 3 years ago. By referring to these recovery methods, you can easily retrieve files deleted by mistake on various devices such as computer hard disks, USB flash drives, memory cards, etc.

Although data recovery is very simple, we still want to emphasize to you - creating regular file backups can effectively prevent all unexpected events from happening. In addition to using Windows built-in backup tools, you can also use AOMEI Backupper, an easy to use backup software. It allows you to easily back up files to various storage devices such as external hard drives, cloud drives, and NAS, and quickly restore files whenever needed.

FAQs about recovering files deleted long time ago

We have answered the question - can you recover deleted videos from years ago and explain complete guides about file recovery above. Here, we also offer some additional information on old data recovery.

#1. How far back can you recover deleted photos?

In theory, as long as the hard disk space is not occupied by new files and the hard disk has no failures, your data can be retrieved no matter how long they have been deleted. But once you write new data on the hard drive after your data is deleted, the chances of the file being recovered are reduced.

#2. Can I recover recently deleted files?

The answer is yes. You can recover files from Recycle Bin or use the Ctrl + Z shortcut to get back recently deleted data hassle-free.