This article aims to recover items deleted from Recycle Bin, even if it has been emptied, and provides users with 6 proven methods below.
It can be said that the Recycle Bin is a second chance for users to recover recently deleted files. However, some users will manually or intentionally delete items from the Recycle Bin, and some even do it regularly through Storage Sense or Task Scheduler.
There is a chance you deleted files mistakenly, you realized that you still needed them after deleting, or directly accidentally emptied Recycle Bin, causing permanently deleted files. So, the question arises, can you recover items deleted from Recycle Bin or not? How to recover items deleted from Recycle Bin?
Continue to read this article and get the answer below.
“I've accidentally permanently deleted some important files from my Windows 10 PC, and I'm desperately trying to recover them. These files were not just moved to the Recycle Bin but were permanently deleted, and now I'm looking for any possible way to get them back.” – Microsoft community
When deleting a file in the Recycle Bin, it removes the file's pointer and makes it invisible, but still on the disk. Now the space occupied by these files is marked as free, waiting for new data to arrive. So it means if you don't add new data or continue using this hard drive, it is possible to recover items deleted from Recycle Bin, but it takes some proven methods.
MyRecover, an efficient & clean Windows data rescue application, with powerful recovery technologies, could help you to recover deleted files effortlessly, even from the emptied Recycle Bin.
No matter what you have lost, like office files/images/videos/compressed files, etc., you can recover them within just a few simple clicks.
Now follow the guide here to start an easy Windows data recovery.
Step 1. Start the program > Hover the mouse over the drive and click Scan to scan.
Step 2. It will start a Quick Scan & Deep Scan automatically to search for deleted or missing files. Once found, it will list them in the following window. Just select the desired files to recover during the scanning process.
To select deleted or lost files, you have two ways in the following:
โฆ Through sidebar directories: Expand Deleted files, go to the original location of deleted files, and select them.
โฆ Use the file filter feature: Click the Filter feature, displayed as a funnel-shaped button, and select Type > Documents. Then, type the file name or .xlxs in the search box to narrow it down.
Step 3. Once found the deleted files from Recycle Bin, double-click it to preview. Click Recover x files and select a new location to save the recovered files, preventing data overwriting.
This tool could help users retrieve lost files like photos, videos, charts, texts, etc. For instance, it will be a simple task to restore deleted Excel files from hard disks using this tool.
To get back deleted items from Recycle Bin without software is possible and there are several practical ways to do so.
Firstly, the previous versions could be of some help. Your computer will automatically create copies of your folders & files as restore points in Windows 10 or 11, so you can restore previous versions of files to get your folder and file back to an earlier state.
Step 1. Go to File Explorer and locate the folder where your deleted files used to be.
Step 2. Right-click the folder and select Properties.
Step 3. In the Previous Versions tab, choose a folder version based on date and time. You can click Open to confirm it.
Step 4. Once confirm the desired version, click Restore.
Then you could get files back into the folder.
If the files were permanently deleted from Recycle Bin, you could turn to the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) feature of Windows. It require you to create a copy of your files before this disaster. Otherwise, this method is useless.
Step 1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore (Windows 7).
Step 2. Click Restore my files.
Step 3. Click Search, Browse for files or folders to locate deleted files > Next.
Step 4. Choose a preferred location to store the recovered files > click Restore.
Also, you can browse for folders to recover a deleted folder on desktop.
File History is another backup software in Windows to help users backup files automatically. So you can easily recover files after deleting from Recycle Bin if it's enabled in advance.
Step 1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security > File History.
Step 2. Click the Restore personal files option.
Step 3. Click the left arrow to find the deleted files and click the green restore button to recover files after deleting from Recycle Bin.
Microsoft integrates the "Back up to OneDrive" feature in Windows 10 or 11 to help you backup files to OneDrive automatically and restore deleted files when necessary. You can enable it in the backup settings.
Step 1. Open a web browser and go to https://onedrive.live.com/.
Step 2. Sign in to your Microsoft account.
Step 3. Search the deleted files in OneDrive. Select and click Download to restore them locally.
If you don't find the deleted files, it's deleted in OneDrive. Go to the Recycle Bin directory and locate the deleted files for data recovery.
Windows File Recovery, an official command-line tool from Microsoft. It is quite helpful when you need to recover permanently deleted files or restore files from Recycle Bin after emptying.
However, using this tool can be a tough task, because it does not offer any graphical user interface and require you to use complex commands to achieve your goal.
Now, let’s figure out these first.
๐ท๐นTo check the file system:
Start This PC> right-click on the drive that has lost files > Properties.
๐ท๐น Select a recovery mode:
| File system | Scenarios | mode |
| NTFS | Deleted recently | Regular |
| NTFS | Deleted for a while | Extensive |
| NTFS | Formatted disk | Extensive |
| NTFS | corrupted disk | Extensive |
| FATandexFAT | Any | Extensive |
๐ท๐น Select one or more switches:
| Switches | Meaning | Supported mode(s) |
| /n | Filter the scan range: scans for a specific file with its file name/path/type, etc. | All |
| /y: | Recovers specific extension groups. | Signature |
| /k | Recovers system files. | NTFS Segmentโโโโโ |
| /segment | Segment mode; recoversfiles under NTFS drives using file recordsegments. | Segment |
| /signature | Signature mode; recoversfiles under all file system types using fileheaders. | Signature |
| /u | Recovers undeleted files, for example, from the Recycle Bin. | NTFS Segment |
You can also refer to how to use Windows File Recovery to get more detailed instructions on recovery modes and switches.
Then, check out the steps as follows.
Step 1. Install Windows File Recovery in Microsoft Store.
Step 2. Run it > input the command:
winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]
Let’s take a simple example, you need to restore a zip file deleted just now from Recycle Bin under C: drive to E: drive, but you cannot recall the filename, then you could utilize a wildcard “*” with the switch “/n”. And the command will be like:
winfr C: E: /regular /n \C:\Recycler\*.zip
Step 3. Press y to continue and wait until the process is complete. A recovery folder will be created in the destination drive.
Firstly, different backup feature, such as previous versions, Backup and Restore (Windows 7), etc., could be utilized;
Then, if you are familiar with commands, the official tool - Windows File Recovery can also help;
But if you want to get rid of these difficult and complex commands, you might as well try MyRecover, letting this easy tool help you recover files after deleting from Recycle Bin.
๐For more methods, please check: recover deleted files from Recycle Bin.
As mentioned earlier, you may remove files manually and intentionally, e.g., Storage Sense, Tsk Scheduler, etc. So If you found Recycle Bin deleted files automatically, try to turn off them and stop this issue. Or backup files automatically.
Some users will activate Storage Sense to remove files from the trash bin to free up space especially when the storage space is running low.
Step 1. Press the Win+I key > Windows Settings > System.
Step 2. Click Storage > Configure Storage Sense or run it now.
Step 3. Turn off the Storage Sense.
Some users would also enable Task Scheduler to carry out tasks automatically and regularly; for example, emptying the Recycle Bin every week, etc. If so, users can delete this task to avoid files from being lost again.
Step 1. Input Task Scheduler in the Windows search box > start it.
Step 2. Find the auto-deletion/auto-emptying Recycle Bin task > Disable.
Thus your files won’t lost from Recycle Bin again.
You can also choose to back up your files on a regular basis to prevent files being deleted from Recycle Bin or lose data due to other reasons.
With AOMEI Backupper, you can backup your files in more than two ways. You could save several copies of your important files in different places: one local copy, and two external copies, such as on an external hard disk, flash drive, share or NAS, cloud, etc.
In addition, you still can enjoy the following useful features: