[Solved] Accidentally Emptied Recycle Bin

What happens when Recycle Bin is emptied?

During your daily life and work, you will deal with many files, Photos, videos, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, etc.

Naturally, considering the storage space, you will delete some old or unimportant files. All the removed files will appear in the Recycle Bin on your desktop.

Before emptying, you could restore deleted data from Recycle Bin at any time. And correspondingly, one could not easily undo Recycle Bin emptying.

However, considerable people have accidentally emptied Recycle Bin and have nowhere to get their vital data back.

Where do permanently deleted files go?

What happens when the Recycle Bin is emptied? Where do all these removed items go?

Literally, it is like emptying a basket or any container: all the contents in it will be discarded.

But on the other hand, logically, the deleted items won’t be directly and immediately removed from your device. The files will be tagged as “delete"; meanwhile, the pointer to the files will be removed in place of the files themselves.

So, actually, the files will temporarily stay in the Recycle Bin till new data come in. And meanwhile, it is a prerequisite before you could get files back from emptied Recycle Bin.

How to recover data from an accidentally emptied Recycle Bin?

How to recover deleted files from Recycle Bin after empty? In this part, 4 methods will be prepared for you to achieve Recycle Bin recovery.

1. Get files back from emptied Recycle Bin via File History

File History saves the file copies every 1 hour by default. You could view and restore files from the earlier versions.

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

Step 2. Restore personal files.

Step 3. Click the left arrow to view earlier versions > select the files you need > click Recover.

Thus, you could recover Excel file deleted from Recycle Bin.

2. Restore with previous versions of files

If you have enabled File History or restore points, then the editing will be recorded. Thus, you could recover deleted files by restoring previous versions of files/folders. In addition, it facilitates you to find previous version of Word documents as well.

Step 1. Go to File Explorer > go to the folder where the deleted files were originally stored.

Step 2. Right-click the folder > Properties > Previous Versions > select a wanted version > Restore.

Thus the deleted files will directly revert to the original location.

3. Retrieve deleted files from Recycle Bin after emptying via backup

Windows has offered a backup method for all users to facilitate them switching to a new machine. For instance, Users can make a backup of their Windows 7 device, and then restore the backup on a Windows 10 device compatibly.

Also, you are capable to use this tool to restore any files you backed up.

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

Step 2. Restore my files.

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

Step 4. Select a place to store the recovered files > click Restore.

In this way, lost files could be recovered from accidentally emptied Recycle Bin.

4. Recover files from accidentally emptied Recycle Bin in 3 steps

All these 3 approaches provided in the above part need a backup in advance. And some of them are not quite suitable when your emptied Recycle Bin had a large number of files.

In other words, it is not convenient to restore a file one by one. Instead, sagacious users will turn to other efficient ways to restore items deleted from Recycle Bin/emptied Recycle Bin.

For example, choose a professional Windows data recovery tool to help you. MyRecover will be the best choice among seas of eligible tools to assist you.

It is convenient, comprehensive, competent, and compatible. 

Restore deleted and lost data in 3 steps. 

Apply to comprehensive data loss situations, including deletion, formatting, virus, system crash, etc. 

Use advanced scanning methods and be supported by a sophisticated team. 

Compatible with Windows 11/10/8/7 SP1.

Step 1. Install and run the software > hover the mouse over the source drive where the files were previously saved > click Scan.

Step 2. Filter the files using Size, Type, Date modified, etc.

Step 3. Go to Deleted files > Recycle Bin > select the files you need to restore > click Recover x files. Or go to Other missing files > recover certain types of files.

What’s more, using this app, external hard drive file recovery will be an easy task as well.

FAQ

To restore data from accidentally emptied Recycle Bin, you could check the 4 methods introduced in this post. More questions are provided as well.