How to Recover Permanently Deleted Data from Computer for Free

Can I recover permanently deleted files from my computer?

It often happens in our daily life that people want to recover their deleted files. If the files are deleted by using right-click ＋ D or Ctrl ＋D, they can be recovered from Recycle Bin easily. But someone asked if permanently deleted files can be recovered. In fact, even if you permanently delete the files, you can retrieve them as well. This article gives 5 methods to find permanently deleted files and recover them.

Note:✎...

If you deleted files permanently, you should immediately stop using the hard drive/system from where you’ve deleted the files, because the hard drive continues to be used will increase the chances of files being overwritten, resulting in a lower success rate for recovering files.

Recover permanently deleted files without software

If you have a habit of backing up, file loss is not a big deal for you. The following three methods tell you how to recover permanently deleted data from computer without downloading software.

Method 1. Using File History to recover deleted data

File History is a built-in tool for Windows that automatically backs up your files when you turn it on. You can get back your history file records by using it.

Note: You need to make sure you enable this feature before you lose files.

Step 1. Launch the Control Panel, and click the System and Security.

Step 2. Click File History and tap Restore your files with File History.

Step 3. Find and right-click the Restore personal files on the left list.

Step 4. The deleted file will appear on your interface and then click the Restore.

Method 2. Recover permanently deleted files from Previous Versions

Previous Versions can automatically save a copy of the file and you can restore previous data based on the point in time. You also turned it on before losing files.

Step 1. Start the Windows File Explorer on your computer.

Step 2. Find the folder where you save your deleted files, and click it.

Step 3. Click Properties > Tap Previous Versions > Select the version you want to restore > Tap the Restore button.

Method 3. Restore deleted files with Backup

If you created a backup by using Backup and Restore, you can also easily retrieve your files. Follow the steps below to complete the operation.

Step 1. Open the Windows menu and choose Control Panel > Click System and Security > Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

Step 2. Click on the Restore my files button on this page.

Recover permanently deleted files without backup

Windows File Recovery and AOMEI Data Recovery are two good data recovery software, which are able to restore files without backup.

Option 1 . Recover deleted files using CMD tool

Windows File Recovery was released by Microsoft in 2020, which is a CMD tool for data recovery. It is compatible with Windows 10 2004 and above and can restore multiple types of files, containing jpg/png/pdf/docx/xlsx/mov/zip, etc. 

Actually, it’s a little difficult for most people because it does not give users an intuitive operation interface, so users need to learn some strange parameters to write the command line. If you still want to use it, you should understand these parameters first.

▪ File System: how your computer Operating System stores and retrieves the data.
▪ Source drive: the place where files are lost/deleted.
▪ Target drive: the place where you choose to store the recovered files.
▪ Recovery mode: general: Regular & Extensive; advanced: Segment & Signature.
▪ Switches: parameters to target the folders and file types.

The command line structure is like: winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches].

Select mode:

Check file system: Click This PC > Right-click the source drive > Tap the Properties.

Choose switch (three common switches are listed below):

Then, you can begin to write the command line.

Step 1. Download this freeware in Microsoft Store.

Launch Start menu > Find and click Microsoft Store > Input Windows File Recovery on the search bar > click Get button.

Step 2. Open Windows File Recovery and click Run as administrator.

Step 3. Input your command line, and click Enter.

Option 2. Restore permanently deleted files with a professional recovery software

There is software better than Windows File Recovery, MyRecover. It supports Windows 7 or later and also combines two scanning modes, Quick Scan & Deep Scan that can detect all the deleted and other lost files. Other significant highlights are listed below.

♦ Easy to use: It provides users with a graphical interface, so users can recover files with few mouse clicks.
♦ High-speed: File recovery takes very little time.
♦ Widely use: This tool can restore data from SSD/HDD, and also supports FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, and ReFS in Windows.
♦ Various files recovery: It can recover many kinds of files, like PPT, Word, Excel, Photos, Videos, Audios, Zip files and etc.

Step 1. Open MyRecover on your PC, hover the mouse over the drive, and click  Scan.

Step 2. All the deleted files and other lost files will be detected.

Step 3. Choose a path to store the files, and then click Recover x files to retrieve your target data. 

Conclusion

5 ways of how to recover permanently deleted data from computer are displayed in this post. The backed-up data can be easily retrieved, from which it can be concluded that the backup is a critical step. A professional backup software, AOMEI Backupper is introduced as well. You can use it to protect your computer data conveniently.