[3 ways] How to Recover Permanently Deleted Data from Hard Disk

There are top 3 solutions to recover permanently deleted data from hard disk in Windows 10. You could select one according to your own needs to find and restore lost data including photos, videos, office documents, and more.

Lora

By Lora / Updated on March 29, 2024

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“How to recover my deleted files?”

“About an hour ago I was clearing my documents out, and I deleted a folder by accident that contained a lot of important files. Does anyone know any ways I can recover my files or any safe and reliable program that can help me?”

If you delete these files while pressing "shift + delete," or if you accidentally clean the recycle bin, they will be permanently gone from the system. The files don’t just disappear. All your deletion indicates the space on your hard drive that the file occupies as available. As a result, if you know the right solutions, you could recover your "permanently deleted files."

Before we move on to the recovery section, it's important to note that you must turn off the computer or hard drive from which you deleted the files. This step is necessary to avoid the lost data from being overwritten.

Common reasons for permanently deleted files

When working on a Windows 10 system, you may mistakenly hit the Delete key, causing a file or folder to be moved to the Recycle Bin. In other cases, you may delete files and folders to free up space on your hard drive for new data. Let’s find out the common reasons for permanently deleted files.

Empty the Recycle Bin accidentally or intentionally.
Press “Shift+ delete” to delete files.
Virus or malware attacks lead to file corruption.
The Recycle Bin bypasses the large files.
The system will delete the user’s associated files if the user’s account is erased.
Using Command Prompt to delete files.

 

Top 3 ways to recover permanently deleted data from hard disk

To undelete or retrieve deleted data in the event of a data loss situation, there are numerous approaches that can be used. For Windows users, the following methods must be followed in order to restore permanently deleted files from a computer.

Method 1. Restore permanently deleted data from hard disk for Windows 10 via Windows backup

Protecting your computer's data is one of your most crucial responsibilities. A frequent backup of your system using the backup program of your choice is the best way to achieve this.

Backup and Restore, a built-in backup and recovery utility in Windows 10, can help you restore deleted files. In order to protect data on their laptop or PC, Windows users should take the time to set it up.

You need to check your recent backup to restore permanently deleted files in Windows 10. If you haven’t set it up, you could jump to other methods.

Step 1: Press the Windows key on the keyboard and type Control Panel, then press Enter.

Step 2: Select “Update and Security” > “Backup and Restore (Windows 7)

Step 3: Click on “Restore my files” and follow the wizard to recover permanently deleted data.

restore-my-files

Method 2. Recover deleted files in Windows 10 from previous versions

This function of Windows' operating system can be quite beneficial if you mistakenly delete a file you were working on. Using this utility, you could quickly and easily revert to a previously saved version. When Windows generates restore points, it saves these versions. Using the procedures below, you can gain access to this functionality.

Step 1: Right-click on the file folder that contained the permanently deleted files.

Step 2: Select “Restore previous versions”.

restore-personal-files-confirm

Step 3: Select the versions containing the files & folders.

Step 4: Click “Restore” to recover the deleted files.

Method 3. Restore permanently deleted files Windows 10 using Windows File Recovery

It is necessary to install Windows File Recovery through the Microsoft Store if you have at least Windows 10 2004 installed on your computer. As a command-line tool, this is Microsoft's own free data recovery tool. Since there are no icons or menus, it is a text-based system that not everyone will be familiar with.

Step 1: Open the "Microsoft Store" app and input Window File Recovery. Download and install the app on your computer.

Step 2: Open Windows File Recovery from the Start menu.

Step 3: In the command prompt, enter commands as the following command format:

winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]

enter-winrf-source-drive

If you want to know more commands of Windows File Recovery, you could go to this page to check more methods to recover deleted files.

Windows File Recovery Graphical User Interface-WinfrGUI

WinfrGUI is a tiny tool to help users recover deleted files in Windows 10 and later with the function of Windows File Recovery. It's 100% free to use. Please follow the detailed steps below to know how to get and use WinfrGUI.
 
Download Freeware Win 10 2004 and above
Secure Download

Method 4. Recover permanently deleted data from a hard disk via data recovery software

If you press the Shift + Delete keys to permanently delete data from the hard disk, the files will bypass the Recycle Bin and have difficulties in data recovery.  Windows File Recovery may not enable the hard disk file recovery due to the low success rate.  A professional data recovery program could be the best choice for hard disk data recovery. Highly recommended MyRecover.

You could use MyRecover to rescue data from kinds of data loss scenarios. It can help you restore more than 200 file types, including images, videos, word documents, ppt, PDF, etc.

MyRecover

▶ Support for permanently deleted files recovery, formatted file recovery, and other data recovery methods.
▶ Recover deleted files from SD cards, USB flash drives, HDDs, SSDs, external hard drives, and other storage media.
▶ Recover lost Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, photos, videos, audios, emails, and hundreds of other file types.
▶ Compatible with Windows 7/8/10/11 and Windows Server.

Download SoftwareWin 11/10/8/7/Server
10,000 people have downloaded it

Step 1. Launch MyRecover on your computer. Hover the mouse over the drive and click Scan to scan.

select-a-partition-to-scan

Step 2. The program runs the scanning process quickly and find deleted files and other missing files in this partition. During scanning, you could recover any file you want. 

scan-lost-data

Step 3. Select the file or the folder that you want to recover and click "Recover files".

recover-lost-data

Conclusion

It is possible to restore permanently deleted data from hard disk in a number of methods. You could choose one of the methods according to your needs.

In order to avoid the possibility of losing crucial files, it is advised to constantly make a backup of them. To keep your data safe, you might utilize an external disk or online storage or a reliable backup tool-AOMEI Backupper. File recovery on Windows 10 or other systems should be started as soon as you discover that the deleted data is still usable. Your files will be protected if you turn on File History. A copy of each file is automatically stored on a network drive or USB drive.

Lora
Lora · Editor
Lora is an editor of AOMEI Technology. She is also a tester and editor of AOMEI Data Recovery Tools. -- "Keep testing, write the most useful tutorials for helping people recover the lost data for Windows and phones" is the most meaningful thing for her. Dedicated to creating helpful tutorials, she hopes her tutorial can assist users to effortlessly solve data loss problems on their personal computers and mobile phones.