Three Ways: How to Retrieve Permanently Deleted Videos from Computer

If you’re bothered by how to retrieve permanently deleted videos from computer, find the solutions in this post. Here, we mainly give you three options to recover deleted videos with or without software.

Ellie

By Ellie / Updated on September 13, 2024

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Can I recover deleted videos from my computer?

 

This morning, my son just deleted the whole folder of videos on my computer while he played them. They are family films and I need to recover deleted video from the computer urgently. I tried to find them in the Recycle Bin but found nothing. Does this mean they’re permanently deleted from my computer? Can I retrieve deleted videos from my computer?”

 

If you’ve just deleted your videos using Ctrl + D, then they will be in your Recycle Bin and it is very easy for you to retrieve them from the Recycle Bin. But if they are deleted permanently by using Shift + Delete, then things become a little bit complicated. At this time, you’ll need to retrieve these permanently deleted videos with the help of some built-in or third-party programs.

Three easy ways to retrieve permanently deleted videos from computer

Here in this part, we’ll introduce 3 ways how to retrieve permanently deleted videos from computer with or without software.

Way 1. Use free data recovery software to retrieve permanently deleted videos 

The most straightforward method for recovering deleted videos from a computer is to use MyRecover. Its several noteworthy features have helped it become one of the most popular data recovery software programs on the market.

  • Apply to different data loss situations. No matter how you have lost data from hard disks, like accidental deletion, disk formatting, system crash, virus attack, and so on, ADR for Windows can offer you help.
  • Support to recover 200+ types of data. ADR for Windows can quickly recover practically all types of data, including videos, images, documents, movies, music, and so on.
  • Be perfectly compatible with Windows systems. It is compatible with different Windows systems, including Win 11, 10, 8, 7, and Server. No matter what brand of computer you’re using, you can make full use of ADR for Windows to recover deleted and lost data.

Step 1. Download, install and launch MyRecover on your computer.  

Download FreewareWin 11/10/8/7/Server
Secure Download

Step 2. Hover the mouse over the drive, and click Scan.

Select Partition to Scan

Step 3. Then the scanning process will start automatically. You don’t need to wait for the process to complete if you find the videos you want to recover.

Scan Lost Data

Step 4. Choose the videos that you want to recover. Click Recover xx files and choose a destination path to save the restored videos.

Recover Lost Data

Way 2. Restore permanently deleted videos using existing backup without software

The second option we give here on how to get back deleted videos from PC without software is to restore videos from an existing Windows backup. but the prerequisite is that you have the Windows built-in Backup and Restore utility enabled.

Step 1. Navigate here: Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore (Windows 7). Click on Restore my files to selectively recover permanently deleted files. You can also choose Restore all users' files to get all deleted files back.

Restore My Files from Windows Backup

Step 2. Search for your deleted pictures by using the Browse for files or Browse for folders option. You cannot see individual files when browsing for folders.

Restore with Windows Backup

Step 3. Choose a location to save the backup, select your pics and click Restore to recover them.

Note: You need to set up this feature manually. If you didn’t enable backup on your computer, then you’ll see Windows backup has not been set up notification, which means you’re unable to use this method to retrieve permanently deleted videos from computer.

Bonus tips: If you don’t want to backup everything on your computer but just your important videos, you can also use the professional backup freeware AOMEI Backupper. It allows you to back up videos on your computer to the destination you designate in just a few simple steps.

Way 3. Recover videos from Previous Versions option of Windows system

Windows provides an efficient way to retrieve permanently deleted videos from a computer, which is the Previous Versions. Using this utility, you could quickly and easily revert to a previously saved version. When Windows generates restore points, it saves these versions. Let's see your final option on how to retrieve permanently deleted videos from computer.

Note: You must have the File History feature enabled to use this service. Check Control Panel > System and Security > File History to see if this service is enabled. If it is not, then this method is not suitable for you.

Step 1. Right-click the folder where your videos were saved before deletion and choose Properties. From the menu, choose Restore previous versions.

Step 2. Select the previous version according to the time, and then click Restore.

Restore Previous Versions

How to retrieve permanently deleted videos from Mac

If you have permanently deleted videos from Mac, it is also impossible for you to retrieve them back from the Bin directly. But you can use the Time Machine on Mac, which generates backups on an hourly, daily, and weekly basis. How to use Time Machine to retrieve permanently deleted videos from Mac is shown below.

Step 1. Open the window where you lose your videos.

Step 2. Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, find Time Machine, and click Enter Time Machine.

Mac Enter Time Machine

Step 3. Use the up and down arrows to locate the videos you need to restore.

Mac Select Lost Files

Step 4. Click Restore to recover the selected videos, then your lost videos will come back to the previous location.

Mac Time Machine Restore

Conclusion

This post mainly gives you three options on how to retrieve permanently deleted videos from computer on Windows with or without software. Besides, the way to retrieve permanently deleted videos from Mac is also introduced for Mac users. In the end, we would like to say that data loss is quite an annoying thing, thus you’re advised to backup your files on your computer using software like AOMEI Backupper to avoid this from happening in the future.

FAQs

1. Where do files go when permanently deleted?

Actually, when files are permanently deleted, they stay in the same location as they were before but become invisible. The files are still left in the same place and marked as unimportant or unavailable. That’s why you are able to recover them using a file recovery tool.

2. Is there a way to recover a video file that was deleted several months ago?

Yes. You can recover videos that were deleted months ago with the help of tools as long as the storage space occupied by the videos has not been overwritten. What you need to do is to make sure not to add new files to the same location in case the deleted videos have been overwritten by the new files. Once this happens, your deleted videos can no longer be retrieved.

Ellie
Ellie · Editor
Ellie, a professional and experienced writer who is good at solving iOS-related problems and writing iOS backup/transfer tips.