Lost Computer Data? Let’s Find Lost Files on Windows 10/11

What causes loss of data in computer?

Computer data loss is a nightmare for any user. You may have accidentally deleted a video containing deep memories or lost important data for your business. Once you lost computer data, the consequences will be unimaginable.

However, it does not mean that once data is lost, it is irretrievable. With proper preventive measures and rescue means, users can find and recover lost folders. Before learning the solutions, it is necessary for users to know what situations tend to lead to lost data and need to avoid such incidents in their daily office and study.

✪ Human error--It is inevitable that users will accidentally delete or overwrite important files in the process of creating, updating, saving, or editing them. Usually one can retrieve deleted files from the Recycle Bin, and if they are permanently deleted, one needs to seek other methods.

✪ Virus and malware infections--Viruses and malware are actually everywhere. They may be embedded in emails or unknown links in other places, or they may invade computers when users download software from unauthorized websites. Once a computer is infected with viruses and malware, it can steal user information and cause the PC to crash and data may be lost.

✪ Hard Drive Crashes-- Hard drive failure is still the most significant cause of data loss. External factors such as power outages, crashes, and internal factors such as file corruption, software corruption, and incorrect drive formatting can cause hard drive crashes and data will be lost once the accident occurs.

✪ Power outage--If you suffer an unexpected power outage, your computer will shut down directly, and then those files that were not saved in time are likely to be lost. The auto-save feature of some applications can effectively prevent this from happening.

✪ Computer theft-- Once your computer or hard drive is stolen, if you can't retrieve the device, it means you will lose all your files. And there is no tool that can help you get back the original data, we suggest users use professional backup software to backup the data in their computer in time, such as AOMEI Backupper, which can provide you the most effective help

5 solutions to recover lost computer data

Your data can be lost for various reasons, we have collated 5 effective solutions according to different situations in the next content, if you are worrying about lost data, scroll to learn how to find lost files on Windows 10/11.

Way 1. Get back computer data directly from the Recycle Bin

If your data is accidentally clicked on the delete key during the operation, then you also have a chance to get it back from the Recycle Bin. You can view the Recycle Bin and get back the files on your Windows PC by following these steps.

✎Note: Files larger than 8998MB will be deleted directly, they will not be moved to recycle bin, then you can click to other methods to recover accidentally deleted files.

Step 1. Double-click the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop to go to this tool.

Step 2. Find the deleted file from the list and right-click the file. You can also select multiple files, right-click and select the Restore option. Your files will be restored to the location before they were deleted.

Way 2. Recover lost computer files with a Windows backup

If you have ever used the built-in Backup and Restore feature of Windows OS for file backup, then when the files are lost, you can check windows backup and restore the lost files on your computer.

Step 1. Navigate to Control Panel > System and Security.

Step 2. Then navigate to the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) option and click on it.

Step 3. Under the Restore tab, click the Restore my files button.

Step 4. You need to click on Browse for files or Browse for folders to select the backup file version, then select the location where to save the file, confirm and start your data recovery process.

Way 3. Recover lost PC files using File History

File History is a tool embedded in Windows 8 and above computers, which supports backing up all kinds of files stored on a C-drive, including favorites, games, applications, etc., and saving different versions of them. If you have already started the tool, then it can come in handy in case of data loss. Tap to learn how to recover lost computer data.

Step 1. Navigate to Control Panel > System and Security, then locate to the File History option and click on it.

Step 2. Go to the next screen and click on Restore personal files on the taskbar.

Step 3. Locate your lost PC file from the list of files, select it and click on the Recover button below to recover the file.

Way 4. Recover hidden data from computer with CMD

Some important files that you thought were lost may not have actually been deleted and they may still be hidden in the hard drive. Using CMD is an effective way to recover such data, and you can learn the proper recovery of lost computer data by following these steps.

Step 1. Type cmd in the Windows search box, select the Command Prompt option, and click Run as administrator. If there is a pop-up window, tap Yes to allow it to access the computer.

Step 2. Type the correct command: attrib -h -r -s /s /d G:\*.** and press Enter. (You can replace G: with a different disk character for file find and recovery.)

Way 5. Recover lost PC files using MyRecover

How to recover data without permanent loss of files and no backup? Using professional data recovery software is the simplest and most reliable solution, MyRecover is a comprehensive computer data recovery tool designed to help users safely recover files lost in any situation.

The tool is excellent in many ways:

Supports keeping the original format, file name, and path of deleted or missing files.

Recover over 200 kinds of data including videos, audios, photos, PDFs, slideshows, and more.

It has broad compatibility and is compatible with NTFS/FAT32/exFAT/ReFS on Windows 11/10/8/7 and Windows Server.

The interface of this software is intuitive and simple, and anyone can easily get started and recover important files.

Through the two modes of Quick Scan and Deep Scan, can effectively improve the completion efficiency and have a high recovery success rate.

Please download MyRecover first and start learning how to find lost files in PC.

Step 1. Launch MyRecover, hover the mouse over the drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan to scan.

Step 2. You can choose to recover detected files directly during the scanning process or wait for the full scan results to be rendered.

Step 3. Select the lost PC data you need to recover from the interface and click Recover x files to confirm.

Final words

Users may lost computer data due to various reasons, please do not panic when encountering this situation, here are 5 effective solutions on how to get back lost files in PC. If you want to get it back in one step, you can directly choose to use MyRecover to get back your data, which can easily recover lost files in any situation.