You Can Restore Whatever File You Regret Deleting, Here's How

Sometimes, you freak out for accidentally deleting your files and you don’t know how to bring them back. Good news, there is still hope for you. With free tools and apps, you can restore files that were deleted on any platform.

Mostly, modern storage forms don’t completely deleted data; they just clear the current space. After being deleted, your files still exist somewhere in the device. The key is speed so be quick.

Always back up

You might be told this before but once again, back up your data as soon as you incidentally delete it. The quicker you are, the higher the chance is. Almost all could service, Dropbox, iCloud or Google Drive, have an undelete feature so that is the easiest way you can think of.

Besides, there is backup software you can use like Time Machine on macOS, File History on Windows or a lot of third-party options. Every external networked drive or hard drive now often goes with a backup program.

In Dropbox’s app. to restore your data, go to Deleted Files, recently deleted files and folder will be listed. Select files or folders you want and click Restore. Removed data is kept for 30 or 180 days, depends on which plan you sign up.

Windows and macOS

If the files you want are even deleted from Trash or Recycle Bin, you will need third-party tools dedicated to this.

For Windows, you can consider among Recuva (one of the best options), DMDE or PhotoREc.

For Mac, Prosoft Data Rescue, Disk Drill and MiniTools are mostly recommended.

Although there are many other options, if one program doesn’t work, try another.

On Recuva, you can choose between a step-by-step wizard and an “advanced” interface. To find your deleted data, you can choose the file type and its location if you remember and the program will start working. If the first process cannot find anything, you will need the second process to go deeper and of course, it will take more time.

In the advanced mode, Recuva even flags your files with colors. Click on the files you want to restore then Recover and wait for the program to do its job.

During the recovering process, your data may be overwritten so you need to turn off other apps while running the program. To protect the original data, you should also choose another location to restore files or folder, not the original one.

Android

If your data is on a memory card, plug it into your PC and use the tools above to get it back. But, if it is on Android, things are much harder if there is no root access. A lot of recovery programs need rooting to be able to bring your data back.

Beside apps dedicated to Android like Undeleter or DiskDigger, you can connect your phone to your PC and use one of the programs mentioned above. You can also use programs designed for the computer to trace removed files on phones including Fonepaw Android Data Recovery and  Fonepaw Android Data Recovery but you will have to buy and root your phone. However, the possibility to get your files back is not 100%.

Most of the files on your phone are downloaded or saved from outside sources except phones and videos. This is the reason why you need tools like Google Photos as a backup. Moreover, Google Photos also has its recycle bin so you can restore things when you want.

iOS

If you are using iPhone and it has been backed up to iCloud or iTunes recently, you can find your photos and videos there.

In Photos, go to Album then Recently Deleted, you will find your photos and videos and after being deleted, they will stay there in 40 days before the system delete them forever.

If you sync your data to the iCloud, iCloud web portal is a good way to get your data back.  Go to Settings in the iCould web, go down to Advanced and you will see a list of things you can restore then select Restore Files.

If your deleted date hasn’t been synced and backed up to an iOS backup, the chance seems pretty small. You can try some programs for PC like Data Recovery or Dr. Fone but those programs cannot access every type of data.

For access to the file system in iOS is quite limited, applications cannot work as well as normal. If you don’t know any data forensics experts, make sure that your data is always backed up and be careful when deleting things.

>>> How To Transfer Files From Your Samsung Phone To A Windows PC And Back