How to Recover Deleted Files in Windows

Everyone has deleted a file or folder on accident before. Sometimes people even delete stuff on purpose, only to find out that they needed the files after all. If you're experiencing one of these mishaps, don't worry, file recovery is possible in most cases!

When a file gets deleted on a computer, there's not as much going on as you'd think. The files are not actually deleted, but are simply modified in binary to tell the computer it can write over that data. So by logic, simply changing the file back will result in a completely undamaged file.

A few days ago on Null Byte there was a tutorial on how to make files unrecoverable. In contrast, today's article is going to show you how to recover files that you may have accidentally deleted. It will also give you some information on what your computer keeps track of and how much personal information it actually stores.

Requirements

• Windows OS
• Admin privileges
• Piriform's Recuva installed

Let's get started.

Download & Install Recuva

First, let's install Recuva. In my opinion, it's the best recovery tool for Windows in terms of recovery consistency and time it takes—not to mention the fact that it's free.

1. Download Recuva.
2. Double-click the installer in your Downloads folder.
3. Click Next > Agree > Install.

File Recovery

For the file recovery section, I'm going to show how it's done in the video below. Follow closely.

That was it for this Null Byte! Make sure to follow me on Twiiter for the latest updates! Also, idle in the IRC or share some knowledge in the Forums.

Photo by Horrgakx