Is there any way to recover deleted files? Recovering files after deletion from a hard drive or flash drive

A USB flash drive is not the most suitable device for permanently storing files, but anything can happen in life. And situations where valuable data located only on it were accidentally erased happen regularly. However, in about half of the cases, grief can be helped by recovering deleted files from a flash drive. Under what circumstances is this possible and how to do it, read on.

I won’t get my hopes up in vain: the chances of successful data recovery from USB flash drives are lower than from stationary drives - hard drives of PCs and laptops and permanent memory of mobile devices. The reason is that flash drives are usually used to transfer files from one device to another. And accidentally deleted data most often ends up being simply overwritten, sometimes even more than once. And overwriting, unfortunately, destroys the information irrevocably.

Full or partial file recovery on your own is possible in the following cases:

• The user deleted them manually.
• The drive was formatted using the operating system.
• The files became inaccessible after a virus attack.
• The files disappeared after the flash drive was divided into partitions.
• A logical failure of the file system has occurred: it has become defined as RAW - unknown, or Windows and programs consider the entire space of the device to be unallocated.

The chances of recovery are extremely low or zero if:

• The flash drive is physically faulty - it is not detected by the computer at all or is recognized as an unknown device, access to its memory is either completely absent, or the size of the latter is several KB instead of tens of GB. The exception is relatively simple breakdowns that do not affect the controller and device memory.
• The files were deleted using a shredder program.
• The flash drive was low-level formatted (essentially repartitioned and rewritten) or reflashed (the controller microcode was rewritten).
• The files are encrypted, but there is no decryption key. It may be the result of an attack by a ransomware virus or user actions (encrypted, but lost the key). In the first case, it is sometimes possible to recover files if you have a suitable decryptor.

In case of physical and complex logical faults, data recovery from flash drives is sometimes possible, but often costs the owner very much - up to several tens of thousands of rubles (not even the result, but the attempt at recovery, can cost that much). Therefore, in such situations, many people prefer to say goodbye to files forever.

How to increase your likelihood of success

Even if your case falls into the simple category, in order to increase the chances of a successful recovery, adhere to the following rules:

• The fewer operations were performed on the drive's file system, the better the result. Therefore, start recovery immediately as soon as you notice missing files.
• Save the recovered data only to another physical medium (computer hard drive, second flash drive, etc.).
• Try to restore everything in one session. Don't interrupt unless absolutely necessary.
• If one recovery program does not help, use others. Sometimes simple free utilities are more effective than expensive paid ones. It is impossible to know in advance what will help in your case, so try everything that is available.
• If the recovery program is capable of creating and saving images of drive file systems, be sure to use this feature. In case of unexpected failure of the flash drive or accidental overwriting before the end of reading, you can restore the data from the image.

7 best programs for data recovery from flash drives

Some of the programs for data recovery from storage devices may already be familiar to you. Our site talked about them in an article about. Today our collection will be replenished with seven more applications of the same purpose. Maybe one of them will be life-saving for you.

R.saver

Wise Data Recovery

Wise Data Recovery is another worthy tool for recovering information from desktop and portable drives. Available only in Windows version. Like its predecessors, it works without installation on a hard drive. It has a high scanning speed and displays the possibility of restoring each found object.

If next to the file there is:

• Red circle—data has been completely overwritten and cannot be restored.
• Yellow circle—overwriting is partial, success is not guaranteed.
• Green circle—the file has not been overwritten and is recoverable.

When you click on “green” files, if it is a picture or document, the program shows their thumbnails (if saved). It also has a function to search for certain types of data using keywords: pictures (imagies), audio (audios), videos (videos), documents (documents), archives (compressed files) and mail (emails).

Wise Data Recovery is a completely free application and, by the way, supports the Russian language.

How to use Wise Data Recovery:

• Unpack the archive with the program to any folder and run the executable file WiseDataRecovery.exe.
• Select the media you want from the list and click Scan.
• Select the files you want to recover from the list. Click the "Recover" button.
• Specify the location to save the files on your hard drive.

Disk Drill

The Disk Drill utility, well known to many Mac OS X users, appeared in the Windows version some time ago. More precisely, in two: free - free, and paid - pro. The free one allows you to recover up to 1 GB of information, the paid one - without restrictions.

Unlike the three previous applications, Disk Drill requires mandatory installation on the computer (for which it receives a minus, since this simple operation can lead to overwriting the data that the user was just about to restore). But it has a number of benefits that others do not have.

With constant use, Disk Drill keeps track of deleted files and also creates backup copies of them, which increases the chances of their recovery even after a while. In addition, it supports any type of storage device and almost all file systems (it knows more than 300 unique file signatures).

Disk Drill does not have a Russian localization, but it is quite easy to use.

How to recover deleted files using Disk Drill:

• Install the application on your PC and run it with administrator rights.
• Select a USB flash drive with deleted data from the list of media.
• Open the drop-down list next to the Recover button, which is located opposite the flash drive, and click the desired scan type: “Run all recovery methods” (use all search and recovery methods), “Quick scan” (quick scan), “Deep scan” (deep scan) ) or “Load last scanning session” (load the result of the last scan). Click the "Recover" button (or "Continue" if you have already started working with the media).
• In the next window that opens after scanning, select the desired files from the list, specify the location to save them and click “Recover” again.

RS File Recovery

RS File Recovery is a paid Russian-language application. In addition to the main thing - restoring information from physical drives, it is able to save and subsequently work with their images. After creating the image, the physical device with the data can be disconnected, since the program has already “remembered” all its contents. In addition, the application has a built-in HEX editor for manual byte-by-byte correction of files, as well as an FTP client for uploading the recovered file to network resources.

After analyzing the storage device, RS File Recovery displays information about the data on it - when it was created, when it was changed, and whether it can be restored. This information appears in the bottom pane of the window.

Unfortunately, in the free demo version of the utility, the recovery function does not work, only viewing is available. The cost of a license starts from 999 rubles.

Like Disk Drill, RS File Recovery requires installation on your computer.

How to use RS File Recovery:

• Launch the application. Select a flash drive from the list of media by simply clicking on it. All its contents, including deleted files, will be displayed in the middle part of the window.
• Click on the item you want to restore. Information about it, including the forecast, will be shown in the panel below.
• Drag the required files to the recovery list on the right side of the window and click the “Recover” button.
• Select the saving method: to hard drive, to CD/DVD, to the Internet via FTP, or to convert to a virtual ISO image.

• Specify the destination folder on your hard drive. Follow the assistant's instructions when selecting other saving methods.

Ontrack EasyRecovery

Ontrack EasyRecovery is one of the most functional and effective data recovery programs, the main competitor of industry leader R-Studio. It successfully extracts data even from heavily damaged media, supports all types of file systems and more than 250 file formats, creates virtual images of physical storage devices, can boot from DVDs and USB flash drives, and also has a lot of other useful features.

EasyRecovery is available in several paid editions with different sets of functions. The most inexpensive is home-based, which will cost the user $79 per year. Professional, enterprise and specialized (for servers) cost from $299 to $3000 for an annual license.

Despite the enormous possibilities, even a novice user can use this program, since each stage of the work is accompanied by a built-in assistant. It is also impossible to make a mistake because it is completely translated into Russian.

How to use Ontrack EasyRecovery:

• Launch the application (it is available in installation, portable and, as already mentioned, boot versions). Specify the type of media on which the deleted data is located.
• Select the volume to scan (if it is a flash drive, then, as a rule, there is only one volume on it).
• Select a recovery scenario. Restoring objects after deletion and formatting are different scenarios. First, try using the first one - it works faster, and if that doesn’t help, try the second one.
• If the data was affected by a logical failure, identify one or more types of file systems that may be on the media.

• Check again that the conditions are correct and confirm your selection. After this, the program will begin scanning the flash drive.
• After scanning is complete, select the desired objects in the list (to select several, press and hold the Ctrl key). Click the “Save” button in the top panel of the main window and specify the destination folder on your hard drive.

To create an image of a storage device and work with it in the future, after starting the program, select the device in the list of media, open the “File” menu and click “Create image file”.

Active UNDELETE

Active UNDELETE is another paid utility that successfully copes with the recovery of individual deleted objects and entire disk partitions. Supports all types of media, all file systems and over 200 different file formats. In addition to the main tasks, it allows you to solve related problems - correct errors in partition tables and boot records, create, format and delete disk volumes, etc. Like the majority of paid analogues, Active UNDELETE supports the creation of virtual images of drives.

The demo version of the program, available for free download, has a full range of functions, but does not allow you to recover files larger than 1 Mb.

The Active UNDELETE interface is exclusively in English, but the utility is easy to use, since each action is accompanied by a wizard.

Unfortunately, it does not have a portable version. Installation only.

How to work with Active UNDELETE:

• Launch the program. Click “Recover deleted files” in the first window that opens. This will launch the recovery wizard.
• The first window of the wizard is a brief summary of how the program works in English. To proceed to the next step, click “Next”.
• Next, select one or more devices on which the desired files are located. Click "Next" and in the next window - "Scan".
• After scanning, mark the items you want to recover and proceed to the next step.
• Set saving options - folder, file names, renaming in case of matches, etc. You can leave everything as default.

• The last step is the actual recovery. To launch it, click the “Recover files and folders” button.

If you want to create a virtual image of a flash drive, open the “Disk image management” section in the main window and run the “Create disk image” wizard.

It often happens that objects that are important to us (files, documents) are accidentally deleted. Then the question arises: is it possible to recover deleted files? Sometimes it’s possible to get them back, and sometimes they are completely lost and irretrievable. There are a number of methods to do this. We will consider the fastest and most convenient recovery options below.

How to get deleted files back from the Recycle Bin

Objects that are deleted from the computer are moved to a specially created section on the computer called “Trash.” It is an icon on the desktop. This is where all the files that we remove from the computer are sent to. Therefore, all deleted items can be easily returned. If necessary, they can be removed completely and permanently.

To reproduce the recovery, you need to open the Trash. There you can see all the objects that were previously erased from the PC. To restore them, that is, return them back to the folder where they were previously located on the computer. You will need to right-click on the file of interest. After which a list will open from which you need to select “Restore”.


After this, the selected object will disappear from the Trash. This suggests that it has returned back to where it was once removed. For example, if he was previously in “Documents”, then he will return back to “Documents”.

But the user does not always remember where the deleted file was originally located, how to find it then? Having opened the “Trash” and seeing an item there that needs to be returned to its old location, which is unknown, you need to click on this object of interest, which is located in the “Trash”, then look at the bottom of the folder. This will be the found address of its location.

It will indicate the location from which it was removed. When restored, he will return there.
In this way, you can only restore those items that were removed from the computer. Flash drives or flash drives deleted from a CD/DVD cannot be returned this way.

Use a restore point

By rolling back to an earlier restore point, you cannot return objects such as programs, documents and files. This way you can return only deleted shortcuts from the desktop.
To return them, you will need to go to the main folder menu of your computer by clicking on the icon on the desktop, then select “System Properties”.


To the left of the window that opens is the “System Restore” item, which usually opens right away.
Then go to the tab called “System Protection”. Click the “Restore” button.


A new window will prompt you to restore to the earliest checkpoint. If there is a need, then a possible rollback to any other point that is available for recovery.

How to recover a deleted folder using third-party programs

How to recover files? A huge number of special programs have been created for this. With their help you can easily do this. For example, Magic Unerase, Symantec Norton Utilites, MunSoft Easy File Undelete, PC Inspector File Recovery.

How to recover deleted folders using the free Recuva utility

First you need to download the file located on the developer’s official website. The average user can download a free and paid version, which differ in their range of functions and capabilities. After downloading, begin the process of installing the application on your PC.


Immediately after launching the utility, you will be prompted to restore files. Click "Next".


In a new window, for convenience and to simplify your work, you will be offered a choice of file type (pictures, music, documents, etc.). By default, the universal type “All files” is selected there.


To increase the speed of work, the directory where data deleted from the computer was previously stored will be available.


To get more accurate results, you will need to check the box next to the item in the next window, which is located opposite the line to enable in-depth analysis. Click "Start".


At the end of the scan, the recovery wizard will show the entire list of lost documents. These are all the objects that the utility was able to detect. The application will be able to restore without loss only those marked with a green circle. Those marked in red probably cannot be returned, since other elements were already recorded on them, and most of the information about the object was completely lost.

An accidentally deleted file is a cause for serious concern.

If an important file or folder is deleted...we are usually confused and at first don’t know what to do.

The main thing is... don't panic!

However, the first thing we do... look in the Basket

It may sound trivial, but the Recycle Bin is the first means of protecting data from accidental deletion. At the same time, many Windows users automatically clean it immediately after placing files in it.

Although, by and large, the Trash does not need to be emptied at all, because it does it automatically.

Searching for files in it is not at all difficult.

Find its icon on your desktop and open it. If the file name is known, then simply write it in the search box.

You can also sort files in the Recycle Bin by deletion date and immediately find the file you need that was just deleted.

The next time you think about using some utility that cleans out the Recycle Bin in the background to free up disk space, think carefully about whether you should trust this important process to an automatic machine.

It may be easier to do it yourself and at a time when you are sure that there is nothing valuable in it.

Searching among shadow copies

It is not necessary to use any paid programs for this purpose. The standard backup tool in Windows 7 is quite suitable and this system is turned on automatically when the system is installed.

If System Protection is not manually disabled, then to restore a deleted file from a shadow copy in Windows 7, find the folder where the file was before deletion, open its properties and go to the Previous Versions tab.

It contains information about all versions of files that were in this folder at different times.

We select the closest one by date and try to search for our file in it. If it is not there, we turn to an earlier version. And so on until you find the desired file.

In this way, you can not only restore an accidentally deleted file, but also return to one of the previous editions of a document that was changed and saved on disk, and then you needed its old version.

Shadow copies of user files are created automatically by the system during reboots and installation of various programs at system restore points.

Therefore, you don’t need to do anything separately to create them. The main thing is not to turn off “System Protection”, since some “experts” recommend turning it off to save resources, keeping silent about the fact that the security of the system as a whole will decrease.

If regular remedies don't help

Use a third-party file recovery utility. You can use a specialized data recovery utility.

For example, Recuva (http://www.piriform.com/recuva) can search for deleted files that have left the recycle bin. It can be kept on disk in case of fire.

The chances that the file will be recovered without loss are not so great, but there can be luck. Here, a very important point that influences the “success of the concession” is the minimum number of disk operations from the moment the file is deleted.

A word about what was said

I will immediately upset the happy owners of SSD drives - they do not have this chance of salvation! The fact is that the system for such disks regularly performs the TRIM function, which resets sectors with deleted files.

Do not disable standard protection measures - they are very effective.

The operating system developers have come up with a multi-level protection system against problems associated with accidental data deletion.

Do not neglect them and disable them, as well as empty the Recycle Bin every time immediately after deleting a document.

Make sure that “System Protection” is activated and that the Recycle Bin is working properly. With these system components, you can lose a file irretrievably unless on purpose.

To prevent data loss associated with disk failure, use the recommendations in the following paragraphs.

Use cloud storage.

Despite the chance of information disclosure, synchronize your folder of important documents with cloud storage.

I have not seen a user whose documents would take up 10 GB, which is how much cloud disks are willing to offer for free.

They also offer their own applications that will synchronize your document folder with the cloud. For example, I use cloud.mail.ru (https://cloud.mail.ru/home/). But there are also such products as SkyDrive, Google Drive, Yandex Disk and of course the famous Dropbox.

Yes, it is very important that cloud storages also have their own basket! Don't forget to look there too if your local copy of the file is irretrievably lost.

Make regular backups...

If you have an operating system other than Windows 7 and 8 installed, we advise you to make backup copies using a special utility. For example, COMODO BackUp.

Windows 7

Windows 7 has its own utility for backing up versions of important files, “Backup or Restore,” which is located in the “Control Panel.”

To create backup copies, you will need a separate hard drive (external or internal) that has enough free space to accommodate an image of the entire system disk, as well as to create backup copies of user files.

Windows 8

This version of the operating system has a more advanced feature called File History, which is turned off by default.

If you have really important documents, take the trouble to enable version control for them. Just type “res” in the control panel search box, as shown in the picture.

Then, in the “File History” window, make the necessary settings. By default, the system suggests storing versions of all documents and drawings.

If you have large folders with home photos in your documents, then it is better to make backup copies of them yourself, as I described in the article about freeing up disk space. And in “File History” it is better to place these folders in “excluded” folders.

Now you will have copies of the document for each change option. Your dissertation or thesis will be safe. Even if you deleted an entire chapter by mistake and wrote down the document.

File History requires the use of a removable storage device. This is in case the main hard drive fails.

Here's my drive:

It is noteworthy that it has its own cooling in the form of two fans (silent) and all sorts of connection options... even e-sata.

So don’t spare money and, at worst, buy at least a flash drive, so that you don’t have to shell out money for restoring files bit by bit from the body of a dead hard drive.

BONUS to the article: (To think about browsers)

The most important criteria for browsers

Performance or speed of data processing. It’s unpleasant to wait several minutes for the desired image to load. Reliability. Sometimes, when writing voluminous text works, such as term papers, you need to open dozens of tabs at once and it is very inconvenient when they all fly out. Safety. Everyone really wants the browser to be equipped with a simple antivirus and warn about the presence of malicious content on sites. Convenience. The layout of the buttons on the panel should not be terrifying, and searching for a magazine or toolbar should not last for hours.

Extensions and timely updates. It's great when a browser is not only easy to use, but also damn beautiful, and the theme can be changed to suit the seasons or mood.

There is no sadder story in the world than the story of a frozen Internet.

The most popular browsers are rightfully:

Opera is one of the fastest and easiest to use. Thanks to the Turbo function, it speeds up work even with slow Internet. But not very reliable. It often crashes when overloaded with open windows; safety is also not great.

FireFox is the most beautiful browser. It has many convenient and useful plugins. For example, to download music from websites or videos from YouTube. Easy to use, quite reliable and fast.

Google Chrome is a much-loved web browser. One of the fastest and most reliable at the moment. The first had the function of translating pages from English into Russian. Allows you to view the site code, which is very useful for novice web designers. According to user surveys, it ranks 1st in popularity.

Good luck, Friends!

wp.aspekti.eu

How to recover deleted files on your computer yourself?

Any computer owner can inadvertently delete important files from the hard drive. In this case, a logical question arises: “How to recover deleted files on your computer yourself?”

As a rule, all deleted documents are placed and stored in the trash until the owner himself clears it. Therefore, you first need to look for the files there. As you know, you can restore them from the trash in one click, and they will be sent to the same place where they were before deletion. If the necessary documents are no longer there, this does not mean that they are gone forever. In some cases, information can be recovered.

How to recover deleted files on your computer after emptying the Recycle Bin? You should know that immediately after deleting a document, only its name disappears in the registry, and the file itself will be stored on the hard drive until new information is written in its place. Once you realize that the Recycle Bin that was just emptied contained important documents, it is important not to save any information on your computer that could take the place of files that were inadvertently deleted.

Recovering information from the HDD is carried out using third-party programs, so it is advisable to install such a program in advance, otherwise, when loading, it may displace the files that need to be found and saved. In this case, you can move the hard drive to another computer that already has such a program, but this option is not always available.

There are many programs for recovering files from HDD, including both free and paid services. The latter are more functional and provide more options.

How to recover deleted files on your computer for free? To do this, you need to download the Recuva utility from the Internet. This is a convenient application with a simple and intuitive interface that even a beginner can master. Using the utility, it is possible to recover photos, videos, and text documents.

Once the program is downloaded from the network, you need to unzip it, and then install and configure it using the Recuva wizard. After this, you can move on to the main actions.

How to recover deleted files on your computer using the free Recuva utility? After the installation wizard has finished its work, you need to click the “Start” button and begin searching for the required files. Once the search process is complete, a list of files will appear. Some of them will have the inscription “Viewing is not possible.” This means that other information has already been recorded on top of these documents and they cannot be restored.

Files that can still be saved should be checked and clicked “Recover”. After this, you will need to specify the folder in which you want to save the documents and confirm by clicking “OK”.

You can recover files in Recuva in a different mode. To do this, click on the “Go to advanced mode” button. A window will open in which the found files will be arranged in the form of a table. The contents of the document can be seen in the “View” tab, the parameters can be seen in the “Summary” section. To restore files, you need to tick them and start the process. The information will be saved to the specified folder.

Of course, the program will not be able to save all deleted files, so it makes sense to store especially important information on removable media.

fb.ru

Instructions: how to recover deleted files on your computer

The first and one of the easiest recovery methods is to use the free Hetman Partition Recovery program.

Program installation

Download the utility to recover deleted information and run the installer. To speed up its operation, the program recommends closing all running applications. Click Next to begin the installation process.

Confirm that you have read the license agreement by clicking the “I Accept” button.

Select the folder where the utility will be installed. If you want to recover deleted information in a specific partition of your hard drive, you must install the program in another partition. This is due to the fact that the program can install itself in place of the deleted data, making it impossible to recover it. The latest version of the application will require at least 42.8 MB of free space on the selected disk. Confirm to continue the installation by clicking the “Next” button.

If necessary, check additional items in the installer settings. You can choose to place shortcuts on the desktop and in the Quick Launch panel, or display documentation about Hetman Partition Recovery.

Wait for the installation to complete.

After installing the program to recover deleted data, click the “Finish” button.

Running and analyzing deleted files

Open the installed application using the created shortcut. The first launch may take some time.

The Hetman Partition Recovery utility has a built-in wizard for recovering deleted information. It is used to simply specify application settings step by step. To continue using the wizard, click Next. If you want to use the program interface to configure and start scanning remote files, uncheck the “Display wizard at startup” checkbox. Then click "Close" to stop the recovery wizard.

Select the drive on which you want to find deleted information for subsequent recovery. If not all storage devices are displayed or you have connected a new drive, click the Find Drives button. Select the drive with the deleted information and click “Next”.

Important! Searching for deleted data can be done not only on local drives, but also on external drives.

In the next step, specify the type of analysis that will be applied when searching for deleted data. There are two options to choose from: quick scan and full analysis. If the files you are interested in were recently deleted, it is recommended to use a quick scan. A full analysis performs a deep scan of the system. This task requires more hardware resources, so it takes much longer to complete than a quick scan.

Important! When choosing full analysis, you can enable searches in various file systems (NTFS and FAT) as well as deep analysis.

The time it takes to analyze a computer's file system depends on the size of the selected disk and the selected scanning parameters. If the process takes a long time, you can cancel it using the corresponding button and set other settings in the previous steps.

Upon completion of the analysis, statistics will be indicated in the application window: the number of folders and files found. Click "Done" to move to the next step.

Working with deleted files

A convenient feature of Hetman Partition Recovery is a common interface for accessible and deleted files. It is organized in the style of a standard Windows Explorer, so even an inexperienced user can understand the interface. By default, the application window displays visible and hidden documents. Also, after scanning, additional directories appear:

1. Deep Scan
2. System files
3. Deleted and found

To work with deleted documents, go to the “Deleted and Found” section. Unfortunately, the technical features of deleting information in Windows do not allow you to save the names of deleted directories. Therefore, they are assigned serial numbers, for example “Folder 1127”. Find the electronic documents that you want to recover, mark them in the program window and select “Recover” in the context menu. You can also use the keyboard shortcut: “Ctrl+R”.

File recovery in Hetman Partition Recovery is implemented in the form of a wizard, as is their analysis. In the first step, you will be asked to select a saving method. The easiest and fastest option is saving to your hard drive. Check the required box and click “Next”. If you want to always use this saving method in the future, set the option to “Remember my selections.”

At the next step, specify the path that will be used to store the recovered data. It is strictly not recommended to specify the drive on which the source files were stored. With this choice, the recovered data may be saved in place of the original data, which will lead to their overwriting. As a result, the documents will turn out to be “broken” - they will be only partially accessible or will not open at all. Click "Restore" and wait until the copying is complete.

Recovering Files Using DiskDigger

Unlike Hetman Partition Recovery, DiskDigger is small in size and does not require installation. To run it, download the archive from the developer’s website, unpack it and run the executable file. One of the conveniences of the utility is automatic detection of the system language. If it is defined incorrectly, you can change the language in the upper right corner of the program.

At the first stage of recovering deleted data, select the disk on which it was located before deletion. In addition to hard drives, flash drives, memory cards of various formats and other connected devices are also supported. Difficulties may arise when recovering data from SSDs, since they have a different principle of deleting information. After selecting the drive, click Next.

After this, DiskDigger will offer you to choose one of two scanning options: “Dig deep” and “Dig even deeper.” The first option should be used if the information was recently deleted. It is also better suited for recovering large files. The second option is recommended for restoring small files and data that was deleted long ago. Unfortunately, the names of the recovered documents in this case are not displayed correctly, so random combinations of characters are indicated instead. After making your selection, click “Next” to move to the next step.

Note! If the selected search method does not bring results, you can repeat the scan using a different method.

The current file system analysis status will be displayed in the Running section. There is no way to interrupt the process at this stage, so it is recommended to wait until it finishes. But if it runs too slowly, you can terminate the program using Windows tools.

When the scanning is completed, a dialog box will appear in the application interface with the total number of files found. Click “OK” to proceed to the next stage of data recovery.

The list of found documents will be displayed in the summary table. In addition to the file name, it includes columns such as size, time of last access and the path where the information was located before it was deleted. Mark the documents you want to recover and click the “Save selected files” button in the upper left corner of the application interface.

Select the directory where you want to save the recovered files. It must be located on another medium or at least in a different section of the hard drive from which deleted data is being recovered. If your system only has one local drive, it is advisable to connect an external drive (flash drive, memory card) and save information on it. After successful data recovery, you can transfer it back to your computer.

Tutorial video: Recovering deleted files on your home computer

WiNetwork.ru

How to recover deleted files on your computer

Sometimes very important data may be lost on your computer. Owners often assume that it is impossible to return what has been deleted, but they are wrong about this. There are several ways to recover information, each of which we will analyze. It is recommended to read the article about data recovery after formatting.

But none of the methods can give a guaranteed result. Much depends on how the information was destroyed. This could happen for the following reasons:

• Reinstalling Windows.
• Accidental deletion.
• Hard drive failure.
• Action of the virus.

The third option is the most dangerous. When you reinstall the operating system, the disk is formatted, and sometimes information is destroyed by copying new files there. Now let's move on to ways to restore them.

Basket

The first thing you need to do is look in the trash, since that’s where the document goes first. If you found what you were looking for in the basket, you just need to right-click on it and then select the appropriate item.

If the files do not end up in the trash, but immediately disappear, then you need to uncheck the instant delete function. This is necessary in order to avoid similar situations in the future. The R-Studio utility described below also rummages through the Recycle Bin for files deleted from there, which allows you to increase the amount of information recovered.

When a document marked deleted is partially rewritten, some portion of it will inevitably turn out to be garbage. In this case, you can use the reconstruction utilities of R-Tools Technology Inc. Each of the common formats has its own program:

1. R-mail (for OutLook Express).
2. R-Word.
3. R-Excel.

Recuva program

Now we will learn how to recover deleted files on your computer using the Recuva program. The software interface is intuitive, but let’s still look at how to work with it. After installation and launch, you will need to specify the type of the remote document. Recuva has both a free and a professional version. Of course, many wanted to know how the second one differs:

1. Support for virtual disks.
2. Advanced recovery algorithm.

We would say that most of our citizens do not need guaranteed support and automatic updates. Consequently, the advantage of the paid version rests on its advanced recovery algorithms. Unfortunately, the manufacturer does not specify what exactly is good, since all programs search by sectors in RAW mode and then divide them into groups. It can be:

• image,
• text document,
• music,
• Database.

Piriform is also the author of the well-known disk cleaning program CCleaner, which can already be considered a de facto standard in this area. Therefore, it would be logical to think that Recuva will show its best side. In addition to data recovery, it can also securely erase information. When you first launch Recuva, it will immediately offer to scan the disk for erased files.

The screenshot shows that the search will not be fast, although the program promises to recover over a quarter of a million files in the Documents folder alone. The application may well run in the background for the five hours it takes to complete the process. However, after a couple of minutes information appeared that you only need to wait 2 hours. And the files found amounted to just over half a million. A fair question arises: how to find exactly what you need among this diversity. In the end, it was decided to click Cancel because it was unbearable to endure. And this is what appeared:

This is a long list of 500,000 occurrences. Who could sift through such a mountain of information? We frankly believe that the paid version for that kind of money should have a more subtle classification mechanism than the one presented here.

R-Studio for file recovery

The manual for R-Studio not only describes the work process, but also states that it is advantageous to use the exFAT file system for storage. In this case, it is possible to restore most of the information if a partition is accidentally deleted. What happens from time to time when using special utilities.

R-Studio initially searches for sections and displays a ready-made list of them to make searching easier. When selecting the desired one, the user specifies at least the area. A search is conducted across all media, including those with bad sectors. Found files are sorted into groups, which allows you to at least roughly determine the direction of the search.

From the screenshot you can see that file names are not saved. This is common for RAW (ordinary) searches on the NTFS system. Therefore, the developer authors openly recommend using exFAT. The biggest drawback of the program is its price. It’s not difficult to notice that the screenshot shows the Demo version. The fee for a technical license can be about $900, which is clearly beyond the means of our poor digital equipment adjusters. But for home use it is sold at about 10 times cheaper.

There are packages for working under macOS and Linux operating systems.

What is exFAT

From the above, it becomes clear that the exFAT file system, in case of loss of a partition, gives a great chance of data recovery. This Microsoft proprietary product first appeared in the sixth generation of embedded operating systems (Windows CE 6.0). Later it was adapted by the SD Card Association for removable media. The great thing about exFAT is how easy it is to handle large 4GB files. Cameras usually split high-definition video into such pieces. exFAT is characterized by a very large cluster size, which allows minimizing memory consumption for the directory for storing multimedia data.

In order to take advantage of exFAT on your personal computer, you need to download the update from the Microsoft page kb955704 (support.microsoft.com/ru-ru/kb/955704). This is a file system driver available for the following operating systems:

1. Windows XP 64 bit.
2. Most Windows Server operating systems

After installing the driver, it will not only be possible to format in the exFAT file system, but also memory cards larger than 32 GB, where this standard is dominant, will begin to be read. Here is some information about exFAT that will help the user navigate:

1. Supports volumes larger than 32 GB, this size is the maximum in earlier versions of FAT32 Windows XP (the recommended maximum current size is 512 TB).
2. Supports files longer than 4 GB, this figure is the maximum for FAT32 Windows XP.
3. Compatible with large-capacity external media.
4. Ability to add a UTC timestamp to a file record.

exFAT provides less file fragmentation, more efficient use of clusters (because they are larger in size). On computers with SP3 installed, the driver interface switches to English. In addition, you need to manually copy a number of libraries to the system folder (%systemroot%\System32\Mui\):

Handy Recovery

There are many other similar programs. For example, Handy Recovery. Each software operates on the same principle, so it won’t be difficult to figure it out. Let's describe the recovery process in Handy Recovery.

In the top panel, select the disk for analysis. Click on the “Analyze” button and get the desired list in the left and right windows. They differ only in the way they display information. In the left window everything is more constructed.

Recover on other platforms (Android, iOS, etc.)

On mobile platforms, necessary information is also often lost. Usually these are photos, music or videos. But this is not important, since the recovery procedure is the same as on a computer.

• You can connect the device to your computer via USB, and in the program specify the phone card as a disk for analysis. Next, we also get a list of all deleted files and restore the necessary ones.

• You can install similar software specifically for your phone. There are quite a lot of such applications on official resources (for example, Google Play).

The advantage of a special application is that you do not need to constantly have a computer. And you can restore the necessary data anywhere.

The Recuva and R-Studio packages do not see a smartphone connected to the system unit via the USB interface. Therefore, they are not suitable for recovering files in this case. And the file system is designated as “Hierarchical Structure”. But you can remove the SD card, and then it will become visible. Typically, mobile device media is formatted as FAT32 or exFAT.

However, there is one way to see your smartphone directly via USB. To do this you will have to:

If it becomes clear that the necessary information has been deleted, under no circumstances should you do the following:

• Install something on the same partition where the lost data was previously located.
• Defragment the disk.
• If you are using a mobile device, it is not recommended to take photos or videos.

The fact is that each section is divided into clusters, where all the information is located. After the data is deleted, the clusters are freed. Since they are technically empty, the computer can fill them with newly downloaded resources.

All programs recover data using these empty clusters. In them, information is not completely deleted, and programs use this residual data to create the object anew. If the cluster is filled with another file, it will be impossible to analyze it for the existence of other data.

Disk defragmentation does not install anything on it, but it is dangerous because it transfers documents from one cluster to another (to speed up work). And it is quite possible that some data will fill an area that is important to us.

Sometimes programs find deleted files even in full clusters, but this is of little use, since nothing can be recovered. When you try, you will simply receive an error, or the document will be restored, but it will be impossible to open it.

Conclusion

There is nothing difficult in restoring what was lost. You just need to analyze the disk and find what you need there. The most important thing is to do it all at once. If everything was deleted a few weeks or months ago, then you can’t even hope for recovery.

fsch.com

How to recover deleted files

If you accidentally deleted vital files or formatted a hard drive that contained valuable information, then you have come to the right place. In this article we will talk about how to recover deleted files on a computer or flash drive. We admit that the situation is unpleasant, but there is no need to panic either. Let us tell you right away, we will restore everything! Let's not philosophize too much, it's better to get straight to the point. You can recover deleted information using the completely free DMDE program, which you can download from the link here.

Picture 1

Oh yes, I completely forgot, this program is portable and can be run on any computer without installation. You can write it onto a flash drive and carry it with you everywhere - thereby being sure that at any time you can restore any deleted files. After unzipping, run “dmde.exe”.

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Then we will permanently delete this folder.

Figure 5

Let's assume that these files were very important to us and we want to recover them. What to do? Now let's return to the program itself. After launching it, it will automatically detect all physical and logical devices on your computer. Then:

1. The program clearly needs to indicate that the information was located on a logical drive
2. We need to select the logical drive on which the files we are trying to recover were located. You can check whether we have chosen the right disk by size.
3. Click the “Ok” button

Figure 6

After this, a scan of all directories and folders that were and are on the disk begins. After finishing you will see the following window. Double click on our disk.

Figure 7

Then select “All found + reconstruction”.

Figure 8

After selection, virtual reconstruction of all disk files begins. Click “Ok” and wait for the process to complete.

Figure 9

After reconstruction, in the window we can find the “FILES” folder that was deleted (it is indicated by a red cross).

Figure 10

It won’t be possible to restore the entire folder at once, since our program is free, but we don’t care, because the information in this folder is very important (instead of music there may be valuable work documents or something else). To restore files, go inside the folder and restore everything separately. To do this, check the box next to the object to be restored and right-click on this object, select “Restore object” from the drop-down menu.

Figure 11

After this, a menu will open in front of you, where you will be asked to select the location where you want to restore the object. We strongly recommend that you DO NOT restore to the location where this object was previously. There is a possibility that the sector may have been overwritten or faulty.

Figure 12

After recovery, this file played normally in my player.

Figure 13

Second case of critical difficulty

The case we discussed above is the simplest. Let's look at a situation where you need to recover deleted information from a formatted hard drive or flash drive. I will show you how this can be done using a flash drive as an example. I’ll tell you right away that the actions here are carried out in the same way as in the previous case (Starting with FIGURE 6 and ending with FIGURE 9). However, there are still differences here. After selecting “All found + reconstruction”, the search for deleted files did not produce results.

Figure 14

But we will still try to conduct an in-depth search. To do this we go:

1. To the "Disk Partitions" tab
2. Select our disk (flash drive)
3. Click “Search by NTFS”

Figure 15

After that, we are prompted to select a search area. We don’t change anything here so that the program will completely scan the flash drive and find all kinds of information on it.

Figure 16

Then click the “Ok” button and the scanning process starts. Its duration depends on the size of the hard drive or flash drive.

Figure 17

After scanning is completed, we are prompted to save the logo. We agree.

Figure 18

Then click “All found + reconstruction”, as in FIGURE 8, and get a list of files that can be restored. Oh yes, I completely forgot, here we will try to restore an archive with photos that were previously on a formatted flash drive.

Figure 19

After that, right-click on the archive and click “Restore object”

Figure 20

After you have selected “Restore object” in the same way as in the previous case (FIGURE 12), you will be asked to select the location where to restore this object. After which the recovery process begins.

Figure 21

After all that has been done, it will not be difficult for you to recover deleted information.

Important note: In fact, the amount of information deleted and the time of its deletion do not play any role. After all, even when formatting the hard drive, the top level of the address is erased, that is, you will not get to this information in a simple, familiar way. But if you overwrite the hard drive or flash drive (and even repeatedly), then it will be much more difficult to restore the files. However, all this is done in exactly the same way as we discussed above. There is no 100% guarantee when rewriting multiple times. Therefore, REMEMBER: if you accidentally overwrite the files you need, then do not write anything to a flash drive or hard drive, otherwise newly recorded files may occupy the sector of the media where your files are located.

How to open xml file on computer

Most users of personal computers and laptops store important information on hard drives. For some these are photographs, for others - working documents. But what if all these files were lost for some reason or even accidentally deleted? How to recover lost information?

In what cases can you recover deleted files?

The first thing you need to understand is how a hard drive works. All of its data is stored on clusters - these are small “pieces” of information with a capacity of 1 byte to 4 megabytes. Files are built from clusters. The first bits of each of them are marked with a zero or a one. Those electronic documents in which the attributes are set to “0” are considered deleted. In fact, they exist, but at the first need this information will be deleted, and new information will be written in its place.

What happens when a user deletes a file from their hard drive? It doesn’t disappear anywhere, but that same “zero” is written in its properties. Why is this algorithm used?

What happens when a user deletes a file from their hard drive?

Firstly, to speed up the hard drive. Otherwise, the process of deleting a file would take tens of times longer - it would be overwritten onto an empty electronic document (in time it would take the same amount of time as copying this file to another directory on the same hard drive).

Secondly, this algorithm allows you to increase the service life of the hard drive. After all, clusters become damaged over time, and when a critical point is reached (each manufacturer sets its own “critical” indicator), the hard drive may simply fail - the operating system will stop working with it. The same Windows, for example, in this case constantly displays a notification about the need to create a backup copy of the data and transfer it to another computer.

In total, after deleting a file, even bypassing the recycle bin, the data remains on the hard drive. But they will subsequently be overwritten if new data is copied to the hard drive (or rather, to the hard drive partition). Accordingly, lost files can be recovered only if the following factors are met:

• the information was lost due to a software failure, and not a failure of the hard drive;
• after data loss, no new data was written to the hard drive (to the same partition where the lost data was previously present).

But there are exceptions to the rules. In modern editions of Windows (from version 2000 and older), a system for automatically creating restore points has been introduced. That is, Windows creates backup copies of data that has undergone changes while working with the operating system. Several “snapshots” of the OS are created, so the user can roll back the changes made and restore the state of the computer to the last start. True, this is only relevant for small electronic documents. By default, Windows reserves 5% of the total disk space for recovery points. If the lost information takes up more space, then only part of it will be possible to recover.

It is also quite possible to recover data from a physically damaged hard drive. But such procedures are carried out only in a laboratory, and such a service will be quite expensive. At home, such manipulations are impossible.

How to recover files from the Recycle Bin?

In Windows, deleted files are first moved to the Recycle Bin (if standard settings are used). The user can restore them from there at any time. To do this you need:

• open "Trash";
• right-click on the previously deleted file and select “Recover”.

The file will be moved to the directory from which it was previously deleted to the Trash.

Recovering via Recycle Bin

Restoring through the "Previous Versions" tab

By default, Windows saves a backup copy of each file you edit. These are text documents, images, and executive files. To restore a previous version of a document, you must:

• right-click on the desired file;
• select “Properties”;
• then go to the “Previous versions” tab.

There will be a list of earlier versions of the file that can be restored. Just select the appropriate one and click “Restore”. But you should take into account the nuance - if you click “Restore”, the current version of the file will be overwritten. To save both the previous and current versions of the document, you must select Copy.

Recovering deleted files through the “Previous Versions” tab

How to get files back using Restore Point?

How to recover deleted files using the standard system recovery utility in Windows? For this it is enough:

• go to “Start” - “All Programs” - “Accessories” - “System Tools” and run the “System Restore” utility;

In the System Restore window, click “Next”

• after a short scan of the system, the user will be provided with a list of created recovery points, indicating the date of creation for each of them;

Select the point at which Windows worked without errors (use the dates)

• select the appropriate one (created after the necessary information was still on the hard drive) and click “Restore” or “Finish”.

Before restoring the system, save all current files

After a few minutes, Windows will ask you to restart your computer. When you boot again, Windows will be restored to the state it was at the time the restore point was created.

It is worth considering that if the user recently installed any programs, then, most likely, after restoring the system they will be deleted, since at the time the restore point was created they were not on the hard drive.

Recovery using special utilities

There are specialized programs that can work with lost data marked “zero” in the properties. That is, they allow you to scan your hard drive and look at those files that were previously on the hard drive, but are no longer displayed through Explorer (because they were deleted or damaged). As an example, we present the most popular among them.

Program	Short description	pros	Minuses	Download link
PhotoRec	Optimal for image recovery, there is a built-in algorithm for recovering damaged photos	Works better than others with images, the program is free	Almost unsuitable for restoring non-images	https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec_RU
Recuva	A simple file recovery program from the creators of CCleaner	Simple interface, very detailed hard drive scanning	Does not check documents for integrity, so after recovery they may simply not open	https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva
DiskDrill	A specialized program that supports almost all existing file systems and can also work with GPT and MBR file tables	Allows you to recover files even from damaged hard drive partitions, there is a version for MacOS	The program is paid, the free version allows you to recover only 500 MB of data	https://www.cleverfiles.com/ru/disk-drill-windows.html
Ontrack EasyRecovery	A very powerful program from a studio that has been engaged in research and development in the field of data recovery for over 10 years	Works with encrypted files, archives, files damaged by viruses	Quite a high cost, the free version has too limited functionality	https://www.ontrack.com/products/data-recovery-software/
R-Studio	A whole software package for recovering files and working with damaged hard drives	Works with archives, supports the creation of quick “snapshots” of hard drives for their subsequent detailed scanning on other equipment	High cost, free version only recovers files up to 64 KB in size	https://www.r-studio.com/ru/

Experienced users recommend using Recuva, since this program is small in size, free, and has sufficient functionality for most cases. We offer you to watch a useful video on the topic, which shows in detail how you can recover deleted files using Recuva:

It is possible to recover lost data, although not in all cases. If the user simply accidentally deleted files or they disappeared, for example, due to a crash, then the most important thing is not to copy any new data to the hard drive after that. You should try to restore files using the built-in Windows tools, and if this does not help, use the above utilities.

Have you permanently deleted files from your computer or removable storage device? Don’t despair, there is still a chance to recover data that was deleted from the drive; to do this, you should resort to the help of specialized software. That is why we will take a closer look at the procedure for recovering files using the popular Recuva program.

The Recuva program is a proven product from the developers of the program, which allows you to recover deleted files from a flash drive and other media. The program has two versions: paid and free. For normal use, you can get by with a free one, which will not only allow you to perform recovery, for example, after formatting a flash drive or after an attack by the Vault virus.

How to recover files on your computer?

Please note that the disk usage from which the recovery will be performed should be reduced to a minimum. If you are using a flash drive, then you should not write information to it yet in order to increase the chances of correctly restoring all contents.

1. If files are being restored from removable media (flash drive, SD card, etc.), then connect it to the computer, and then launch the Recuva program window.

2. After launching the program, you will be asked to select what type of files will be recovered. In our case this is MP3, so we check the box "Music" and move on.

3. Mark the location where the files were deleted. In our case, this is a flash drive, so we select the item "On the memory card" .

4. In the new window there is an item "Enable in-depth analysis" . During the first analysis, you don’t have to turn it on, but if the program couldn’t detect files with a simple scan, then this item needs to be activated.

5. When the scanning is completed, a window with detected files will automatically appear on the screen. Near each item you will see circles of three colors: green, yellow and red.

A green circle means that everything is fine with the file and it can be restored, a yellow one means that the file may be damaged and, finally, the third one means that the file has been overwritten, its integrity has been lost, therefore it is almost pointless to restore such data.

6. Check the boxes next to the items that will be restored by the program. When the selection is complete, click the button "Restore" .

7. A window will appear on the screen "Browse folders" , in which it is necessary to indicate the target disk with which the recovery procedure was not carried out. Because We recovered files from a flash drive, then we can freely specify any folder on the computer.

Done, the data is restored. You will find them in the folder that you specified in the previous paragraph.