Often we are faced with the fact that important documents or files are accidentally deleted. In some cases, they are indeed lost forever, but sometimes they can be restored. How to do this and how it is more convenient to restore, I will tell you in this article.

What is the specifics of storing files on a hard disk

Speaking about the technology of storing files on a hard disk, you should know that physically a file is a section on a hard disk that is magnetized in a certain way. And if a file has been deleted, all the information on it is not cleared - only data about the file from the allocation table is erased, which allows you to exclude it from the directory list. Therefore, as long as nothing is written over the deleted information, it can be restored. To do this, you need to run the appropriate program that scans the file lists not by the allocation table, but directly by the sectors of the hard disk.

Is Windows able to recover accidentally deleted files

The Windows operating system provides for the already familiar two-step file deletion system - the so-called recycle bin. All unnecessary files are placed in it, and as the recycle bin is full (that is, approaching the limit of its capacity), the oldest files will be deleted. And in order to ensure the ability to recover deleted files in Windows, you need to increase the size of the recycle bin, which is especially important if the computer is equipped with a sufficiently capacious hard drive. If there is not enough free space, you can simply empty the trash, removing all files from it, or, for example, only the largest ones.

If useful information has already been deleted from the recycle bin, then you need to use an additional utility to restore it. Keep in mind, however, that any program must first be written to disk. Therefore, it is better to either make sure in advance and stock up on special software for data recovery, or, when it comes to really valuable information, remove the hard drive and recreate the files on it by connecting it to another computer. This will avoid the risk of files being overwritten when attempting to restore them.

What third-party programs allow you to recover files

The universal program Magic Uneraser allows you to work with deleted files in the same way as with existing ones on the disk. Using it, you can recover data on your hard drive or flash card by simply connecting it to your computer. A utility built into the Windows shell will prompt you to analyze the disk for deleted files. After scanning, both existing and deleted files will be visible in Windows Explorer, and you can examine the list of blocks available for recovery and even preview the data to be recovered. If they turn out to be what you were looking for, you can immediately return them to any directory on the disk.

Magic Uneraser also performs "deep analysis" of deleted files, which allows you to find even files that are partially damaged by rewriting. When this option is selected, a special folder with the name "Deep Analysis" will appear on the disk, where the remaining parts of the file names, sorted by extension, will be placed. The content can also be viewed using standard Windows tools. The functionality of the program also helps to find files lost due to the recent formatting of the disk - this process takes a lot of time, but it is able to extract all potentially useful data from the hard drive. In the same way, files are recovered from deleted disk partitions. The price of Magic Uneraser depends on the type of license and ranges from 1000 to 6000 rubles.

Powerful file recovery tools are available in comprehensive computer optimization software suites such as Symantec Norton Utilites. Other software includes Norton Unerase. The entire family of Norton Utilites is firmly embedded in the operating system, so that the user can easily run any diagnostic utility, disk defragmentation or registry cleaning system. The same happens with Norton Unerase - in any folder in the context menu, you can invoke a scan of files for deleted files by selecting the items to be restored from the list. Norton Unerase recovers both partially preserved and lost data during formatting.

A feature of this solution is the creation of a special secure Norton Recycle Bin, into which files are placed instead of the standard Windows Recycle Bin. Norton Recycle Bin keeps deleted files as long as possible by optimizing disk burning so that the most important types of documents are retained for as long as possible. In addition, Norton Utilites allows you to recover accidentally deleted email messages for some email clients. The cost of the Norton Utilities kit is 1500 rubles. on one PC, which is very democratic, given the number of software products included in the kit.

Discrete products for recovering various types of data are offered by MunSoft. In particular, the MunSoft Easy File Undelete utility is offered directly for files. It can work with NTFS, FAT and FAT32 file systems by simply restoring data in user-selected directories. An additional advantage of this program is its compactness - the distribution kit has a volume of 8.1 MB.

For photographers and designers, a special program is offered that restores exclusively digital images, eliminating the need to search for them among other deleted data. MunSoft Easy Digital Photo Recovery is a compact utility (4.6 MB) that can analyze a disk or selected folders for deleted photos. Before restoring, you can view the contents of the images in a format convenient for you (slideshows or thumbnails), which makes the program quite convenient for solving its tasks.

You can recover MS Outlook and Outlook Express mail messages using the separate MunSoft EasyMail Recovery software product. MunSoft EasyOffice Recovery comprehensive recovery system allows you to recover not only email messages, but also other Microsoft Office documents, even if they are partially damaged. However, you can purchase the full package of data recovery software MunSoft Data Recovery Suite for the price of 3000 rubles. for the organization. The convenience of this approach lies in the fact that you get the opportunity to recover any data, including those lost after formatting, but at the same time run a specific utility, depending on the type of information being recovered.

However, you can always give preference to a free program such as PC Inspector File Recovery. It interacts with the NTFS and FAT file systems by simply displaying a list of deleted files in the appropriate directories. By and large, such a utility allows you to find any files that can be recovered, it only requires an exact understanding of what was deleted and where the file was located. When working with PC Inspector File Recovery, it is recommended to save the recoverable files to another drive, as they may take the place of the information you need, if the recovery is not over yet and you continue to search for lost files.

Conclusion

It often happens that important data is deleted - due to user error, operating system failure, or false positives of an antivirus program. Sometimes the hardware itself fails, and you have to recover files from a partially broken hard drive. The programs above are able to force events and recreate important information if possible. However, if you work with business-critical data (customer information, financial documents), it is advisable to take preventive measures, for example, using backup systems. In this case, the lost data can always be restored from the backup storage.

Source http://www.it-world.ru/

Can I recover deleted files?

Unfortunately, today there are dozens of different ways that information can disappear from your computer. Accidentally deleted files, an emptied Windows Recycle Bin, a formatted flash drive, or a damaged hard drive are just some of the possible causes. Fortunately, information is usually not lost forever. New generation programs analyze any storage media and can recover all deleted files. Don't know how to recover deleted files - Magic Uneraser will help you.

On the left is a list of disks on your computer, as well as devices connected to it. To recover deleted files from a USB flash drive, connect it to your computer, after which it will appear in this list. Select the drive that contains the deleted files. On the program bar, click the Analyze button. Magic Uneraser will start analyzing the selected disk, displaying its contents. This procedure will take some time.
You can stop the file recovery process by clicking the "Stop" button, but we recommend that you wait until the program finishes the operation by analyzing the entire disk.

After analysis, the program will display a list of folders on the selected disk. Having selected the required folder on the left, you can view its contents on the right. Thus, the program provides the ability to view the contents of the disk in the same way as in a standard Windows Explorer. In addition to the existing ones, deleted files and folders will be displayed. They will be marked with a special red cross, making it much easier for you to recover deleted files.
Use the "Search" option to find the required file. For convenience, use the "Filter" option to see only deleted files. Use the right pane to restore the required files. If the "View" option is active, then when you select a file, its contents will be shown immediately.

On the right side, select the files or folders that you want to recover, on the panel, click the "Recover" button. The file recovery window will appear. You can select the folder where you want to recover deleted files. The program allows not only saving recovered files to hard or removable disks, but also burning them to CD / DVD, as well as uploading them via FTP.

Use the "Deep Analysis" option if you could not find the files you need while analyzing the disk. The program will add the "Deep Analysis" folder, where it will add the found files, sorting them by extension.
You can stop data recovery from disk by clicking the Stop button.
Also use the "Deep Analysis" feature if you are interested in recovering files after formatting hard drives or removable drives.

Preview files before recovery

The View option allows you to preview the content before how to recover deleted files... The preview pane is on the right and has two tabs: Hex and Preview. The first tab ("Hex") displays the contents of the file in hexadecimal form (like a Hex editor), and has three columns: address, hexadecimal, ASCII encoding. The second tab ("View") allows you to view the contents of the document in the form you are accustomed to (either a photograph, or an MS Office document, or a text document, etc.).

How to recover files from deleted drives?

The program allows you to recover files from deleted drives. To do this, click the "Find Drives" button.

Specify the hard drive on which you want to find the deleted partition. Specify the scope and type of filesystems to search for. All found partitions will be added to the disk list. Now you will be able to work with remote disks as with existing ones.

All file recovery options

Sometimes (only when working with the FAT file system) the program can mistakenly determine the beginning of the file (the first sector of its content), several options arise. Other programs simply take the first option, as a result of which, for example, instead of the desired photo, the program restores a completely different one. Magic Uneraser offers all options, giving you the ability to manually select the beginning of the file. There are two ways to see the window for selecting the beginning of the file. If the "Preview" option is active, then when such a file is selected, a button for selecting the beginning of the file appears on the preview panel. The selection window also appears when restoring such a file.
On the left side of the window for selecting the beginning of the file, you are offered options for the first sector of the file. By selecting values ​​on the left, you can view the contents of the file on the right side of the window.
The "Save All" button allows you to restore the deleted file in all the proposed options, while if the file is called, for example, "My file.txt", then it will be saved as "My file1.txt", "My file2.txt", " My file3.txt "etc.
When you select the "Do not display in this session" option by clicking "Save All", the program will no longer display the window for selecting the beginning of files, applying this option to all such files.

Modern computers are multimedia devices and also data storage centers. But sometimes you might accidentally delete the files you want. In this case, do not worry, because they are recoverable.

How is information stored?

After deleting a file from your computer, it is not physically erased. In the file table, it is assigned the label "0", which means that other information can be written to this place on the hard disk. Therefore, you can recover an accidentally deleted file. But remember that some information can be irretrievably lost.

Data recovery

To recover deleted data, special methods and third-party programs are used (they scan the drive and look for fragments marked "file deleted").

Windows tools

The easiest way to recover is to return files from the Trash. This is a place to back up deleted documents before erasing. It is limited in size, after exceeding which the information stored there is deleted to make room for new information.

Open the Recycle Bin → RMB on the desired document - Restore.

You can recover files from the Recycle Bin only if you have not permanently deleted them (by pressing Shift + Del) or have not emptied the Recycle Bin. In this case, the lost information can be returned only with the help of special programs.

Special programs

After emptying the Recycle Bin or permanently deleting data, you can restore it only with the help of special programs that scan the device's internal storage.

Important! To recover deleted information, it is better to remove the hard drive and connect it to another PC in order to exclude the possibility of "accidental" data erasure.

Recuva

Recuva has an intuitive interface.

1. In the Recovery Wizard window, specify the file type and drive to scan.
   
2. Then start the search. If the information was deleted a long time ago, enable deep system scan.
   
3. When the process is complete, the found files will appear in the utility window. Those marked with a green circle can be restored. If a found file is marked with a red circle, it cannot be restored.
   
   

   Healthy! Before restoring, you can view the document data.

EaseUS Data Recovery

The advantage of EaseUS Data Recovery is that it creates a secure Recycle Bin, in which files are stored for as long as possible and protected from being erased.

1. Select the type of files to recover and the location to search.
   
   
2. If EaseUS Data Recovery doesn't find anything, run a deep scan.
   
3. Specify the required documents and start the recovery process.

Many times you have faced the problem of losing valuable data on your computer or portable device. This can happen due to accidental deletion, virus infection, formatting, volume resizing, and many other reasons.

At the time, you must have regretted, "If only I had made a backup of all those important files that I really need." Well, now there is no point in thinking about missed opportunities. We need a quick solution to the problem. Data recovery software will come in handy.

Below we will look at how to recover files not only from hard drives, but also USB drives, portable and other devices such as music players and mobile phones using a couple of simple utilities.

When the files are deleted and you are about to recover them, do not perform any operations on the hard drive or other device from which you want to extract the data.

• information on hard disks (solid drives) is in a magnetic and non-volatile state, which means that no power is required to store it;
• each magnet has a plus (+) and minus (-) pole, which is two values ​​and thus represents a binary code;
• the hard disk storage unit contains a ferromagnetic surface that is subdivided into small areas called magnetic domains;
• HDDs store data in the direction of magnetization of magnetic domains. Each magnetic domain can be magnetized in one direction and represents one of two values: 0 or 1.

There are two technologies for writing data to a hard disk.

1. Until 2005, the recording layer was oriented parallel to the disk surface (horizontally), which means that the binary code was represented by directional left and right magnetization (longitudinal recording).
2. Around 2005, a new technology was introduced, and data began to be recorded by magnetizing segments vertically, that is, up and down (perpendicular recording).

This made it possible to widen the distance between the magnetic domains and increase the storage capacity.

What happens when information is deleted

When computer systems delete files, they don't erase them, but simply make space for new ones. Let's say your hard drive is a block of apartments. Deleted files are not evicted, but their apartments may be populated by others.

This means you have a chance to get the files back, but you need to do it as quickly as possible. Use your computer to a minimum, thereby minimizing the likelihood that any other files will replace old ones. This is most commonly applied to old school hard drives with moving parts. With solid state drives (SSDs), things are a little more complicated - you can get data back, but not everything.

Before doing anything else, check your Recycle Bin (Windows) for files. Then restore them by right clicking.

If the files are nowhere to be seen, check other locations where they may have been copied, such as the online photo library. You can recover files without much difficulty using Microsoft OneDrive and Apple iCloud if you use these built-in services.

And by the way, we recommend setting up the aforementioned or similar services like Dropbox or Google Drive as they will automatically back up your most important files online. If you lose your laptop or something happens to your home, you can recover files using the web interface of these platforms.

Recovering files with Recuva

Let's try using the portable version of Recuva, a simple file recovery software. Run it from a CD or USB stick.

Note! Please note that the physical hard drive or must be different from the location where we are recovering data.

Additional parameters and file integrity check using Md5 checksums

There are also advanced options in Recuva.

Option I. One of the options is that when scanning deleted files, we can enable deep scanning.

Option II. The second is an advanced mode that you can switch to when displaying a list of files. You will see some of them here, for example images as shown in the screenshot below.

Check the integrity of the files using Md5 checksums. To do this, you must have md5 checksums of the source files. For testing purposes, copies of the original files were saved in a folder on the hard drive before copying and then deleted from the USB stick.

When the recovered file is an exact copy of the original, the Md5 checksums match (good)

Other utilities

Besides Recuva, there are other software like PC Inspector.

It also supports data recovery from formatted hard drives (where quick format was done). PC Inspector allows you to recover data from disks with damaged partition table or deleted partitions.

Other file recovery software is Pandora... Well proven DMDE and EaseUS Data Recovery... Users with macOS installed can try Disk Drill or MiniTool Mac Data Recovery.

Advice! In fact, it's a good idea to run a scan on multiple programs if possible, since they all use different recovery methods.

The bad news is that none of these utilities, even premium or paid ones, can guarantee the recovery of all deleted files. There are too many variables in this case.

Video - How to Recover Deleted Files from Hard Drive

A fairly common problem among PC users is data loss. There can be many reasons: viruses on the computer, accidental deletion of data by the user himself, disk formatting, system failure of the PC, etc. So how do you recover deleted files from your hard drive yourself? In this article you will find the answer to this question.

By deleting data on your computer, it will not be erased without leaving a trace. In the file table, such files are labeled "0". That is, other information can be recorded at this place on the hard disk, and deleted files are just hidden from your eyes, which allows you to restore them if necessary.

Step 1. Installing software on a PC

First, you need to download a file recovery program and install it on the computer where the data was lost. The powerful program is convenient in that it does not require any special PC skills. The convenient Russian interface allows you to get started right away without wasting time on video tutorials. All the steps for recovering files are simple, so you can get back deleted files yourself.

Step 2. Beginning of work

After installing the software on your PC, launch PHOENIX and click "Next" to select the disk where the data was stored. The window that opens will display a list of available storage locations (disks, flash drives, memory cards, etc.). Select the required disk by clicking on the line with the mouse, and to go to the next stage, click "Next" again.

Window at program start

Disc list

Step 3. Selecting options for scanning

PHOENIX allows you to recover images, documents, video files, archives. At this stage, you can specify additional parameters for the files to be scanned. Check the boxes for the required formats and specify the size of the data you are looking for. It's okay if you don't remember the exact format of the deleted file or its size. You can select several formats at once and specify any file size for search. After the parameters are specified, click on "Scan" and wait for the program to generate a list of deleted files.

Selecting Options for Disk Scanning

Step 4. Sorting deleted files

Now you need to select the files you want to restore. If you need to restore all the found data, then just click the "Restore" button and go to the next step.

If you need to find and restore certain files from the list, then use such features as filtering and sorting. The program allows you to sort files by size, title or format. To view information about a file, select any line and click "View". In the window that opens, you can mark the file with a tick if it is required for recovery.

List of found files

Step 5. Data recovery on PC

It remains to recover deleted files from the disk. Check if all the files that need to be returned to the hard drive are marked with a check mark. Then click "Restore" and choose one of the options presented.

To return the files to your computer, select the first item "Restore and save to folder", then specify any folder on your PC and wait for the recovery to complete. You can also burn the files directly to CD or DVD, or send them to an FTP server.

Work is done! You see how fast and easy it is. The PHOENIX program also allows you to recover deleted files from cameras, phones, tablets, laptops, USB sticks, various memory cards.

You do not need to write files or install programs on your hard drive or USB flash drive that contains the information you want to recover. This is due to the principle of deleting information, the fact is that when you click on the "delete" button, the information is not actually deleted, but only its header is erased, the file or folder itself remains, but the next time it is written to a disk or USB to the place where there is a deleted file or a folder, new information is being written, the old one, respectively, is no longer recoverable.

Ways to recover a deleted file or folder.

1) Check cart

The first and the simplest thing to do is to check the Recycle Bin for a deleted file or folder. To do this, click on the Trash can shortcut on the desktop and if you see a file or folder that you accidentally deleted, right-click on it and select "Restore"... The data will be restored to the same place where it was before the deletion.

If you are not lucky and you did not find the deleted file or folder in the recycle bin, in this case, you need to use one of the recovery programs described below

2) Use the free data recovery software Recuva.

First of all, we go to the site. Recuva and download the latest version of the program. Then you start the installation of the downloaded program, the installation process is very simple, the first step is to select the installation language.

Then we specify additional parameters (whether to create a shortcut on the desktop, whether to look for program updates ...), you can leave it by default. Please note that if the deleted file was located on the disk where the operating system is installed (often the C drive), then the Recuva program should not be installed on this disk, otherwise installing it can overwrite the file and it will not be possible to restore it. In order to select another disk for installing the program, press the button "Additionally" and specify a different installation path for the program.

After that, you will be prompted to install the Google Chrome browser, if you do not want to install, uncheck the box.

After installation, the Recuva wizard will be launched to help you recover your files or folder. I strongly recommend using the wizard, since it is more understandable and convenient. Click "Next"

Selecting the type of the recovered file

Select the location where the file or folder was located.

Check the box "Enable in-depth analysis", press "To begin".

After that, the search for files will begin, it may take up to several tens of minutes, depending on many factors (computer power, disk or USB device capacity, disk speed, USB device, etc.).

After searching, you will see a list of files that can be recovered. If you want to get more detailed information about the files, you can click on the button "Switch to advanced mode".

To restore the file, check the boxes next to them and click the button "Restore", then specify where to restore the file and within a few seconds the file will be restored.

3) Using the paid EasyRecovery program.

I, like many others, are in favor of free software, but in this article I will describe file recovery using a paid program, because during my test recoveries, this program saw more deleted files than Recuva (2385 files versus 2461). I would recommend using this program in case the free one did not help. You will not lose anything anyway, because with this program you can find deleted files for free, but you will need a license key to restore these found files and folders.

So, first of all, we download the latest version of the program EasyRecovery (in this example I will use the Home version). Install ... the process is not complicated, we agree with everything and click "Next", let me remind you that the program must be installed on the volume (disk) from which you will not restore the file or folders, since you can overwrite the file or folder being restored. After installation, we launch the program, the first window will appear the licensing window, which can be skipped if you click "Run as a DEMO"... The first EasyRecovery window appeared in front of us, click "Continue".

In the next window, select the location where the file to be restored is located.

The next step is to select a recovery scenario. If a file or folder was simply deleted, it is recommended to select "Deleted File Recovery", if the hard disk / USB flash drive has been formatted, you must select "Formatted Media Recovery".

After that, an information window will appear in which all the specified search settings are indicated, if you have not messed up anything, click "Continue".

The search for files will start, this process can take quite a long time, depending on the volume size of the hard disk or USB device, the power of the computer, etc. After the entire disk or USB flash drive has been scanned, you will see all deleted files divided into groups depending on from expansion. If you click on a file and try to open the file (Open) or save it (Save as), you will be prompted to enter a license key, without it, the file cannot be restored.

I hope this step-by-step guide helped you restore your files and folders, saving you a lot of time, and possibly money. In the future, I recommend using a backup of important files, if it is possible to store important files on several media, or at least in different folders.