In Windows, by default, everything that is deleted ends up in the trash. If you suddenly change your mind, you can always return everything from it. You can empty the Recycle Bin manually, and since its volume is limited, old files are overwritten by new deleted ones. How to recover files deleted from the Recycle Bin is a relevant question for those who have not found previously deleted documents, photos, etc. in it.
How to recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin after cleaning
It's not that easy, but you can always try. The uninstall process in Windows looks different than it appears ordinary users. In fact, when deleting it to the recycle bin, the system assigns an attribute to the file - deleted; when it is deleted from the recycle bin, the system marks it as writable and after a while writes new data to it. After this, the file can no longer be restored. Therefore, the sooner you discover the loss, the more likely it is that you can get the document back. Let's look further at how this can be done using standard Windows tools and third party programs.
How to recover files using Windows
- Use the search in the shopping cart window, if there is a lot of stuff in it, perhaps you just didn’t notice what you need
- Look under "Previous Versions". Go to the properties of the folder where the deleted file was stored using the right mouse button and go to the “ Previous versions" It contains information about documents that were stored in the folder and restoring them will not be difficult.
Such copies of Windows automatically creates when creating recovery points, however, if this service is disabled, then you will not be able to return deleted items in this way.
- You can use free (or paid) applications. They need to be downloaded and installed. But, keep in mind, by installing them on disk, you can overwrite your documents deleted from the folder, which the system has marked with the attribute - writable. Therefore, it is better to use a bootable DVD or USB disk resuscitator. Or connect HDD to another computer. For a flash drive, this is not so critical - it’s enough not to write anything to it. For example, the Recuva program from Pinform is free and does a good job of recovery.
How to recover files deleted from the Recycle Bin
Accidentally deleting files from your computer is quite easy. But restoring them can be problematic. Especially if you don't know where to start. Below you will find a selection of programs for recovering deleted files for Windows. You can safely use any of them to recover lost data.
It is best to keep one of these programs installed on your computer so that, if necessary, you can simply launch and recover lost files without any problems. This is extremely important, since the success of the procedure depends on the number of file operations (disk writes) that occurred after the files were deleted.
06/20/2016, Anton Maksimov
There are a great variety of different programs on the Internet. Every day users install and uninstall different programs. In some cases, due to a variety of reasons, a system failure occurs and some data can easily go missing. The most important data on our computers are documents, photos, audio and video archives. To prevent yourself from losing important data, it is highly recommended to create backup copies regularly. Well, if it happens that the data is lost and there is no backup copy, then Recuva comes to the rescue. This is a free program for easily recovering deleted files (whether due to a crash or mistakenly deleted by the user).
12/26/2014, Anton Maksimov
A lot has been said about creating backup copies, but situations are still different. Sometimes a disk may fail, or it may be accidentally formatted, forgetting to write off important data from it. As a result, restoration is urgently required. In this case, it comes to the rescue software package Hetman Partition Recovery.
According to the developers, this product will help recover data from hard drives, USB drives and even memory cards as a result of accidental deletion, formatting, deletion “bypass the Recycle Bin” via Shift + Del, blocking by a virus, system failure or damage to the media.
02/27/2012, Marcel Ilyasov
Undelete 360 is a file recovery program. Undelete 360 is completely free (for home use) and has a high-quality translation into Russian. To scan and recover data, unlike any other similar programs, the application uses a more efficient search algorithm, which can significantly reduce the time spent on preliminary scanning of hard drives. The application can work with flash media, memory cards, CD\DVD, ZIP, external HDDs etc.
02/10/2012, Marcel Ilyasov
Information is valuable, and losing such value is very, very unpleasant. And in some cases, information is so valuable that its cost can reach tens, hundreds and even millions of rubles/dollars. Hard disks, flash cards and memory cards that store our data allow us to achieve very high degree reliability of storage, but they also have failures. In addition to device failures, human absent-mindedness also leads to information loss - any user can easily “by inertia” delete important documents, and only then realize that he did something wrong. In any of the options there is a chance to recover information. In the event that this is not hardware failure, then you can try to perform the recovery yourself using specialized utilities. One of the means of resurrecting files from media is EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free.
First of all, you need to understand that any deleted file can be restored exactly until another one is written in its place, on the hard drive. So if you discover a loss, try not to download, copy or install anything to your computer. Otherwise, you risk losing this information forever.
There are usually two main methods used to find and recover deleted data. All recovery utilities work using one or two methods at once.
- Analysis of folders and their contents
A great way to return data that retains all the basic information in the form of name, path and properties.
Applications working on this principle will first try to read and process the first copy of information deleted from the recycle bin. Often this is enough and deleted files easily restored.
Moreover, if the first copy turns out to be damaged and unreadable, then the utility begins trying to search and read other possible copies of information about the files and their structure.
Based on the results of the detected information, the process of restoring the structure of folders and files occurs.
- Searching for deleted files by their signatures
This method allows you to recover even more deleted information, but the folder structure, names and other information are not restored.
While the recovery program is running, it searches for signatures, which are template data characteristic of certain files. They are usually located at the beginning and end of the document.
But recovery is only possible if a signature is detected. If it is not there, then only an area of empty space on the disk will be determined in place of the deleted file. There may be many “false” positives here; there will be completely wrong or inoperative files.
Here is a short video on recovering lost files.
Basic steps to recover deleted files
If such a problem occurs, then first of all you need to perform the following steps:
- open the trash, perhaps the deleted document is still there and you can easily restore it;
- but if there is nothing there, then you should not write anything to the disk, do not perform any copying and writing operations. When downloading and installing special utilities, do it all on a different logical drive;
- check the disk partition for errors and correct them - in some cases this may help;
- if the deleted files were on the main one, system disk, then it is better to immediately turn off the Internet, otherwise downloading an update for the system, or any other software, can destroy all chances of recovery;
- if there were other important documents/photos/videos along with the deleted files, we recommend copying them to another location and creating backup copy on another medium;
- install and run the data recovery utility and try to recover the loss.
- do not clean up deleted files immediately after placing them;
- increase the size of the basket;
- enable a confirmation request to delete files.
Conditions under which files can be returned
There are no programs that could return a lost file with 100% probability. But under different conditions, the chances of file recovery can either approach this figure or approach zero. In order for information to be recovered with the greatest success, the following conditions must be met:
- the file should be relatively small in size. As its volume increases, the chances of returning it to its previous state are significantly reduced;
- no operations related to downloading files, installing programs, copying or writing were performed on the disk on which the deleted data was located;
- After the data was deleted, the computer was turned off and would not boot again. The best option, to recover files, this is the use of special boot OSs that work from removable media;
- The file system of the disk partition was NTFS. If FAT or any other was used, then data recovery becomes much more difficult.
File recovery software
There are many completely working programs that can help out in such a situation. Now let's look at a couple of them.
Piriform recuva
One of the most convenient utilities for recovering files, we have also already published a post about using this utility.
Its main advantages:
- absolutely free;
- can work without installation and run from removable media;
- friendly and understandable interface.
The file recovery process is as follows:
When the program starts, a wizard window will open with recovery options. Click "Next".
Select the type of file that will be restored and click “Next”. 
After some time, the search will end and a table will appear with all the detected files. Find the one you need, mark it and indicate the place where the program will save it. Click on the "Restore" button. It is advisable that the save location be on a different medium than where the file was deleted. 
To speed up the search, indicate the location where the lost file was. You can also specify the option “Unknown for sure,” but this complicates the search process. Click Next again.
Next, a search will be performed for data based on the specified parameters that can still be recovered. 
Then the selected files will be restored and saved. 
At the end, a small window will appear with statistics about the program’s progress. 
DM Disk editor and data recovery
This program has also proven itself well and is capable of recovering files deleted from the Recycle Bin with a high probability. 
The main positive features of this utility:
- possibility of use free version;
- works with many different media, including;
- supports several major file system types.
Data recovery using this utility looks like this:
After installation, run it and a window appears in which you need to specify the original location of the remote file. After that, click the “OK” button. 
Next, select the desired disk partition. First you need to mark the desired media and then select the partition. After these steps, click the “Open volume” button at the bottom. 
A window will open with basic data about the selected disk partition, type file system and much more. At the bottom, check the “search for lost directories” checkbox and click the “Open” button.
After this, a window will open with a table of data that can still be restored. 
In this list, find everything that needs to be saved from imminent loss, mark the checkboxes and click “Restore”. You can select files separately and click on them right click mouse and click “Restore”.
greetings to all Khabrovchan!
Imagine a situation where at one point your hard drive/flash drive/memory card stops working normally, and you can no longer access data in the usual way. For those who do not make backups, this is a difficult, nervous time. In a panic, people begin to look for data recovery programs and find them. Most of them are free, which cannot but please people in our difficult times. But do all free programs recover data so effectively? We did a couple of tests on several popular programs, and this is what we got.
Attention! Lots of screenshots.
Briefly about the tests
To conduct tests, we took five absolutely identical Transcend JetFlash 370 flash drives with a capacity of 8 GB. They were all purchased on the same day in the same place, the file system is the same, the main components (controller, memory chip) are also the same. Five absolutely identical flash drives. We recorded data on each of the flash drives. The choice fell on photographs/pictures in .jpg format. The choice of photography was not accidental: the descriptions of some tested programs indicate that “special” algorithms will work when restoring photographs. Also, in most cases, photos are stored on memory cards, and our tests will be useful for beginners and professional photographers.
The directory structure was as follows:
Total number of files - 1671
All data takes up a little less than a quarter free space on disk
All programs were installed on one computer. OS Windows 7 Professional x64. The programs were tested one by one in turn. For each program there was a separate drive with a simulated problem.
Test one. File system crash.
The first, quite common situation is a file system failure. With such a failure, as a rule, the drive asks for formatting. We simulated this situation as follows: on each drive we erased everything up to the beginning of the FAT tables
We deliberately left the FAT tables untouched because some of the programs indicate the ability to analyze the found FAT tables. It is clear that when connecting to a computer, a window immediately appeared asking you to format the disk.
1.Recuva
IN Recuva program a built-in wizard helps the user correctly start the data recovery process 
Choosing our drive
Turn on “In-Depth Analysis”. It’s not entirely clear what this is, but we’re doing our best to get our data back.
And then we get this message:
Advanced mode didn't help. The program didn't even start searching for our files.
Test failed. Restoration result - 0.
This program also has a wizard, but of a slightly different type
By selecting the second item, we get the following window:
It is obvious. After all, we were grinding real data with zeros.
The following window shows which damaged partitions are available for scanning
Select it and the following window appears
The default parameters are those that provide a search across the entire drive: from the minimum to the maximum value.
By applying these parameters in the window with logical drives, we get several new lines in the program
By selecting each of the last three and clicking the “Preview” button, we find the section we need:
Open it and see the entire directory structure
All data opens correctly, all files and directories are in place.
Test passed. Result 99%. (I don't like absolute values)
3. Pandora Recovery
The only program that requires an Internet connection during installation.
There is also a master
But everything quickly ends when we try to select the device we need.
Test failed. The recovery result is 0.
4. RS FAT Recovery
This program, like others, has a wizard that will definitely help you get started.
Select the maximum allowable search
After starting the search, a window appears with a progress bar, which helps guide the user through the recovery process
As a result, we get a complete directory structure, if not for one BUT
To save the data in its original form, registration of the program is required. Otherwise, each photo will have a background with a message about the unregistered version of the program.
However, the test passed successfully. The recovery result is 99%.
Perhaps the only program that does not have a wizard. The minus is small, because... by simply searching in a few clicks the user will find the desired button
By pressing the “Open” key, we automatically get a full result, if not for one thing BUT
The free version of the program has a limit on saving recovered data. It is 1024 MB. There is no preview, which is not very convenient. But the test is passed. The recovery result is 99%.
Subtotals
Only three out of five programs coped with the task. This:
2. PC INSPECTOR File Recovery
4. RS FAT Recovery
5.MiniTool Power Data Recovery
At the same time, the program won an absolute victory 2. PC INSPECTOR File Recovery, because in the free version it allows you to get good results without restrictions and unnecessary actions.
Test two. Quick formatting
Now let’s try to put ourselves in the shoes of a person who doesn’t know what formatting is or simply presses the Enter key in any incomprehensible situation until the incomprehensible windows disappear. The windows disappeared, as did the data itself. By default, Windows uses Quick Format.
We also formatted the drives and ran each program again. Let me remind you that 1671 jpeg photographs and pictures were previously recorded on the drives.
1.Recuva
This time, using the wizard, we launched the program without any problems, and the scanning process began
After some time, the result was obtained - 1390 whole files.
2. PC INSPECTOR File Recovery
The search was started with default parameters
The result was obtained, but detailed analysis it was clear that most of the files were damaged, only a few files with minimum size.
3. Pandora Recovery
Like Recuva, Pandora Recovery launched without problems. The search for lost data has begun
But at some point an error occurs. We tried various launch options (both as an administrator, and in compatibility mode, etc.), but the error does not disappear. From the preview you can see that real files were found, but there is no way to save them.
The test is considered failed. The recovery result is 0%.
4. RS FAT Recovery
In this program, using a wizard, we started searching for our files.
We got the result: 1575 whole.jpg photos and 92 .bmp. In total there are 1667 files.
5. MiniTool Power Data Recovery
In this program, as in others, the scanning process was started.
The program reported that it found 1668 files.
We were unable to verify this. Let me remind you that in the free version you can only save 1024 MB of recovered data. Having saved ten photographs, we discovered that they were all intact. We will conditionally consider the test passed, and recovery result - 99%.
Bottom line
In the second test, the leadership, in my opinion, belongs to 1.Recuva. The general picture looks like this:
Based on the results of two tests, it is impossible to clearly determine the best free data recovery program. For each type of problem you need to use one or another program. However, data in case of “logical” problems can be recovered using such free programs. By the way, after formatting, we recorded another 2 GB of new data on these flash drives, and