Detailed Steps: Recover Deleted Files in Windows 10

When you find a file that is not useful anymore, you may choose to delete it from the computer. But, which ways do you prefer to delete the file, by pressing “Delete” (or “Shift” + “Delete”) on the keyboard or choosing “Delete” from the right-click menu? How you delete the file decides what kind of way you should adopt to recover deleted files.

Files will be put into the Recycle Bin sometimes after you delete them on the computer. But how many of you have ever thought about how to recover deleted files in Windows 10 before you actually delete important files you need in Windows 10 by mistake? Only a few, we guess.

Although accidental deletion often occurs on Windows 10 computers, it still hurts a lot sometimes when you find the deleted file is needed urgently (for example, you deleted the document which includes important materials you plan to use in tomorrow’s meeting). What makes things worse is that you cannot find an effective method to restore deleted files in Windows 10. What will you do when you have no solution available on your hands? Use the following ways.

Part 1 – How to Recover Deleted Files in Windows 10

How Do You Restore Files From Recycle Bin in Windows 10

It’s very wise for Microsoft to name the unit “Recycle Bin”, not the shredder or garbage can. By just looking at the name, you are easily aware of the fact that files & folders in the Recycle Bin can be used again as long as you haven’t emptied it. Those files here are “recyclable”.

And it’s indeed very easy to restore files from Windows Recycle Bin. You should do the following things to restore files from Recycle Bin in Windows 10:

1. Open Recycle Bin in Windows 10.
2. Find the files and folders you need in the Recycle Bin.
3. Select the files & folders and right-click on them.
4. Choose the “Restore” option from the right-click menu.

This is the end of Recycle Bin recovery in Windows 10. After that, you can go to the original drive to check the recovered files.

How Do You Recover Files Not in Recycle Bin in Windows 10

However, what if you have emptied the Recycle Bin after deletion? Or what if you have deleted files by pressing “Shift” + “Delete” at the same time in Windows? Can you undelete files in Windows 10 in such a case? Of course, the answer is positive.

As for permanently deleted file recovery, you can use professional and free Windows file recovery software like MiniTool Power Data Recovery. What are the advantages of this file recovery tool that makes it worth choosing?

• First, it supports various file types and file storage media. With this tool, you can easily recover documents, videos, audio files, photos, emails, archives, and other type of data with ease. Moreover, it allows you to recover data from not only internal HDDs/SSDs but also external hard disks, USB drives, SD cards, CDs/DVDs, and more.
• Second, it has strong adaptability to different data loss scenarios. For example, you can use it to recover files deleted by CHKDSK, restore data when the hard disk fails, rescue files from broken computers, and more.
• Third, it provides you with multiple editions. If this is the first time you use it, you can choose MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free Edition, which supports 1 GB of free data recovery. If it works great for you and you need to recover more than 1 GB of files, you can upgrade it to an advanced edition.
• In addition, this file restore tool has a read-only feature, which means that it recovers files without causing further data loss or disk/data corruption.

Now, download and install the free edition of MiniTool Power Data Recovery on your computer. Note that you should not install it to the partition that contains your deleted files; otherwise, irreversible damage may be brought and result in permanent file loss.

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Here are the major steps to recover permanently deleted files in Windows 10 with this tool.

Step 1. Run MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free immediately at the end of the installation. When you see the main window of this software, you have three options to scan for lost/deleted files.

• Logical Drives: You are under this tab by default. Here all partitions on your disks are displayed with the storage space and other disk information. You need to select the target partition where data loss happens and click Scan.
• Recover From Specific Location: Under this section, you can choose to scan the Desktop, the Recycle Bin, or a specific folder individually to shorten scanning time.
• Devices: After moving into this tab, you can select to scan a whole disk instead of an individual partition for deleted files.

Here we take scanning the Desktop for example.

Step 2. When the scan has been finished, all the files and folders found by the software will be listed by file path by default. You only need to expand each folder to browse the found data and check the required ones. Also, you can switch to the Type tab and expand All File Types to view files by file type or even by file format.

Moreover, the software has the Filter and Search features. You can use the former to filter out unnecessary files by file type, file modification date, file size, and file category. Or, you can use the latter one to search for a file by typing its file name (both partial or complete file names are supported) in the search box and pressing Enter.

Step 3. Double-click on a file (no more than 2 GB in size) to preview it for confirmation. Finally, tick all needed items, click Save, and then choose an appropriate location separate from the original one to store the recovered files.  

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Part 2 – Why Deleted Files Can Be Recovered

Have you ever thought about this – why deleted files can be recovered in Windows 10? Here, let’s unveil the secret simply. When a file is saved on the hard drive, the relevant information like file size and the file name will be saved in one place while its real content will be saved in another place. When you delete this file from the hard drive permanently, only the relevant information will be marked as “deleted”, the real content remains.

That is to say, the so-called permanently deleted file is not cleared from the computer; it’s only marked as deleted and set to be unrecognized. When new data are written into the hard disk, the old file may be overwritten.

So, you must understand why we can recover permanently deleted files. However, to guarantee a successful permanently deleted file recovery in Windows 10, you must keep this in mind – please stop using the device right away (you’d better shut down the computer if possible). Then, download MiniTool Power Data Recovery to a removable disk. At last, start your computer and follow the tutorial given above to retrieve the deleted file as soon as possible.

Can I Recover Deleted Files After Windows 10 Upgrade

Some people haven’t deleted files, but still find needed data missing from the hard disk after they upgraded their computer to Windows 10. During the upgrade process, some files may be deleted unexpectedly by the system. That is why we see lots of people seeking help on the internet.

Under this circumstance, you can still use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to scan your disk and recover files.

How to Set Recycle Bin to Delete Files Immediately in Windows 10

The Recycle Bin in Windows provides a second chance to correct your mistake after deleting the wrong files. However, what if some people want to delete the files immediately from the computer, not sending them into the Recycle Bin? Apart from pressing “Shift” + “Delete” at the same time, you can also change the settings of Recycle Bin to make files deleted directly.

How to skip Recycle Bin in Windows 10:

Navigate to “Recycle Bin” -> right-click on it and choose “Properties” -> choose the drive you’d like to make a change on under “General” -> check “Don’t move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted.“-> Click on the “OK” button to confirm the change.

Part 3 – A Brief Summary

When you unluckily delete some files that are important to you, you shouldn’t get into panic instantly. On the contrary, you should stay calm and do what we tell you to do to recover deleted files in Windows 10 – recover files from Windows 10 Recycle Bin & recover permanently deleted files in Windows 10.

After that, we simply introduce the reason why deleted files can be recovered and how to recover files deleted after a Windows 10 upgrade. Then, we tell you how to change the settings of the Recycle Bin to skip it when you delete files from Windows 10.

Reading here, you won’t ask questions like “How can I recover deleted pictures from my computer”, “How can I recover deleted videos from my computer” or “How do I recover deleted files on my laptop”, right? Hope you all can get back your needed files that have been deleted by mistake successfully.