Where are deleted files from the Recycle Bin stored? How to recover deleted files and folders from the Recycle Bin: the best recovery applications. Recovering lost files

Every computer user must know how to restore deleted files from the basket.

Emptying the Recycle Bin can erase documents that were accidentally deleted, seemingly forever. Can they be saved?

The decisive factor in the success of this business is time. The less time has passed since deletion by emptying the Recycle Bin, the greater the likelihood of a successful recovery operation.

What happens when a user empties the Recycle Bin, thereby permanently deleting a folder or separate document? Let's look at the deletion algorithm, which will help you understand how to restore files from an empty Recycle Bin.

The hard drive contains a special partition that stores information about files and folders. It has a backup in case the partition gets damaged. Let's compare it with school magazine, in which the names of the students are entered. If necessary, the teacher turns to it to call the child to the board, and the operating system also uses this section to quick access to information.

The information itself is stored on a separate logical partition. In the operating room Windows system When data is deleted from the Recycle Bin, it is marked as deleted in the file and folder information section. But the data about them and the files themselves remain untouched. In the same way, the teacher places the letter “n” next to the last name of the student who is absent. At the same time, both the student and information about him remain.

Thanks to this removal system, it remains possible restoration deleted files from the recycle bin, subject to important condition: Nothing new can be written to the disc. When recording new information it can replace data marked as deleted. Then the likelihood of successful recovery is significantly reduced.

The sooner you start data recovery, the higher the likelihood of success.

Any program for recovering deleted files takes this algorithm into account. If no new data has been written to the disk (files marked for deletion have not been overwritten), the program accesses the section with information about the folders and removes the deletion mark.

There are a considerable number of recovery programs, from simple to professional, used in service centers. Let's consider working with one of the most convenient and shareware - Recuva, from the famous British company Piriform Limited.

Recovery using Recuva


To get started, download the program from the official website. Free version enough for our needs. It installs without any difficulties.

Advice: download programs only from official sites, if such an option is available. This guarantees the absence of viruses in the distribution.

Now let's look at how to restore a file from the recycle bin step by step.

Let's simulate the situation. While working, the user accidentally deleted a photo. There is no original of it left on the camera. Then I emptied the trash. Literally immediately after emptying the recycle bin, the loss was discovered, and the deleted photo needs to be restored.

Step 1. Search. Before you can restore what you deleted from the Recycle Bin, you need to find what you deleted. To do this, click right click mouse on the trash can icon and select the menu item “Search for deleted files” (Fig. 1). Recuva now runs the analysis and looks for deleted information. The process will take some time.

Step 2. Choice. In the program window that opens, we see a list of data that was deleted during Lately. A green circle next to the name indicates a high probability of successful recovery. Red - low.

To make it easier to search for a specific photo, select “Graphics” in the upper right corner using the filter. Now you can search for the desired photo from the remaining list, which shows files from the trash. Having found the desired photo, mark it with a tick and click “Restore” (Fig. 2).

Step 3. Recovery. Now we select the path where the data will be restored. It's better to create separate folder on a different disk than the one on which it was stored deleted photo. In this case, the likelihood of a successful recovery process increases (Fig. 3).

At the end, we will see a message stating that the file recovery was successful and we will be able to view the photo.

Using this program, you can recover files not only deleted from the Recycle Bin, but also deleted using the “Shift+Del” combination.

Windows to the rescue

Windows has a system restore feature. If you have it active, it can be used to recover files (but only if they were located on the system drive).

For example, you can select the “Desktop” folder in “Explorer” and right-click on it and select the “Restore” menu item. previous version».

By selecting a saved copy of this folder for certain period, you can click on the “Restore” button. In this case, all objects in the “Desktop” folder that existed at that time will be restored (Fig. 4).

Summarizing

So, we can highlight 2 points that will help you successfully recover files recently deleted from the recycle bin:

  • Act as soon as possible.
  • Use special programs, for example, Recuva.

Now you know how to recover data, but it will be good if these tips are not useful to you. Before emptying the Trash, check to see if there is anything useful in there.

Even experienced users The question may arise: how to recover files deleted from the recycle bin. Sometimes even unnecessary files may be very necessary. This article is 90% likely to help solve the recovery problem.

This article will be very useful for people who constantly delete everything except the important ones. this moment. It also happens that the basket becomes full and the data is deleted from it automatically. Or maybe you or someone at home accidentally deleted something.

What to do if you need a document or folder that has long since disappeared as unnecessary?

If a little time has passed, you can easily restore everything you need using special programs. One of them will be discussed in detail in this article, from installation to operation.

Free program Recuva

Let's look at a tool that can recover deleted files. This program is quite effective and easy to use. Her distinguishing feature– the ability to view and select what will be restored.

It often happens that a lot of deleted data accumulates and is waiting in line for the census. And you don’t always need to restore them all, but one document is enough. Let's look at recovering files with this program step by step.

Advice! Use it to resuscitate files that were deleted past the recycle bin, that is, bypassing it. This is usually how information is deleted from media such as flash drives and external hard disks. The combination Shift + Delete gives the same deletion effect.

Downloading and installing Recuva

This program is easy to find and download. Once the download is complete, open the file. In this window, click “OK” and begin the installation.

When a window appears with a greeting from the installation wizard, click on the “Next” button.

Then a window will appear with license agreement. Click on “I Accept.”

In the next window with additional parameters installation, check the necessary boxes, for example, about creating a shortcut on the Desktop and in the Start menu. Click on the "Next" button.

Then you will be offered a free toolbar, but it is better to uncheck the box and refuse the tempting offer. The installation will begin after pressing the appropriate button.

Wait a while for the program to install. It won't last long.

When this window appears, select “Cancel”.

When the installation is complete, click Finish. Now you can move on to the next section!

Recovering data deleted from the recycle bin

This is how the program will greet you when you open it. Click Next.

The following window can make it easier to find lost items. Here's the point: if you know exactly what kind of file you need, for example, from documents, music or video, then choose it. If you are unsure, click cancel.

Now select where the data was deleted from: from removable disk, local disk C or etc. This will significantly speed up the search. Using the "Analysis" button, you can start checking. It is located to the right of the area in which you selected the location of the deleted file.

The corresponding button is located in the lower right corner of the window.

In the next window, select the location where you want to see the recovered file. Confirm your decision with the “OK” button. Through quite a short time deleted data will be reanimated.

Advice! There is a possibility that recovering lost files from the Recycle Bin will not be successful. This may be due to lost time: deleted data may have been overwritten. But you can try using another recovery program to be absolutely sure that you have done everything and it was not possible to recover the files yourself. Then you can contact a specialist: even in such a situation, there is still a chance of a successful outcome.

Other recovery programs

The program discussed in this article is not the only one that can help out in difficult times without professional help. The other two programs that will be presented below also work well, and you can use them if you fail with Recuva.

All programs are similar in use, so now it will not be difficult for you to understand almost any of them.

Now you know that lost data can be recovered, and it is much easier than it might seem! Watch the video related to the topic of the article:

How to recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin

Step-by-step guide: How to recover files deleted from the Recycle Bin

It often happens that some important files or documents are deleted. This may be due to our inattention, or maybe the children “clicked” without understanding what they were doing, but the fact remains a fact and the situation needs to be corrected.

Is it possible to recover deleted files in the Recycle Bin?

When we delete a document, we initially select the file and press the Del key or the right mouse button, and then select the “Delete” tab. After this a confirmation window appears of this action and if the answer is positive, the document is sent to the trash.
The Recycle Bin is a special storage area for all files up to complete cleaning, in other words, this is the final frontier. And if the file ends up in the trash, this means that it has not been permanently deleted and can be restored using standard using windows it won't be difficult!

To restore files from the recycle bin, you just need to go there, click right key mouse over the desired file and select “Recover”. After this, the file will be in your usual place.
But what to do if the recycle bin was accidentally emptied? How to recover files deleted from the Recycle Bin? It’s not as difficult as it might seem at first glance, but you’ll have to get to the bottom of it.

Programs for recovering files deleted from the recycle bin

First, let's look at popular programs for recovering deleted files from a computer. There are only 6 programs in this category, almost all of them work according to the same algorithm and have an intuitive interface.
Recuva- probably the most popular program on the Internet, allowing you to recover accidentally deleted files.
FileRecovery- Very powerful program, which can not only recover deleted data from the recycle bin, but also return files after an unsuccessful formatting operation.
Recovermyfiles– returns your files from the kingdom of Hades both on your computer and on removable media.
EasyRecoveryPro– a utility that can easily recover data after deletion, formatting, and even viruses!
DigitalObjectRescueProthis program is intended mainly for recovering files from mobile phones, video cameras, mp3 players, but can also return files on a computer.
RecoveryData– a high-speed program, located in the user top recovery programs!

It is possible to restore deleted files if they are not in the Recycle Bin, and it is not at all difficult. Let's look at how to do this with the power of the Recuva utility. First, check the recycle bin to see if it is not emptied; if the files are still deleted, download Recuva program. We install it and launch it.

Important! Remember which section? hard drive there was a file you deleted that you want to recover. Install this utility to the drive from which you do NOT need to recover data! Otherwise, the process may fail.


  • As soon as you launch the utility, the main program window will open in front of you, where there will be a greeting and short description programs. Click the “Next” button.
  • Now we have a file type selection window. It is very important to choose correctly what needs to be restored, otherwise the program simply will not find the file you need. Check the box next to the right type file and click “Next”.
  • Now you need to specify the former location of the files. If you remember, you can even indicate the folder in which your documents were located! The narrower the search location, the more faster files will be found. And again click “Next”.
  • I recommend checking the “In-Depth Analysis” box, but this will take more time to find the file.
  • Press the “Start” button and the file search process begins. Now we're just waiting.
  • At the end of the process, a window will automatically open showing all the documents found by the program that can be restored.
  • Select the required files by ticking the boxes and specify the recovery path.
  • That's it, your documents are saved!

As mentioned earlier, the programs have a similar operating algorithm and interface. So, if you downloaded another utility, you are likely to get confused.

Deleting files - standard function, which allows you not only to move the selected data to the trash, but also to completely get rid of it. But what to do if you accidentally deleted required file and then emptied the trash? You can restore information using standard Windows functionality and using additional software. Let's consider this process For example:

  • creating and using a system restore point;
  • recovering information using the Recuva utility.

Create and activate a Windows restore point

A restore point allows you to “roll back” not only software and system settings, but also file changes. All new data and installed applications will be deleted when this operation is performed. It is possible to selectively use the function on specific folder, which will undo the last changes.

Creating restore points automatically and manually

Windows recommends setting up automatic creation of restore points, which allows you to quickly stabilize the system when problems occur. critical errors and failures in software. The settings plan in detail the time at which automatic recovery points will be saved and their location. A convenient solution guarantees not only additional system security, but also the safety of some data.

If your computer resources do not allow you to create a large number of restore points, you can perform this operation if necessary in manual mode.

For this:

  • go to the “Control Panel”;
  • go to “System Protection”, activate the function on the required drives;
  • Click the "Create" button and enter a name for the restore point.

If you do not check the boxes next to the required drives, recovering files from the access point will be impossible. Swipe this setting in advance.

Using a Windows Restore Point

If you permanently deleted a file from the Recycle Bin, right-click on the folder where it was located and select “Restore previous version.” Find the last restore point you performed and confirm. You may need to restart your computer or laptop. This method is not relevant in all cases and may not restore the desired file. Let's move on to using additional software.

Recover a file from the recycle bin using Recuva

Free program for quick recovery deleted files is popular among users due to its advanced functionality and free distribution.

The program works not only with hard or SSD disk, but also with external drives. After launching the utility, select the location required for analysis. The program will search for deleted files and provide a list. Found files are indicated by 3 colors:

  • green - the file is easily restored;
  • yellow - data is partially available;
  • red - restoration is not possible.

Confirm further recovery files. The process happens quickly, and the system automatically notifies you about the result. The utility is not demanding technical specifications computer and takes up little space on your hard drive. The faster you search for a lost file, the higher the chance of saving it.

In the material at the link, information on restoring deleted files is discussed in more detail. Use it if the methods described above did not help.

“I deleted an important file!” Stories with this beginning happen to users quite often. It is possible that some of our readers have already met similar problem. Such stories always begin the same, but end differently. In this article I will tell you how to make the ending of this story happy. Or at least do everything to make the likelihood of a happy outcome higher.

1. What to do if an important file or folder is deleted?

Well first of all, don't panic. When you throw out garbage, you don’t immediately send it to a landfill. First a trash can, then a container, and only then a landfill. This happens in Windows too. Using the Del key, you first send the file to the Trash. Then, after emptying the recycle bin, the file can be found on disk in unused clusters for some time (this is analogous to our container from the example). And only after the area on the disk in which there were still traces of the file is occupied by other data, then the file is hopelessly lost (this is already a landfill).

1.1 Search in the Cart

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, according to by and large The Trash doesn't 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 date of deletion and immediately find the file you need that was just deleted.

The next time you think about using some utility that background cleans the Recycle Bin 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.

1.2 Searching among shadow copies

It is not necessary to use any paid programs. Standard product Reserve copy in Windows 7 it is quite suitable and this system turns on automatically during installation operating system.

If “System Protection” is not disabled manually (which is often recommended by would-be optimizers), then restore the deleted file from shadow copy in Windows 7 it's quite simple.

  1. In Explorer, find the folder where the deleted file was (not the Recycle Bin).
  2. Click on the name of this folder right mouse button and select " Properties»
  3. Go to the " Previous versions"(see picture below).

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.

This way you can not only recover an accidentally deleted file, but also return to one of the previous versions a document that was modified and saved to disk, and then its previous version was needed.

Shadow copies user files are created automatically by the operating system during reboots and installations various programs at system restore points. Therefore, you don’t need to do anything separately to create them. The main thing is not to disable “System Protection,” since some “experts” recommend disabling it to save resources, keeping silent about the fact that the security of the system as a whole will decrease.

2. If standard remedies did not help

2.1 Use a third-party file recovery utility

You can use a specialized data recovery utility, which, after analyzing the disk, will display a list of files and folders that you can try to recover. One of these programs 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. It's very important point, influencing the “success of the concession” is the minimum number of disk operations since the file is deleted. Some sources even tell us to urgently turn off the computer and boot from a flash drive or disk. To me, this is pure paranoia. Much easier to comply simple rules, which I will give below, and do not risk your nerves in vain.

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

2.2 Don't forget about the professionals

There are people who can help with recovering deleted files on a disk. There is a chance of running into a charlatan or an inexperienced specialist, as in any other type of service. But if the file is really valuable, then it may make sense to pay professionals.

3. What can I do to prevent files from disappearing without a trace?

3.1 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, it is possible to lose a file irretrievably unless on purpose. To prevent data loss due to disk failure, use the recommendations in the following paragraphs.

3.2 Use cloud storage

Despite the chance of information disclosure, synchronize your folder of important documents with cloud storage. I haven’t seen a user whose documents would take up 10 GB, which is exactly how much they are willing to offer cloud drives for free. They also offer their own applications that will synchronize your document folder with the cloud. For example, I use . But there are also products such as Google Drive, Yandex.Disk and of course the famous one.

Yes, it is very important that you cloud storage It also has its own basket! Don't forget to look at it if local copy file is irretrievably lost.

3.3 Make regular backups

If you have an operating system other than Windows 7, 8 or 10, we recommend that you do backups(backup) with a special utility.

Windows 7

Windows 7 has its own version backup utility important files“Backup or Restore”, which is located in the “Control Panel”.

To create backup copies you will need a separate HDD(external or internal), which has a sufficient amount free space to place an image of everything system disk, as well as to create backup copies of user files.

Windows 8/10

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 do 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. 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 graduate work 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. So don’t spare money and buy a flash drive for a hundred or two rubles (for example, 8 GB), so that you don’t have to shell out a thousand or two later to restore files bit by bit from the body of a dead hard drive.