How to Recover Files Deleted From the Recycle Bin

Wanting to know how to recover deleted files from Recycle Bin? Afraid that it's gone forever and you'll never get it back? Follow the tips in this article to recover files erased from the Recycle Bin.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. If the problem is that you have sent a file to the Recycle Bin and don't know how to recover it, simply open Windows Explorer, navigate to 'Recycle Bin' and click on it. Right-click the file you want to recover and click 'restore'. Otherwise, proceed to Step #2.

2. Don't save anything more to the hard drive. Any new files saved to the hard drive will copy over the erased data.

3. Download file recovery software. This How-To will cover how to use PC Inspector File Recovery, but similar products will work as well.

4. Save the program, if possible, to another hard disk, USB flash drive, external drive, etc, to prevent overwriting the lost data. As stated in Step #2, new data will copy over erased data.

5. *OPTIONAL: Go to Windows Explorer and select the drive you want to recover files from. Right-click the drive and select rename. Type in something memorable. This will make it easy to locate when using the PC Inspector program.

6. Install and launch PC Inspector File Recovery. Double-click 'Recover Deleted Files'. Select from 'Logical Drives' the drive you renamed earlier (if you followed Step #5) and the click confirm (check-mark) button.

7. Press the + to expand the 'Deleted' folder. Files or folders which you have deleted will be colored in green.

8. Use the 'Find' function to locate the file you're looking for, or simply scroll through the files. Select the files you want to recover and save them to a directory on your hard drive.

9. Use Windows Explorer to navigate to folder where you saved the recovered file. If you followed the steps above, the file should be there.

[pctechguy]

on 9/15/2009 Alternately, you can use http://tinyurl.com/restoremyfiles

[pctechguy]

on 9/15/2009 This registry program also recovers deleted items that were emptied from the recycling bin. It can be downloaded here: http://tinyurl.com/fixpcregistry

[chrisanimelo444]

on 8/9/2009 Wow, I never knew you could do this. Thanks for the info!

[jrofosho1]

on 7/27/2009 This could help everyone lol 5* and well written

[sunnylyon]

on 7/14/2009 This is really good info! I'll definately use this article, next time I accidently delete something. 5*