How to Recover & Undelete Deleted Files

You can restore files on a computer that have been deleted.

You can recover files off your computer that have been deleted through a process called "undeleting," or file recovery. To "undelete" a file you can use a data recovery program to speed up the process and save yourself the trouble of painstakingly recovering the files through command line prompts (DOS). Several data recovery programs are available for free, including Free Undelete, Glary Undelete and NTFS Undelete. The process will not work every time and your chances of recovering lost files improves the faster you act.

Things You'll Need

• Undelete program

Instructions

How to Recover Files With Free Undelete

1. Highlight the drive that held the files you want to recover on the left-hand side of the program window.

2. Click the "Scan (drive letter):" button.

3. Click the "Browse" button for "Undelete selected file(s) to:" and locate the folder where you want to restore the data.

4. Highlight the files you want to recover from the list.

5. Click "Undelete."

How to Recover Files With Glary Undelete

1. Select the drive that held the files you want to recover from the drop menu near the top left corner of the window.

2. Click "Search."

3. Enter the file name in the search window on the top right side of the window and click "filter" if you know the name of a particular file you want to restore.

4. Check the boxes next to the files you want to recover.

5. Click the "Restore" button on the lower right corner of the window. The files will be located in the same folder they were in before they were deleted.

How to Recover Files With NTFS Undelete

1. Click the "Search" tab.

2. Select the drive you want to scan for deleted files from the "Look in" drop menu.

3. Click the "Search" button.

4. Check the boxes for the files you want to recover on the list.

5. Click the "Recover marked files" tab.

6. Click on the "..." button, select the folder where you want to store the recovered files and click "OK."

7. Click the "Recover" button.

Tips & Warnings

• Immediately stop doing any work or any work that the computer is doing as soon as you realize you have files you need to undelete.

• You can select more than one noncontiguous file from a list by holding the "Ctrl" button and clicking on each file individually.

• You can restore files from flash drives and memory cards with data recovery programs.

• Different programs may have better luck at recovering specific files.

• Download the undelete program on a different computer and put the installer on a flash drive or disc if the computer doesn't already have an undelete program on it.

• Don't open or close any files or programs while undeleting.

• Install the undeleting program to a drive other than the one you are restoring files from. You can install the program to a flash drive if your computer has only one disc drive.

• Restore data to a different partition or hard drive than the one you are recovering it from.

References

• Office Recovery: About Free Undelete
• Glarysoft: About Glary Undelete
• NTFS Undelete: About NTFS Undelete