How to Recover Deleted Files in Windows 10? (Top 3 Ways)

It happens now and then that users select wrong files and delete them accidentally. In general, you can find deleted files in the Recycle Bin, and it’s easy to do file recovery under this condition. What if the files are deleted permanently? For example, you have deleted them using Shift + Delete or you have emptied your Recycle Bin.

Is there a chance to recover permanently deleted files? Luckily, the answer is positive. Learn three effective solutions to recover deleted files in Windows 10 from the coming parts.

Solution 1: Use the Recycle Bin to recover deleted files

Recycle Bin offers a quick way to restore deleted files. Follow the steps below:

1. Double-click the wastebasket icon in your Windows 10 desktop to open the Recycle Bin.
2. Select the file you want to restore, right-click on it, and choose Restore. Then, the file will be recovered to its original location.

Tip: If you have a couple of files that need to be restored, select them all and choose Restore the selected items from the Recycle Bin Tools tab.

Solution 2: Recover permanently deleted files with Windows File Recovery

Windows File Recovery is a command line app offered by Microsoft. It can help you recover lost files that have been deleted from your local storage device (including internal and external drives) and can’t be restored from the Recycle Bin. However, you can’t use it to recover files on cloud storage and network shares. Learn how to use Windows File Recovery step by step below:

Note: To increase the chances of recovering a file, you should minimize or avoid using your computer after file deletion. That’s because any use of your computer can create files, which may overwrite the free space used by a deleted file before.

1. Download Windows File Recovery from the Microsoft Store. It is currently available for Windows 10 2004 and above.
2. Run Windows File Recovery from the Start menu. A command prompt window opens, and you can see the right syntax to use with the command as well as a few examples.
3. Input the right command to recover the file you need. The basic syntax is:

winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]

In my case, I want to restore a recently deleted file named mywork.docx stored in my Desktop folder to a USB stick set up as G drive. I entered the following command:

winfr C: G: /regular /n users\administrator\desktop\mywork.docx

Tip: If the folder or filename you specified in the command contains spaces, you need to enclose the entire path in quotes.

4. When prompted to continue, type y to let Windows File Recovery scan your drive for the deleted file.
5. If the file is located and recovered successfully, you’ll be asked to view recovered files. Type y, and you’ll see your file in the Recovery_<date and time> folder on the destination drive.

Solution 3: Recover lost files using a backup and recovery tool

If you can’t find deleted files in the Recycle Bin and you think it’s a little tricky to use Windows File Recovery, you can try to restore lost files from a backup created before. Talking about easy and safe backup and recovery programs, AOMEI Backupper Standard tops the list. If you have created a file backup using AOMEI Backupper in advance, you can restore deleted or lost files with a few clicks:

1. Launch this free file recovery software. Click Restore from the left pane and you’ll face two options: Select Task and Select Image File. Here I choose Select Task.
2. Select the file backup task you need from the list and click Next.
3. Navigate to the files or folders that you want to restore and click Next.
4. The option Restore to original location is selected by default. If it’s your desired option, click Start Restore to begin file recovery in Windows 10. If not, choose Restore to a new location and specify another location to store recovered files.

To sum up

There are three effective methods offered in this article to help you recover deleted files in Windows 10. The most common way is to recover files from the Recycle Bin. If your files do not exist in the Recycle Bin, you can turn to Windows File Recovery or a backup and recovery tool. As a matter of fact, Windows File Recovery is a little difficult to use and it does not work 100%. Thus, it’s wise of you to always set up a backup for your important files, which makes file recovery much easier.