22/02/2015
Recover Deleted files in Windows
with Free Tools
Have you ever deleted a file that you did not
wish to and wanted to recover it but did not
find it in the recycle bin? You probably deleted
it permanently with Shift+Delete or emptied the
Recycle Bin. Now what? Don't worry, you may
still have a chance to get it back. This article
lists some free software that can recover
deleted files from your hard drive or any other
storage device instantly.
But how do the software mentioned below
undelete deleted files?
When files are
deleted, Windows
does not delete
them from your
hard disk.
It marks the
storage space as
empty for new
data to be written
and deletes the
index entry that
tells the location of those files. Unless, new
files are written on that space, the deleted files
are still recoverable. That's what allows these
software to recover deleted files.
There are many free software that allow users
to do this. Some of them are given below:-
1) Pandora Recovery
Pandora Recovery is a free
software that offers a wizard
based interface for recovering
files. It allows you to browse a
drive's individual folders to
look for deleted files. It also
allows you search for a deleted file based on its
name, file size, creation date and last access
time. Its deep scan allows you to recover files
that other software might have missed. Although
deep scan does not return a file's original name
and location, it still is effective to recover data
from drives with corrupted file tables and drives
that were recently formatted. It can even
recover data from CDs and DVDs.
2) TOKIWA DataRecovery
At just over 200KB, TOKIWA
DataRecovery is the smallest
file recovery program in the
market. It supports undeletion
from FAT 12, FAT16, FAT32
and NTFS file systems. It also supports
recovering NTFS compressed and EFS
encrypted files. This software supports Windows
and is portable as well. It also has a file
shredder that allows you to wipe out files in a
manner that they cannot be recovered again.
3) Recuva
Another great freeware,
Recuva offers a wizard based
interface to unerase files.
Recuva offers scanning
deleted files based on their
type (music, pictures, videos
etc.). It also allows deep scanning in case a file
you deleted is unrecoverable via normal search.
Like TOKIWA DataRecovery, Recuva also offers
securely deleting files. Recuva also has a
portable version that you can keep in your flash
drive.
All of these recovery software support recovery
from memory sticks, digital camera cards and
MP3 players. They support undeleting all types
of pictures, software, movies and documents
from both FAT and NTFS formatted drives. They
work on Windows 8.1 , Windows 8, Windows 7,
Windows Vista and Windows XP .
Some important tips to
increase the chances of
getting your deleted files
back:-
1) When a file is deleted accidentally on a
storage device, make sure that you don't do
anything on it as doing that would increase the
chances of new data being written over your
deleted files; which would make file recovery
impossible.
2) If you have deleted files on your main
computer (the one you are using right now), do
not browse the internet, download new software
or shut it down. Keep it running and go to
another computer, download one of the
software mentioned above that is portable and
save it on a flash drive. Then plugin the flash
drive in your current system and perform file
recovery. Regardless of whether you
accidentally delete files a lot or not, make sure
to always have that software in your flash drive
in case you accidentally delete important files.
3) If one software fails to recover your deleted
file, it does not mean that another one wouldn't
recover it too.
