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How to Restore Permanently Deleted File in Windows?

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Published By siddharth
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh
Published On January 3rd, 2025
Reading Time 8 Minutes Reading
Category data recovery

In this write-up, we will describe the best way to restore permanently deleted file in Windows 10. Here we will share only automated solutions to recover shift deleted files in Windows 10. To learn the working steps and software abilities, please read the complete article.

Sometimes, many users get totally frustrated with themselves. Only because they somehow delete some files accidentally or some crucial content out of the mistake. Later on, they realize how important those files or folders were to them. Are there any manual ways to recover permanently deleted files in Windows 10? To keep the pain of users in mind, we will decide to write a blog on this to give them a solution for this issue.

recover shift deleted files in Windows 10 without software

When any file gets deleted from a user’s machine, it does not get destroyed immediately. This precisely means that the sole reference to the data of that file in their partition or the File Allocation Table is only marked as deleted. This means that the user might still be able to restore shift deleted files in Windows 10. And make them visible to the file systems once more.

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About Deleting Files in Windows

When you delete a file in Windows, it doesn’t actually remove it from your hard drive. Instead, the operating system marks the space the file occupies as available for new data. This means that the file remains on the drive until it’s overwritten by new data. So even though you’ve deleted it, it’s not really gone—at least not yet.

There are two common types of file deletion in Windows:

  • Regular Deletion: After you delete a file, it goes to the recycle bin. You can always recover the file from the recycle bin if it hasn’t been emptied.
  • Permanent Deletion: After you delete a file, you can either bypass the Recycle Bin (for example, by pressing Shift+Delete) or empty it.

In either case, the file can usually be recovered if you act quickly before the space it occupies is overwritten by new data.

Restore Permanently Deleted File in Windows 10 – Manually

Sometimes, in a split second, while rushing to clean the system, many users mistakenly delete some crucial files or folders from their systems by using Shift+Delete keys. Also emptying the recycle bin regularly to keep their system clean from junk. So, this is the main culprit behind the loss of such critical data sometimes and the folly is our own.

Now, in order to keep the system clean, always making use of Shift+del is somewhat helpful, but the real cause of concern arises when any crucial files or folders get deleted mistakenly, which in turn leads to despair.

recover deleted files in Windows 10

Read More: Hard Drive Not Detected

1# How to Recover Permanently Deleted Data in Windows 10?

  • When deleting a file/folder permanently, create a new one with the same name right on the desktop itself.
  • This name must be the same as the one that has been deleted. Once created, select it and Do right-click
  • After that, select Properties. The next step involves selecting previous versions
  • Then, Windows is going to perform a thorough search
  • Now, Windows will display all previous versions of that particular folder. Then, from the items listed there, you have to select the latest version
  • Now, you must select ‘Restore’ the file/folder on the system

Also read:- Portable Hard Disk not Ejected Properly

2# Restore Permanently Deleted File in Windows with Command Prompt

  • Open the Start menu.
  • Type “cmd,” right-click the top-level match and select “Run as administrator” to run a command prompt with administrator rights.
  • Type the code chkdsk X: /f and select the Enter button on your keyboard. After that, replace X with the letter of your hard drive.
  • Type ATTRIB –H -R -S /S /D X:*.* and press Enter. ReplaceX” again with your hard disk letter.

restore permanently deleted files in Windows

The recovery process may take time, so don’t stop and be patient. If possible, do not perform any operations on your system during the recovery process. Deleted files may be overwritten and cannot be recovered.

3# Recover Permanently Deleted Files in Windows from Previous Backup

  • Open the Start menu.
  • Type or write “backup settings” and press the Enter button on your keyboard.

backup settings

  • Under “Search for previous backups?”  Select the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) function.

backup and restore

  • Select another backup to restore files” option and click your backup.

recover permanently deleted files in Windows

  • Hit Next and follow the instructions to finish the restore process.

finish the restore process

4# Use the Old Version Restore Function

  • Open the Start menu.
  • Type System Protection and press Enter on your keyboard.
  • Select the drive under Protection Settings and click Configure.
  • Select “Enable or turn on system protection” and click “OK.”.
  • You can now restore files or folders to a previous state using the Restore Previous Versions feature.
  • Just right-click the file or folder, go to the “Previous Versions” tab, and select the version you want to restore.

5# Restore Deleted Files from File History Backup

  • Open the Start menu.
  • Type “restore files” and press Enter on your keyboard.
  • Find the folder where the deleted files are stored.
  • Select the “Restore” button in the middle to return your Windows 10 files to their original location.
  • If you don’t see the folder, File History may be disabled. In this case, you will see the option to enable it.

Manual methods can work but at some times, they don’t, as they are not foolproof data recovery solutions to such data loss problems to recover permanently deleted files in Windows 10. If you want 100% data recovery without losing any data, then you can use professional hard drive data recovery software.

Restore Permanently Deleted File Windows – Automatically

The manual method is free but it has some drawbacks. Moreover, manual methods are complicated. If you make any mistake, you lose your data permanently. There is no chance of file recovery. But if they want to recover permanently deleted data in Windows 11, they try the Hard Drive Deleted File Recovery Tool Authorized by SysTools.

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with this application, you can simply recover deleted files from an external hard drive without losing any information. It tool supports data recovery from hard drives despite corrupt MBR/MFT.

Easily Restore Permanently Lost or Deleted Data in Windows

  1. Download and run the hard drive recovery tool.
  2. Select the partition and click on the Scan or Formatted Scan button.
  3. Once the scan is done, the application will show a list of recoverable files.
  4. Preview them and choose the ones you need to restore.
  5. Restore the files and save them to a partition to prevent overwriting.

What Can Further Lesser Data Recovery Possibilities

  • Hard drive incorporating multiple bad sectors.
  • The HDD might have been fragmented only recently.
  • The files or folders might have been deleted long ago.
  • The files that were deleted have been overwritten with new data.
  • HDD is a very old one and depicts possible corruption signs.

People Ask Questions

Q 1: How to recover permanently lost data from Recycle Bin

When you accidentally delete a file, it is initially placed in the recycle bin and can be easily restored.

  1. Open the recycle bin from your desktop.
  2. Find the file you want to restore.
  3. Right-click the file and select Restore.
  4. The data will be recovered to its original location.

Note: If you empty the recycle bin or permanently delete a file with Shift + Delete, the file will no longer be in the recycle bin.

Q 2: What if I don’t have a backup or File History enabled?

If you don’t have a backup and File History isn’t enabled, you can still use data recovery software. However, the sooner you try to recover your data, the more likely you are to succeed. As new data is written to the drive, it’s more likely that deleted files will be overwritten.

Q 3: Can I recover files after I format a drive?

Formatting a drive usually makes it more difficult to recover files, but not impossible. If the files haven’t been overwritten, they may still be recoverable with data recovery software. We recommend that you stop using the drive immediately after formatting and try recovery software as soon as possible.

Final Words

The manual method does work in normal deleted data loss cases. If you are a technical user, then only you can perform the manual method. When performing the manual method, there is a high chance of data loss. To restore permanently deleted file in Windows 10, it is always recommended to try the above-mentioned software. Now it’s time to take wise decisions.

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