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Best Software to Undelete Files on Windows

Losing important documents or presentations is no joke, and losing some photos of sentimental value is not fun at all. Thankfully, there is a solution that can undelete files even if they were already wiped from your Recycle Bin. We present the powerful Disk Drill undelete app! Disk Drill for Windows lets you restore 500 MB of data for free and can also help you undelete SD card files.
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undelete filesAlso available for the Mac
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Steps to Undelete Files on Windows

1. Download and install Disk Drill for Windows

Download and install the software on your Windows machine. You will need to provide administrator-level credentials during installation. Accept the prompt requesting permission for the application to make changes to the system.
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2. Launch the software and select the recovery target

Start the software after connecting any external storage device that is required for the recovery. For instance, if you are attempting to undelete files from an SD card you should connect it before starting Disk Drill. Once the program starts, select the disk or partition that will be recovered from the list displayed by the app.
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3. Scan for deleted items

Click the Search for lost data button to start scanning the selected device for deleted files and folders. You can choose the type of scan that Disk Drill performs or let the app run all of its algorithms in the optimal order. Scans can be paused and restarted at any time for more convenient data recovery.
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4. Preview and select the recoverable files

As the scan proceeds, Disk Drill creates a list of items that can be recovered. You can preview these files to ensure that you want to restore them. Select the items you want to recover and choose a safe storage location that is not on the original device where they can be saved.
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5. Undelete Files on Windows

Click the Recover button to restore your selections to the new storage location. You will soon be using your Outlook files or other data that had accidentally been deleted from your machine.
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Professional Windows Undelete Freeware

Disk Drill is designed to help users get back data from a wide variety of data loss scenarios quickly and easily. The tool includes many features that make it a great choice in Windows undelete software.

  • Free recovery of up to 500 MB of dataFree recovery of up to 500 MB of data
  • Intuitive and user-friendly interfaceIntuitive and user-friendly interface
  • Simple and clickable recovery process suitable for all usersSimple and clickable recovery process suitable for all users
  • Free byte-level backup creationFree byte-level backup creation
  • Preview files before committing to a recoveryPreview files before committing to a recovery
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Undelete Files From any Type of Storage Device

Disk Drill can undelete files from any kind of internal or external disk-based storage device. From your internal hard disk to SD cards and flash drives, if you can connect it to your Windows computer, you can use Disk Drill to scan it and undelete files. Here are some examples of devices that are supported for recovery.
  • PC Mac
    PC / Mac
    Dell®, HP®, Acer®, Asus®, MacBook Pro®, MacBook Air®, Apple iMac® and more
  • HDD SSD
    HDD / SSD
    HP®, Samsung®, Seagate®, Toshiba®, WD®, LaCie®, Intel®, Adata® and more
  • USB Drive
    USB Drive
    SanDisk®, Samsung®, Kingston®, Corsair®, Patriot®, PNY®, Verbatim®, Silicon Power® and more
  • SD CF Card
    SD / CF Card
    SanDisk®, Transcend®, Toshiba®, Lexar®, Integral®, SP®, PNY®, Kingston® and more
  • Digital Camera
    Digital Camera
    Samsung®, HP®, Sony®, GoPro®, Canon®, Sigma®, Nikon®, Epson®, Panasonic® and more
  • iPhone Android
    iPhone / Android *
    Samsung Galaxy®, iPhone®, Lenovo®, Huawei®, OnePlus®, Google Pixel®, LG® and more
*Note: Android/iPhone recovery is only supported in Disk Drill for Mac at the moment

Undelete Virtually any Type of File

Disk Drill supports over 400 different file types when its deep scanning capabilities are used. It can recover all popular music files, images, videos, archive, and history files with a few simple clicks. Here are some examples of the file types that can be restored by this versatile software tool.
  • Audio
    Audio
    AIF, MP3 (MPEG Audio Stream, Layer III), AIFF (Audio Interchange File), WMA (Windows Media audio files), AIFC
  • Archives
    Archives
    CAB (Windows Cabinet File), RAR (WinRAR Compressed Archive), DMG (Mac OS X Disk Image), ZIP (Extended Zip File), 7Z (7-Zip Compressed)
  • Documents
    Documents
    PPTX (Microsoft PowerPoint), DOCX (Microsoft Word), XLSX (Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet), PDF (Portable Document Format)
  • Images
    Images
    BMP, TIFF, JPEG, JP2, GIF, PSP. Polaroid/Sigma: X3F. Pentax: PEF. Adobe: AI, INX, LRCAT, INDD, INDL, APM, IDML, INDB, PSB, PSD.
  • Video
    Video
    FLV, AVI (Flash video), MP4 (MPEG-4 video), M4V (iTunes video), MPG (MPEG video), WMV (Windows Media Video)
  • Other Files
    Other Files
    ACCDB (Microsoft Database), MYO (MYOB Limited Windows File), OTF (OpenType Font), DB (Paradox), SQL (bundled SQL queries)
All supported file types
Protect

A Free Additional Data Protection Tool

The best method and the free method of undeleting files is protecting them in advance. Disk Drill's Recovery Vault is one of a kind protection and restoration algorithm that quietly works in the background tracking your file operations, targeting files deletion. As soon as some files go to Recycle Bin, Recovery Vault records their data and keeps it safe until there is a need to get those files back. Undeleting files takes only a few moments with this awesome method and is 100% guaranteed.
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Why is it possible to recover deleted files on your computer?

You can restore deleted files on your Windows machine because of the way the operating system handles data deletion. When a file is deleted by the Windows OS, the physical data is not immediately removed from the storage device. The logical link that allows the data to be accessed is deleted and the space occupied by the item is marked as available for use by the operating system. Files can be recovered until they are overwritten with new information by the OS.

How to Undelete Files on Different Platforms

Here are some methods for undeleting files on several different platforms.

Windows recovery from the Recycle Bin

  1. Open the Recycle Bin by clicking on its icon.
  2. Locate the item you want to restore and right-click on it.
  3. Select Restore to recover the file to its original location.
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Mac data recovery with Disk Drill

  1. Download Disk Drill for Mac and install it on your Macintosh or MacBook.
  2. Launch the program and select the disk for recovery.
  3. Click the Recover button to start scanning for lost data.
  4. Preview the found files and select those you want to restore.
  5. Click Recover again to perform the file recovery.
undelete files

Android file recovery using Disk Drill

  1. Connect the Android device to the computer where Disk Drill is installed.
  2. Launch Disk Drill and select the Android device from the disk list.
  3. Click Search for lost data to start scanning the device.
  4. Preview the files that can be recovered and make your selections. Choose a storage location on the computer to save the recovered data.
  5. Click Recover to restore the files to the new location.

Please note: Disk Drill for Windows is not yet capable of detecting Android devices, however Disk Drill for Mac provides full support for Android data recovery.
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Undelete iOS data with an iCloud backup

Restoring an iOS device from an iCloud backup requires you to erase all of its current content before proceeding. Use the following steps to recover from an iCloud backup.

  1. Turn on the device and follow the onscreen setup steps until you reach the Apps & Data screen.
  2. Tap Restore from iCloud Backup.
  3. Sign in to iCloud with your Apple ID.
  4. Select a backup to be used for the recovery. After your selection, file transfer begins.
  5. When prompted, sign in with your Apple ID to restore your apps and purchases.
  6. Stay connected and wait for a progress bar to appear and complete.
  7. Data will continue to be transferred until the restore is complete. This can take several days depending on the amount of data being recovered.
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Linux recovery using PhotoRec Data Recovery tool

  1. Download and install PhotoRec on your machine running Ubuntu or another Linux distribution.
  2. Start the program and specify the partition from which files were deleted.
  3. Select Proceed and then Options to configure the recovery settings.
  4. Select Search once the options are configured to start the recovery process.
  5. Choose the file system type and hit Enter.
  6. Select a directory in which the recovered files will be stored.
  7. The program will perform the recovery and can be stopped at any time by pressing Enter.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Updated on by Disk Drill Team

To undelete files in Windows 10 use this process:

  1. Download, install and launch Disk Drill for Windows.
  2. Choose the disk from which you want to undelete files.
  3. Click Search for lost data to activate the scanning algorithms.
  4. Review the recoverable file list and select those to undelete.
  5. Click the Recover all button and allow the app to undelete your files.

Yes, you can. Disk Drill for Windows offers a free trial version of the software. After downloading the app you can use it to recover up to 500 MB of data before making any investment in the Pro version. It’s a great way to recover lost files for free while investigating the extra data protection features built into this recovery tool.

The first of our several solutions is to undelete permanently deleted files without software by restoring a previous version. Just follow those steps:

  1. Type Restore files in the search box on the Windows taskbar, and then select Restore your files with File History.
  2. Look for the file you need to undelete, then use the arrows to see all its versions.
  3. When you find the version you want, select Restore to save it in its original location.
Undelete software recovers deleted data by taking advantage of the way files are deleted by the operating system. When you undelete a file on Windows 7 or any other version of the OS, the logical links to the item are repaired, making it available to your applications. Also known as data recovery software, these applications can only restore data if it has not been overwritten by new information. You need to act quickly and use the software as soon as you realize that data loss has occurred.
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Customers and software guru say

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«Overall Disk Drill has plenty to offer: its core undelete engine is well designed and presented, and there are some genuinely valuable extras here.» by Mike Williams
Frank Weir
Thank you! Accidentally deleted some photo files for a paid job! Easily recovered with Disk Drill. You saved me a LOT of embarrassment....AND money!
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