Aug222010

How can I recover a file deleted in Windows?

shelbi joseph asks:

Friends, I just deleted a file by mistake and I need it badly.

Tried to recover using O&O recovery, Tune up, and recover my files, but this file doesn’t appear.

It’s a video file I recorded from my camera in DV format. Is there any way I can get it back? By looking for recently deleted files? I deleted it a few hours ago. Any suggestions and help will be much appreciated. Thanks a ton!



Similar questions

  • http://www.makeuseof.com/answers Tina

    Shelbi,

    you may still find the file in your recycle bin. Did you open the recycle bin to have a look? If you see it there you can restore it. Right-click on the file and select > Recover from the tip of the menu.

    Even if the file isn’t there, don’t worry. Windows doesn’t delete files, it just deletes its index of where the file was saved. In the meantime the file remains where it has been UNTIL it is overwritten by new data. So whatever you do, until you can recover the file you may not write any new data on the storage medium from which you deleted it!

    We also had similar questions and there are many tools that can help you recover different file types. Please have a look at the similar questions here.

    Good luck!

  • http://www.dunedincomputing.co.uk Oron Joffe

    Shelbi, if Tina’s suggestion doesn’t work for you, try “Pandora Recovery” or “Glary Undelete”. I’ve found both to be highly effective. However, try to install them on a drive _other_ than the one the file was on, or your data may get overwritten by the installation!

  • http://www.recoverdeletedpictures.com Dave

    You can often recover deleted video or picture files successfully from a PC, camera memory card or USB Memory stick. It all depends on what has happened since you deleted them.

    When you delete files the data itself isn’t deleted, just the index entry that tells the system where the data for those files is located. The area containing the deleted data is also now marked as free space so it is available for any new files to be written there instead.

    If and when that happens, then it is too late to recover your deleted files so it is very, very important to not save any new files or data to the device concerned.

    If the deleted files are on your PC, use another PC to browse the internet for a solution as internet browsing causes lots of temporary files to get written to the disk. Download any photo recovery software, for example, to a memory stick, plug that in the computer with the deleted pictures and run it from there.

    If the deleted files are on a camera memory card or USB memory stick, just don’t save any new files to it.

    One of the easiest ways to see if you can recover deleted files is to try some photo recovery software.

    A good tip is to try the free trial version of a commercial product that will scan the device for deleted pictures and show you exactly what files can be recovered as thumbnail images in the preview screen. At least that will show you if you can recover the deleted video or pictures or if it’s too late already.

    You can find more useful information on how to recover deleted video files here.

  • http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/author/jessicacw/ Jessica Cam W.

    Have you tried Recuva? Here are some instructions on how to use it.

    You can also try:
    - FreeUndelete
    - UndeletePlus

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VPYH55MY3XAJXKRO5BLJS3DZ3I alan

    I would recommend Recuva as well

  • http://twitter.com/kittleboy_87 kittleboy

    And do not copy any video file with that kind of format in that drive !!!!!! until you have recovered your file

  • ukohara

    ok my frd what i am posting here might not be true for you but i am sharing what happened with me. i accidently deleted some video files movies actually which i tried to recover using data recovery app. when the application finished its scan i saw the files i played them but the files were in parts. so u might recover it but still not in complete shape. i tried other softs but all in vain.

  • Khmerrole

    i think so

  • smallant456

    Shelbi,
    i encountered the similar thing like you, my precious photos on the computer are missing suddenly. But now i have got them back. It was really an adventurous experience. So i really want to give you some advice.
    Firstly, please don’t do any operations on the partition or the device where data is missing.
    Secondly, recommend you a data recovery freeware: easeus data recovery, which i used before and helped me a lot. When you download the software, please remember not to save it on the partition or device where data is missing. However, the freeware has a limit: only can recover 1GB data. Well, you can have it a try and see if it can find the deleted video file.
    http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/faq/technical-faq07.htm

    May you good luck!

    • http://www.makeuseof.com/ Aibek

      thanks for the input

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JUS3BWQ7A3ZJJ2Z4E4ZUO5QZBQ Kerry Young

    First things first: DO NOT take any more videos or files with the memory card(within your camera) that you want to recover files from. Take the card out of your cam and put it in a safe place. Because if you take any more files or save any data to your memory card, you may quite possibly ruin your chances of recovery. Then Connect the card to your computer as it should appear as a “Removable Drive” or put the card in a card reader attached to your PC.

    Now use this recovery software called Wondershare Data Recovery ( http://www.wondershare.com/data-recovery/index.html ) I once used this program and it successfully recovered the photos I accidentally erased from the camera. I hope you good luck!

  • http://opalpcsolutions.co.uk/data-recovery-watford.html Data Recovery Watford

    Recuva is a brilliant program that should be perfect for this kind of task! 

  • Alamin_hossain

    i successfully recover my video by Recuva but the video doesn’t play.

Please wait...