It’s not unusual to find yourself in a position where you need to recover deleted files from a USB flash drive. Whether you deleted the files on purpose or they were deleted by accident, recovering your lost files quickly and securely is the priority. But how are you supposed to recover deleted files from a flash drive by yourself?

recover file from usb tenorshare

How to Recover Deleted Files from USB Flash Drive with Tenorshare 4DDiG?

Tenorshare 4DDiG makes it as easy as possible to recover flash drive files. It only takes a few simple steps to get started, and you won’t have to handle the complex work for yourself. Instead, follow the steps below and you should have your deleted data back in no time at all.

Step 1: Download & Install Tenorshare 4DDiG

Head to the Tenorshare 4DDiG website and click FREE DOWNLOAD on the main page. This will download an executable file for you to open. Click on the file and follow the prompts on the screen to install Tenorshare 4DDiG in your desired location. It is vital that you install Tenorshare 4DDiG in a different location to your deleted files, like your main hard drive or SSD.

4ddig-data-type Step 2: Select the USB Flash Drive to Recover

Open the Tenorshare 4DDiG software and wait for your drives to be scanned. Once open, you should see a list of all of the storage drives plugged into your PC. Hover over the USB drive you are working with and select Scan.

tenorshare 4ddig select drive

A new window will open with a list of file types for you to choose from. If you know what files have been deleted, you can refine the recovery process and make it faster. If not, though, you can go ahead with all of the file types selected.

tenorshare choose file type

Tenorshare 4DDiG will perform an initial fast scan of your files followed by a deep scan to make sure that nothing is missing. You don’t have to wait for the deep scan to complete to recover your files.

Step 3: Find and Recover the Deleted Files

Once the scan is complete, you can explore the files Tenorshare 4DDiG has found to recover your deleted files. Start by going to the Deleted Files section. Files that have been deleted recently should show up in this area once the deep scan has been completed.

tenorshare 4ddig deleted files

Search for the file that you want to recover, select it, and click on the Recover button in the bottom right of the screen. Remember to choose a safe location to save your recovered file and consider using a backup to avoid losing it in the future.

Why Choose Tenorshare 4DDiG?

It’s no secret that Tenorshare 4DDiG isn’t the only file recovery tool on the market. So, why should you choose this option for your own file recovery needs?

  • Fast & Secure: Tenorshare 4DDiG is built to be fast and secure. This means that it runs great on any machine, while also keeping your data safe by keeping it local to your PC.
  • Easy Recovery: Tenorshare 4DDiG makes recovering deleted files incredibly easy, saving you the time and effort that you would have to spend to handle the process manually.
  • Flexible & Fair Pricing: You can choose from a range of flexible and fair pricing options for Tenorshare 4DDiG, and the software is often on special offer to ensure that you get the best price.

How to Recover Deleted Files From USB Flash Drive Without a Recovery Tool

It is possible to recover deleted files from a flash drive without using a recovery tool. The methods below are the best options for those who want to go down this route, though it is worth noting that it won’t be as easy as using a tool like Tenorshare 4DDiG.

Solution 1: Recover Deleted Files From a Backup

Most people don’t make backups of their flash drives. If you do make backups of your USB drives, though, you can use them to recover the deleted files that you are looking for. You just have to find the backups you have made and locate the deleted files within them.

Solution 2: Recover Deleted Files Using CMD

Next, you can try to recover your files using your PC’s built-in command prompt tool. Open the start menu, type CMD, and hit enter to open the command prompt. From here, you can start by issuing a simple chkdsk command to make sure that your USB drive doesn’t have bad sectors. Type chkdsk E: /f into the command prompt and hit enter (you may need to swap E: for the correct drive letter).

chkdsk cmd prompt

As long as no errors come up, you can move on to recovering your files. To do this, you need to use the CMD attrib command, and it should look like this attrib -h -r -s /s /d E:*.* (again replacing E: with your own drive letter).

attrib command prompt

The command prompt window will return nothing if the command is successful. Instead, you will need to navigate to the USB drive to see if any new files have been added. Any recovered files will default to the .chk format, but you can change this by right-clicking the file and selecting Properties.

cmd recovered files

Solution 3: Recover Deleted Files Using Previous Versions

Windows has a neat feature called File History that can be very helpful when trying to recover deleted files from a USB flash drive. As long as you have it turned on, Windows will create shadow copies of all of your files to enable them to be recovered if they are lost.

Find the folder that would contain your deleted files, right-click on it, and select Properties from the dropdown list. As long as you have File History turned on, you should see a tab labeled Previous Versions. Navigate to this tab and find the correct version of the folder before clicking on Restore at the bottom of the window.

Restoring Previous Version of a File in Windows

Avoid Deleted Files on Your USB Flash Drive

Avoiding accidental file deletion is far better than going through the file recovery process. Creating backups can help with this, but it also makes sense to consider the importance of your files before you click delete. The Windows Recycling Bin is used by default for deleted files. This means that you can often find the files you have deleted in the bin, and only need to click Restore to have them reappear.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  • Can you recover deleted items from a USB stick?

Yes, as long as you have a backup or shadow volume, or the files haven’t been completely overwritten from the USB drive.

  • Where do deleted files go from a USB flash drive?

Deleted USB flash drive files are made invisible and set to unimportant until new data overwrites them. This means that deleted files can still be available, even if they have been deleted from the drive.

  • How do you recover a deleted file from a flash drive for free?

You can use backups, your PC’s command prompt, and previous file versions to recover deleted files from a flash drive. Each of these methods needs the right settings in place before you start, whereas Tenorshare 4DDiG works without any preparation.

Recovered Deleted Files Easily

Using Tenorshare 4DDiG, you can recover your deleted files in a few easy steps. Now you won't need to worry if you've deleted the incorrect files from your flash drive, or you accidentally deleted something you should have kept.