We’ve all done it. We’ve been working all week on an important project for work, only to lose the file the night before we’re scheduled to make our big presentation. Or maybe you took hundreds of photos of a friend’s wedding, and then accidentally deleted them. And then there’s the important email message that you swore was in your inbox last time you were on your PC. As we become more comfortable with the use of digital media, it’s increasingly important that computer users understand how to recover deleted files.
How to Recover Deleted Files Manually
The first step to locating missing files should be to check in the recycle bin. Errant keystrokes can inadvertently send important files to the trash. A quick look in the recycle bin can sometimes reveal the missing file.
If the file isn’t in the recycle bin, the next step is to search your computer in its entirety for the file. When using Windows’ resident search function, there are a few considerations one should take:
- Are you spelling the file name correctly?
- Are you specifying the correct file extension?
- Are you searching in the right place?
While these are simple questions, their answers can have a profound impact on your success. Make sure to be as general as possible about the file name. It’s easier to sift through a list of possible matches, than to omit results because of overly-specific search criteria. Additionally, specify searching the entire computer. You may have inadvertently moved the file, or it may have been in a temporary folder because the user forgot to save the file after it was created. By searching the entire computer, the odds of success are greatly improved.
Recover Deleted Files With Stellar Windows Data Recovery
Using Data Recovery Software
Sometimes using search or the recycle bin doesn’t locate the file you need. In those instances, data recovery software such as Stellar Windows Data Recovery should be used. Stellar Windows Data Recovery is a powerful data recovery software suite that can find lost emails, email attachments, files on your pc, and even files on peripheral devices such as your iPod.
Stellar Windows Data Recovery takes advantage of the fact that when you “delete” a file; the information isn’t automatically removed from the hard drive. What actually happens is that Windows marks the space where that file is located as being available for use. Until Windows, an application, or the user saves new information to that location, the old data is still there. If you use Stellar Windows Data Recovery before Windows uses that section of the hard drive, the space will get marked as unavailable, and the location will be re-associated with the file name.
Time Is Of The Essence
Each time you perform a task on your computer, Windows writes to the hard drive. Because the lost file you are trying to recover is in jeopardy of being overwritten with every activity, it is extremely important to stop using the computer immediately! Additionally, you do not want to turn your computer off before trying to recover the file. Make sure you don’t download additional files. The only thing you want to download is Stellar Windows Data Recovery. Once installed, Stellar Windows Data Recovery’s intuitive user interface will allow you to find the missing file, so long as it has not already been overwritten.
When to Use Stellar Windows Data Recovery
- For files that were accidentally deleted permanently
- For corrupted files
- When a virus has deleted, renamed or moved files
- To find a file by the text contained within the file when the file wasn’t saved prior to exiting the application
- To find emails or attachments that have been purged by Outlook, Vista Mail, or Outlook Express
- To recover files lost during a power outage
- To find songs missing from your iPod
- To find files by content because you can’t remember the file name
Stellar Windows Data Recovery is a valuable tool that no computer should be without. If you can’t find a file in the recycle bin or through searching; use Stellar Windows Data Recovery to find missing, deleted, or corrupt files, emails, and email attachments.
Watch As We Walk You Through Exactly How To Recover Deleted Files
