I was clicking around on my personal USB drive and accidental deleted two important files for work. I could spend the next hour creating the reports from scratch, or I could do some digital sleuthing and get back the files that I absentmindedly discarded.
Save your files!
The process to undelete old files – or recover old files – is a simple process that takes less than 5 minutes from start to finish. Follow these simple steps to save your files:
- Step 1: Get a program
Download a free file recovery program like Recuva for Windows and Cisdem DataRecovery for Mac. Note: I am on a PC so I have only used Recuva.
- Step 2: Search for the file you’ve lost
Source: downloadsource.fr (Flickr)
Open the program wizard and follow the prompted steps by selecting the file type and file location of the specific file that you are looking for. Once your settings are selected you can start to scan your USB to look for the files.
- Step 3: Select the file you’ve lost
A big list will appear with all of the files that were previously deleted. Look through the list and find the file you’re looking for. Once you’ve located it, click ‘Recover’.
- Step 4: Rejoice!
Your file has been recovered! Go to the location you selected in step 2 and you’ll find your file waiting for you.
Next time you delete a file from a USB, external hard drive, or SD card you don’t have to shed tears. Just click a few buttons and your important work reports, vacation photos, and cat GIFs will be yours once more.
What is this magic?
It is possible to recover these files from a USB drive due to the way it is saved and in turn the way it is deleted in the first place. When you are clearing out your USB drive, intentionally or not, your device is following a specific pattern of saving and overwriting. You aren’t actually deleting a file from your device when you click the ‘delete’ button. Instead, you are only hiding it from being listed when you open your USB drive.
It would be time consuming to wipe every file from your device every time you click delete, so it keeps the file on the drive and marks it as unimportant. When you want to save a new file on your USB it will rewrite over the unimportant file. Essentially you are deleting your old file when you save a new file over it.
Think of old VHS tapes. If you want to use a tape you’ve already recorded a program on, you don’t have to strip the VHS tape of the old TV show. You just pop it into the VCR and record over it. Your USB drive follows a similar process.
Note: You can follow the above method for external devices that you can plug into your computer like USB drives, external HD, and SD cards. This may also work with some older computers like Windows Vista and XP, but newer computers Windows 7 or above have a different way of saving files that is not compatible with these specific file recovery programs.
Media Basics 