We all have moments where we accidentally delete something off the computer. You might be working on something important, when you accidentally press the wrong key and boom it’s gone. With this guide, we’re going to show you a couple of simple ways of getting those files back.
Recycle Bin
We know this step is fairly obvious, but the first place to check is the recycle bin. If your file happens to be in there, then no worries, you can easily restore it back onto your computer.
Backups
Again, this is fairly obvious, but if you regularly backup your computer onto an external hard drive, it should have all the files you need on there. Just in general, getting an external hard drive is important for your business, so you always have a backup if something goes wrong. Click here to look at our favorite hard drive.
Windows Restore
There are two ways to go about restoring files through Windows.
The first way involves going through the folder that your file was in.
First, right click on the folder that your file was in and select “restore previous versions”
Once in the menu, you should be able to see previous versions of the folder and restore them.
This method isn’t foolproof, however. The second way involves administration control, so make sure you have admin access before proceeding.
The first step is to right click on “My Computer” and select properties.
From there you will want to go to the system protection tab.
On the menu that pops up, you will see all the different drives connected to your computer. That means if you accidentally deleted something off an external hard drive, you could restore it through this method as well.
You will want to select the drive that you want to restore your files from and click configure below it.
Next, you’ll want to select “Restore System Settings and Previous Versions of files” then click ok. You should then see an option to select previous versions of any file or folder.
Note: This method has to be set up in order to be effective. If you get through the second method and find that the box says “Turn on System Protection” you then must pick how much space you want available to store potentially deleted items.
External Program
If none of the methods above work, the best method is by using an external program. The program we most highly recommend is called “Recuva”. Click here to find out more about the free and pro versions!
We hope through this step by step guide you are able to get your lost files back. If you would like to find more solutions to make your business more productive (including cloud solutions), visit us at our social media or home page below!