Learn how to recover deleted files from the recycle bin

Learn how to recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin in certain cases, as well as what to do when you can’t get them back.

Deleted files can stay recoverable until they are overwritten: stop using the device. If software does not solve it, see Bot’s professional data recovery, which starts with a free diagnosis.

If you’re searching for how to recover files deleted from the Recycle Bin, you have probably deleted something you shouldn’t have, right? If so, stay calm: you’re not the first — and won’t be the last — to find yourself in this situation.

According to a 2020 survey by CleverFiles, accidental file deletion is the third most common cause of data loss (19%), ahead of device loss (13%), disk formatting (8%) and viruses or malware (7%).

In another survey, carried out by StorageCraft in January 2017, 41 IT professionals indicated what they thought were the main reasons for data loss. For 29% of respondents, it was human error, a percentage close to those who attributed the problem to system and hardware failures (31%).

Emptying the Recycle Bin goes one step further than simply deleting a file by mistake, but nobody is immune to it. And it can cause a lot of damage, whether personal, professional or even financial.

If this has happened to you, stay calm: it can probably be solved. Even when the simplest methods don’t work, the files can be recovered in most cases.

Read on to find out whether you can recover files deleted from the Recycle Bin on your own or whether you’ll need our help, and which solutions are available.

01How to recover files deleted from the Recycle Bin

Recovering files that have been deleted from the Recycle Bin is not as simple as restoring them from the Recycle Bin itself. If a file is still in the Recycle Bin, just open it, right-click the file and choose “Restore”, and it will go back to its original folder. This is the most common case, as we often delete a file by accident and notice straight away.

However, if a file has been permanently deleted, you need to follow other procedures. This happens when you delete a file from the Recycle Bin or empty it, but also when you press Shift + Delete or delete files too large to fit in the Recycle Bin.

Even then, the files don’t disappear completely, which is why they can be recovered in most cases. We explain why below.

02Why is it possible to recover files deleted from the Recycle Bin?

When files are deleted from the Recycle Bin or permanently erased in some other way, the file system simply marks the space they occupy as free and removes them from its index. The data itself usually stays on a hard drive until it is overwritten, which is why it can be recovered. On SSDs, however, the TRIM command tells the drive to clear that space soon after deletion, so recovery is much less likely.

That’s why you can only get these files back if no new data is written over them. When you delete files from the Recycle Bin, you’re telling the operating system it can use that space for other data. If you then save new files, the system may overwrite the deleted ones, making them much harder — or impossible — to recover.

So the first step to recovering your data is to stop using the computer, to prevent new files from being written to the drive. If you’re going to use recovery software, install it on a different drive and save the recovered files somewhere else. Then follow the steps below.

03How do I recover files deleted from the Recycle Bin in Windows?

As we’ve seen, deleting files from the Recycle Bin is a common situation that can often be reversed. Let’s look at the options available in Windows.

Programs to recover files deleted from the Windows Recycle Bin

There’s software for just about everything, and recovering files deleted from the Recycle Bin is no exception. Here are some of the options:

• Disk Drill Data Recovery: lets you recover up to 500 MB for free. It also has data loss prevention features and can create ISO, IMG or DMG disk images.
• EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: with a very practical and intuitive interface, the software also allows you to recover up to 500 MB for free (the limit increases to 2 GB when you share the product on social networks) and works on internal disks (HDDs, SSDs) and external disks (external disks, USB flash drives, memory cards and others).
• MiniTool Power Data Recovery: simple and efficient software that lets you recover up to 1 GB for free, supports more than 100 file types and even offers technical support.
• Recuva: developed by Piriform, the company behind CCleaner, it allows unlimited file recovery in the free version and comes in 32-bit, 64-bit and portable versions.
• TestDisk: this tool focuses on recovering lost partitions, boot sectors and file tables. It’s harder to use, as it runs in a text-based interface, and it can cause serious damage if used by inexperienced users.

Keep in mind that all of these programs should be used with care, by experienced users or data recovery professionals. Otherwise, you could make things worse, for example by permanently losing the deleted files and others that were still safe.

Recovering files with Windows Backup and Restore

If you’d rather not install any extra software, you can try to recover the deleted files with the operating system’s own tools, which can be a big help.

Several versions of Windows include a backup and restore feature. Windows 7 made it more efficient, with more control over what is backed up and simpler operation.

However, this only works if Windows had already made a backup before the files were deleted. If you don’t use this feature yet, it’s well worth turning it on.

If you do have a backup, here are the steps to restore your files. They differ between Windows versions, and some menu names may vary with the version or language. Here they are:

Backup and Restore in Windows 7

1. Open the “Start” menu;
2. Go to “Control Panel”;
3. Go to “System and Security”;
4. Select “Backup and Restore”;
5. On the next screen, choose “Restore my files”. If no backup is detected, this option will be grayed out; in that case, choose “Select another backup to restore files from”;
6. Browse to find the backup. You can narrow the search with the “Select another backup to restore files from” option;
7. Click “Next”;
8. Choose where you want to restore the files;
9. Click “Restore”;
10. The restore will begin. It may take a while, depending on the size of the files and your computer’s specifications;
11. When it’s finished, click “Finish”.

Backup and restore in Windows 10

1. In the search box on the taskbar, type “Restore files” and choose “Restore your files with File History”;
2. Find the file you want and use the arrows to browse through its versions;
3. When you find the version you want, click the “Restore” button to restore it to its original location. To save it elsewhere, right-click “Restore”, select “Restore to” and choose the location.

04How do I recover files deleted from the Trash on a Mac?

On a Mac, there are also several ways to recover files deleted from the Trash. Let’s look at some of them.

Programs to recover files deleted from the Mac Trash

Some of the programs mentioned for Windows also have a Mac version, while others are Mac-only. The main ones are:

• Disk Drill for Mac: the free version lets you scan the drive and preview recoverable files (recovery itself requires the paid version). It also offers other features, such as partition recovery, data backup and Recovery Vault, which adds an extra layer of protection to the Trash by keeping a record of deleted files.
• EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac: the free version lets you recover up to 2 GB of files. It’s especially designed to recover files lost through formatting or accidental deletion.
• MiniTool Power Data Recovery for Mac: recovers photos, videos, music, emails, documents and other files. However, the free version can only be used on one computer and recovers a maximum of 1 MB — that’s not a typo, it really is 1 MB (megabyte).
• PhotoRec for Mac: although not the most powerful option, it’s free and open-source. It can recover the main file types, such as photos, music, PDFs, ZIP archives and Office files.
• Softtote Mac Data Recovery: recovers lost files from internal and external drives. One highlight is that it lets you preview some file details before recovery, such as image size and creation date. It also offers free technical support.

The same advice we gave for Windows applies here: only use data recovery software if you know what you’re doing. Otherwise, you could make things worse, for example by losing access to your files for good.

Restore your Mac from a backup

If you back up your MacBook or iMac with Time Machine, you can get your files back. To recover just a few files, connect the backup disk, open the folder where they were and choose “Enter Time Machine” from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. To bring back all your apps, personal files and user account content as they were at the time of the backup, use Migration Assistant, as follows:

1. Make sure the Time Machine backup disk is connected to the Mac and turned on;
2. Open the “Applications” folder, then “Utilities”, and then “Migration Assistant”;
3. When asked how you want to transfer your information, choose “From a Mac, Time Machine backup or startup disk” and click “Continue”;
4. Next, choose the Time Machine backup disk and click “Continue”;
5. Select the backup you want and click “Continue”;
6. Choose which information you want to transfer and click “Continue”;
7. Now wait for the transfer to finish. The more data there is, the longer it will take.

How to stop the Mac from emptying the Trash automatically

macOS has an option that automatically deletes items that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days. While this helps free up storage space, it can also permanently delete files you threw away by mistake.

To turn it off, follow the steps below. Some menu names may vary with the language and version of macOS:

1. Open Finder and choose “Finder” > “Settings” (or “Preferences” in older versions) in the menu bar;
2. In the “Advanced” tab, uncheck “Remove items from the Trash after 30 days”.

Whenever you do want to delete files for good, just open the Trash and choose which items to delete permanently.

Also read: Is it possible to recover data from a mobile phone?

05How do I repair a corrupted Recycle Bin and recover data?

Sometimes, when you try to open the Recycle Bin to recover your data, Windows says it is corrupted. This means there’s a problem that stops you from deleting new files, accessing deleted ones or emptying the Recycle Bin.

This can happen when the drive is corrupted or failing, when there isn’t enough free space, when drivers are misconfigured or updates fail, among other reasons.

There are a few ways to get the Recycle Bin working again: repairing it with the Command Prompt or recreating it. Important: both methods delete everything currently in the Recycle Bin, so restore or recover any files you need from it first.

Repair the Recycle Bin with Command Prompt

1. In the search box on the taskbar, type “Command Prompt”;
2. Click “Run as administrator”;
3. Type the command rd /s /q C:\$Recycle.bin and press Enter (this permanently deletes the contents of the Recycle Bin on drive C:);
4. Restart your computer and check whether the Recycle Bin works again.

If that doesn’t work, run sfc /scannow in Command Prompt as administrator. The System File Checker will look for and repair damaged system files.

Recreate the Recycle Bin

1. In the search box on the taskbar, type “File Explorer” and open it;
2. Click File > Change folder and search options;
3. Open the “View” tab;
4. Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files” and select “Show hidden files, folders and drives”;
5. Close the window, open each drive and delete the “$Recycle.Bin” folder that now appears at the root;
6. Restart your computer so that Windows recreates the Recycle Bin;
7. Right-click the desktop and select “Personalize”;
8. Click Themes > Desktop icon settings;
9. Tick the “Recycle Bin” checkbox and click “Apply”.

Then open the Recycle Bin from the desktop icon and check that everything works.

Any files that were in the Recycle Bin are deleted in the process. If you didn’t restore them first, you can still try the data recovery programs mentioned above.

06I couldn’t recover the files deleted from the Recycle Bin. Now what?

Even if you know all the tricks for recovering permanently deleted files, there are situations in which only a professional service can restore this data.

In that case, you can count on Bot. We have more than two decades of experience, more than 200,000 cases and a 96% success rate.

If you don’t have much experience in recovering deleted files or simply want to be sure your device is in the best hands, count on our data recovery service to get your files back safely and with no hassle.