Indeed almost all of us have encountered the problem of having accidentally deleted a file, document or folder from our computer, tablet or mobile phone.
This article will find out how we can recover these deleted data from Windows and Android operating systems.
Nowadays, it is common for us to store a large amount of information on our devices, from photographs, written documents, personal and professional files, videos, etc.
Although we have at our disposal a wide variety of external storage devices, such as hard drives or USB sticks, or even the cloud, most users tend to occupy most of the storage memory of our devices.
The real problem occurs when, due to an oversight or mistake, we delete one of these files, we have not made a backup copy, and we cannot recover it.
Fortunately, although it is not visible to us, this information usually leaves a trace or is not entirely removed from our devices, so we can try to recover it using the tools available in the system itself.
How to Recover Deleted Files in Windows 10
Let’s see below the different options available to us to recover these deleted files:
- Restore from Recycle Bin: Sometimes, we delete files due to an oversight or mistake or because we think we will not need them anymore. When we do, these files go straight to the recycle bin on our computer. By default, these files will remain in the folder for 93 days.
1. If we double click on the trash can icon, we can access its interior, where we will see all the files that have not yet been permanently deleted.
2. By clicking with the right mouse button on one of them, the option’ Restore’ will appear.
3. Clicking ‘Restore’ will return the file to its original location, allowing us to access it as if nothing had happened.
- Restore Previous Versions: This option allows us to recover a previous file or folder version. For example, if we have modified a document and we don’t like how it turned out, or if we delete it from a folder by mistake. To do this, we must:
1. Right-click on the folder where this file has been deleted, or the file that we want to return to a previous version is located, and click on ‘Properties ‘.
2. Then, we will click on the ‘Previous versions’ tab, where the old versions of the file or folder that we have selected will appear.
3. Once the version we want is located, we will click on ‘Restore ‘. In the case of a folder, we will recover all its files. Watch out! Whenever we do this, the current version of the file or folder in question will be deleted.
This option may not be enabled if we do not have system protection activated, allowing Windows to make restore points from time to time as backups. To start it, we must:
1. Click on the start menu or Windows icon and type in “Restore Point” in the search engine. We will click on it to access it.
2. Then, we will click on the hard disk where we want to activate the creation of restore points and click on ‘Configure …’. Next, we will select the option Turn on system protection ‘.
3. Finally, we must allocate space to store these restore points. We recommend using a small percentage (3-5%). Then we will click ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’ to save it.
Activation System Protection
The system will automatically create restore points, we will be able to access previous versions, and we will have more facilities to recover our files deleted by mistake.
How to Recover Deleted Files on Android
The Android operating system does not have any tool installed by default that allows us to access old versions of files or a “trash can” where deleted files are temporarily stored. However, we do have other alternatives with which to try to minimize the impact of losing this information, as well as file recovery tools:
On the one hand, we can use external applications, which can be downloaded from the official Play Store, and which are used to recover deleted files. Many tools on the market can be handy.
Another option is to create backup copies to prevent this information from being lost over time. To learn how to make backup copies of our phones, we can follow the instructions in this article.
If, on the other hand, we only want to keep backup copies of our photos and videos, we can use the backup copies of our Google Photos application:
- To activate the backup copies of our photos and videos, we must access our Google Photos application.
- Then, we will click on the icon with our profile picture and click on ‘Activate backup ‘. Printshop backup disabled activates backup.
- Choose backups after this, we must choose between two options :
- Store more items, although the quality of our photos or files may vary.
- Save our pictures and videos without changing their quality.
- After giving ‘Confirm ‘, backup copies of our photos will be created periodically, so if we delete any of them by mistake, we can always recover them.
On the Internet, we can find many paid and free tools that can help us recover lost information, in case the steps described in this article were not enough.