In this article we will learn about how to recover your deleted files Windows 10 such as photos and videos.
"You can apply the same techniques we are going to show you to recover other types of data files besides photos and videos, but you should always keep in mind the tips for better recovering deleted files in Windows 10 that are given in this article".
It’s much more difficult to recover deleted files on Windows 10 but it’s not impossible.
So before we shown how to recover your deleted files on Windows 10 we need to know about the following
- The meaning of the photos and videos
- The importance of the photos and videos that we keep
- Important tips to avoid losing any pictures or videos from your computer
- How to Recover Deleted Files on Windows 10
- How to backup your PC with File History
The meaning of the photos and videos
Ever since the discovery of photography, people have been fascinated with taking and collecting photos. Until a few decades ago, pictures were kept in albums or shoe boxes.
They were tangible things if they were destroyed, they would be gone forever.
Today, the majority of photos are captured digitally and stored on electronic devices such as computers and cell phones.
This fact allows you to store thousands of photos on your computer's hard drive or an SD card connected to your phone.
A disadvantage of this convenience is the ease of losing images from such devices. Pictures can easily be deleted accidentally while you are doing other tasks.
System upgrades may have mistakenly erased some of your precious photos.
The importance of the photos and videos that we keep
Let’s face it "losing photos sucks", we all know the importance of preserving special moments in our lives.
Whether it is a photo or a video, and also we are all prone to jostling some or all of these moments by mistake.
And this would bring sadness if we were not able to recreate these special moments again, so let us show some ways that will help you to recover.
You need to follow our instructions and act fast enough, you should be able to recover most - if not all - of your recently deleted photos without disassembling your PC, Android, iPhone and iPad or paying an expensive professional fee to recover your deleted photos for you.
3 tips to avoid losing any files from your computer
1. Create a Backup and restore point
You should always expect any storage device—be it a hard drive, SSD, memory card, or USB flash drive—to fail at any moment and have a reliable backup stored someplace safe.
2. Avoid defragment your drive
Defragmentation is arguably one of the worst things you can do to your storage device if you are trying to recover photos or other files from it. Why?
Since during defragmentation, almost all data is moved to a different physical location on the storage device, so it is almost certain that the images you are trying to defragment will be overwritten and become unrecoverable.
In Windows 10, drives are optimized by default every week, but you can change this setting from the Defragment and Optimize Drives app.
3. Never write new data in the place with missing data
When you write new data to a storage device, you're overwriting some deleted files that are still physically on the storage device even though Windows can't see them anymore.
If you recently deleted a bunch of photos that you now desperately want to get back, avoid writing any new data to the storage device where it was before you deleted it.
Even one small file can eliminate any chance of successfully recovering a valuable photo, so it's not worth the risk.
How to recover deleted files on Windows 10
It would be great if all data recovery jobs were successful. Unfortunately, nothing is guaranteed when it comes to data recovery because there are many factors that influence your chance to recover deleted photos on your PC can’t see.
Understanding these factors is essential for avoiding making a crucial mistake when recovering deleted files and potentially jeopardizing any chance of successful recovery.
To some, they may be common sense, but experience tells us that even seasoned Windows users tend to forget them.
Let's start with the easiest way, and if you are lucky and didn't delete the photos or videos outside the computer, you will find them in the Recycle Bin and it is very easy to put them back again
1. Recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin
A few words about where your photos and videos go when you delete them.
They are not immediately removed from your computer or phone storage system.
Instead, the operating system marks the location of the deleted file as reusable space and will overwrite your photo file if it needs the space.
Since then you have a few options if you discover that some of your photos or videos are missing.
Let’s take a look at how you can try to restore deleted photos on a Windows 10/8/7/XP machine
As we said that if you are lucky, the first place to look for any deleted picture is your Recycle Bin.
This is where the Windows operating system puts files that it has marked to be deleted.
These files are still resident on your computer and can be easily restored.
Here are how to recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin:
- Double-click on the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop.
- Select the deleted pictures or video you want to recover then left click on it.
- Click on the Restore the selected items option located in the Recycle Bin Tools tab.
2. Recover deleted files from system backup
If you are in the habit of regularly backing up your computer, you may be able to recover your deleted files from one of your backups.
Based on your version of Windows, open the Backup and Restore utility and search for the files you would like to recover
- Right-click the Start button, then select Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Backup and Restore.
- Do one of the following:
- To restore your files, choose Restore my files.
- To restore the files of all users, choose Restore all users' files.
- Do one of the following:
- To look through the contents of the backup, select Browse for files or browse for folders.
When you're browsing for folders, you won't be able to see the individual files in a folder.
To view individual files, use the Browse for files option.
- To search the contents of the backup, select Search, type all or part of a file name, and then select Search.
Take into account:
If you're searching for files or folders associated with a specific user account.
You can improve search results by typing the location of the file or folder in the Search for box.
For example, to search for all JPG files that were backed up, type JPG in the Search for box.
To only search for JPG files associated with the user Bill, type C:\Users\Bill\JPG in the Search for box.
Use wildcard characters such as *.jpg to search for all JPG files that were backed up.
3. Recover deleted files from a file backup after restoring your computer from a system image backup
After you restore your computer from a system image backup, there may be newer versions of some of your files in a file backup that you want to restore.
To restore files from a file backup that was created after the system image backup was created, follow these steps.
- Select the Start button, then select Control Panel > System and Maintenance >Backup and Restore.
- Choose Select another backup to restore files from. Administrator permission required. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
- In Backup Period, select the date range of the backup that contains the files that you want to restore, and then follow the steps in the wizard.
4. Recover deleted files from system restore point
This option takes your PC back to an earlier point in time, called a system restore point.
Restore points are generated when you install a new app or driver, and when you create a restore point manually.
Restoring won’t affect your personal files, but it will remove apps, drivers, and updates installed after the restore point was made.
In the search box on the taskbar, type control panel, and then choose it from the list of results
- In the Control Panel search box, type recovery.
- Select Recovery > Open System Restore.
- In the Restore system files and setting box, select Next.
- Select the restore point that you want to use in the list of results, and then select Scan for affected programs.
Things to take into consideration when recovering deleted files from system restore point:
- If you don’t see the restore point that you want to use, select the Show more restore points check box to see more restore points.
- If you’re not seeing any restore points, it might be because system protection isn’t turned on. Here’s how to check:
- In the search box on the taskbar, type control panel, and then choose it from the list of results.
- In the Control Panel search box, type recovery.
- Select Recovery > Configure System Restore > Configure and see if the Turn on system protection option is selected.
- If the Turn on system protection option is not selected, system protection isn’t turned on and there aren't any restore points. In this scenario, you won't be able to recovery your PC using a system restore point and will need to use one of the other recovery options listed on this page.
- If the Turn on system protection option is selected, you'll see a list of items that will be deleted if you remove this restore point. If you're OK with the deletions, select Close > Next > Finish.
5. Recover deleted files using custom software
You may need to use data recovery software if you emptied the Recycle Bin after deleting photos and you don't have any on any of your backups.
The data recovery software can scan your hard drive and recover files that seem to have disappeared forever.
Without a backup, photo recovery software is the only way how to recover deleted photos on Windows 10 that can't be found in the Recycle Bin.
Use any software you like such as Disk Drill because it offers several different recovery methods, supports a variety of image file formats (JPG, PNG, TIFF, RAW, DNG, R3D, etc.), and is exceptionally easy to use.
Best of all, you can use Disk Drill to recover up to 500 MB for free, so you can see for yourself how well it works before you pay any money.
Losing your digital photos is one of the most disturbing types of data loss scenarios that you can experience.
In an instant, irreplaceable memories can be whisked away, seemingly gone forever.
Your first instinct may be to panic, but take a deep breath and download Disk Drill photo recovery software to recover your valuable images in a few clicks.
- Download Disk Drill and install it.
- Run Disk Drill (the application giving it system permission if requested).
- Select the storage device from which you want to retrieve the deleted photos.
- Click Search for lost data.
- Wait for Disk Drill to finish scanning and click Review found items.
- Disk Drill will present you with a list of the files that are available to be recovered.
- Filter the results by category to see only pictures.
- Select which photos you want to recover. You can click the preview icon to preview the deleted photos before recovering them.
- After selecting the files that you would like to restore and a location where they will be stored, click the “Recover” button and let the application restore your files..
6. Recover deleted files using System Registry
One lesser-known way how to recover deleted photos and videos via system registry, which is a massive database where Windows stores various low-level settings.
Use this method if you can’t recover deleted photos because you don’t have the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop.
This method won’t work if the option “Don’t move files to the Recycle Bin.
Remove files immediately when deleted.” had been selected in Recycle Bin Properties when the photos were deleted.
Here are how to use it:
- Open the Start menu, type “regedit,” and hit Enter.
 |
System Registry |
- Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionexplorerDesktopNameSpace
- Right-click anywhere in the right pane and select New > Key.
- Type {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}, and then press Enter.
- Close Registry Editor and log out.
- Log in again. The Recycle Bin icon should be restored on your desktop.
How to backup your PC with File History
Use File History to back up to an external drive or network location. Select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Backup > Add a drive , and then choose an external drive or network location for your backups.
