You are desperately looking for the work report you had prepared last week but, nothing, you cannot find it! Now that you think about it, the other day you gave it a nice fix on the PC, and you diligently emptied the Trash of the computer. You have done too much cleaning, but there is no reason to panic. Following the instructions in this guide you can in fact try to recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin using some special programs available for both Windows and macOS computers.
I suggest you take about ten or a little more minute of free time, sit comfortably in front of your trusty computer and focus on reading the next lines. As I have already told you, I cannot assure you that you will succeed in your intent but certainly if you follow my tips the chances of recovering deleted files from the Recycle Bin will be decidedly high.
Recover Deleted Files from Windows Recycle Bin
If you use a Windows PC, you can entrust your hopes of recovering deleted data to the resources listed below, which will surely satisfy you.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is an excellent software that allows you to recover deleted files from your PC (and not only). It works on internal and external hard drives, internal and external SSDs, memory cards, USB sticks, smartphones, tablets, and other devices. It is even capable of operating on formatted or damaged drives, RAW partitions, crashed systems, PCs infected with malware, and other seemingly hopeless situations.
Other strengths of this program produced by EaseUS They are its simplicity of use and its ability to recover any type of file: photos, videos, music, documents, compressed archives, emails, etc.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is available in two versions: a Free version, which allows you to recover up to 500MB of data (or 2GB, if you share the software online), and a Professional, with prices starting from 66.69 euros, which has no limitations on the amount of data that can be recovered.
To download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional (you can use the software even without purchasing the license, but in this case only the files that you can recover are shown, you cannot export them), connected to the official website of the program and click on the Free Trial button; if, instead, you want to download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free (the free version of the software that allows you to recover up to 2GB of data), connected to this other page of the EaseUS website and click on the Download for free button.
When the download is complete, regardless of the software version downloaded, open the .exe file you just obtained and click the Yes button in the window that appears on the screen. Then make sure that the box relating to the EaseUS license conditions (bottom left) is checked, press the Install Now button and wait for all the files necessary for the software to be downloaded from the Internet.
At the end of the setup, then press the Start Now button, to conclude the procedure and launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. If you do not want to send anonymous statistics on the use of the software, click on the item Customize the installation (bottom right) at the beginning of the setup and uncheck the box that appears at the bottom of the window.
At this point, to start the search for deleted files from the Recycle Bin, select the Recycle Bin icon from the home screen of EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and click on the Scan button, at the bottom right, to start searching for recoverable files.
Next, use the left sidebar to “browse” the folders where EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard found recoverable files (the Recycle Bin one is $RECYCLE. BIN), select the items you want to restore (by checking the appropriate boxes) and press the Recover button, at the bottom right, to export them to a folder of your interest.
If you want, I point out that you can filter the search results and view only the types of files of your interest, by pressing on the Filter item located at the top, and preview the selected files, pressing on the eye icon located at the top right. Convenient, right?
Disk Drill
One program I want to recommend you try is Disk Drill: it is one of the best programs for recovering deleted files available for Windows and macOS. Based on very advanced scanning algorithms, it can recover and reconstruct files of all kinds: Office documents, photos, videos, music and much more from hard drives, SSDs, USB sticks, SD cards and other memory drives. It also supports lost partition recovery and recovery from unformatted drives and RAW data.
It also allows you to prevent accidental deletion of data thanks to the Recovery Vault function (which keeps the most important data in a reserved area of the disk, accessible even in case of emptying the Recycle Bin) and monitors the status of the disk through S.M.A.R.T. technology., so you know immediately when any drive problems could put your data at risk.
Disk Drill can be downloaded and used for free to recover up to 500MB of data, after which to overcome this limit, you need to buy the full version of the program (with prices starting from 94 euros). To download Disk Drill for free, connect to the official website of the program and click on the Free Download button. When the download is complete, start the .exe file and click on the Install buttons., Yes and Lancia.
Once Disk Drill is launched, accept the terms of use, read the presentation that lists the main features of the program and choose whether to activate the Recovery Vault data protection feature and / or share anonymous usage data with developers. Finally, click on the Let Us Get Started button to move on.
Now you have to select the drive and partition to be analyzed (in this specific case, you have to select the drive on which you installed Windows, presumably C:); then expand the drop-down menu that appears on the right and choose a recovery method from those available: All recovery methods (which I recommend, to have the greatest number of results), Fast Analysis, In-Depth Scan, Scan for Lost Partitions, Allocate Existing File System Data or Undeleted Protected Data. After that hit on the Scan for Lost Data button.
During the scan you will be indicated, through the appropriate icons that you see on the screen, how many Images, Videos, Audios, Documents, Archives, or other files have been found so far. You can view files as the scan goes on, without having to interrupt it.
Then select the type of file you want to recover, expand the View menu (at the top), and choose how to view recoverable files. Then, if you think it appropriate, click on the Filters button and choose according to which parameters to filter the scan results: size, deletion date etc.
Once you have found a file to recover among the paths that are shown to you, if you want to preview it, click on the respective eye icon. To recover it, instead, check the relevant box, click on the Recover button, and select the destination path. Finally, press the OK button to confirm.
Please note that you cannot export files if the scan is still in progress. If necessary, therefore, pause it (using the appropriate button at the top left): you can then save it and resume it later, always using the buttons at the top or by selecting the most recent session from the left sidebar.
Tenorshare UltData
Tenorshare UltData is a program that allows you to easily recover deleted data from all types of drives: from internal disks to USB sticks and SD cards, even in case of corruption and damage (as far as possible, of course). It is compatible with all popular versions of Windows and allows you to recover any type of file: photos, videos, music, documents, emails, compressed archives, system files and more.
It has an extremely intuitive interface that allows you to recover data in three simple steps: scan, preview, and recover. You can download and try it for free, however, to recover the files requires the purchase of a license with prices starting from 49.95 euros / year.
To download Tenorshare UltData for free, go to the program’s website and click on the Free Download button. Then start the file .exe obtained and click first on Yes and then on Install and Start, to complete the setup. If you do not want to send anonymous usage statistics, expand the Install Setting item (bottom right), and uncheck the box Agreed to participate in the customer experience improvement plan!
When the installation is complete, to recover files from the Recycle Bin or any other location, put the check mark next to the name of the drive or location where the data of your interest is located (Recycle Bin for the Recycle Bin) and click on the Scan button (bottom right), to start the scan.
Next, if you want to limit your search to certain file types (e.g. photos, videos, music, etc.), use the buttons you see at the top, while if you want to navigate through the various folders from which you can recover data take advantage of the left sidebar. To finish, select the files to recover (you can preview by changing display mode, via the menu at the bottom right), press the Recover button (bottom right) and select the folder where you want to save the data.
To perform a more in-depth analysis of the disk (in case the standard scan was not enough), click on the item Didn’t find the missing data? Try using Deep Scan located at the bottom of the window.
So wait for the outcome of the new scan, browse the various types of files available in the left sidebar and proceed to recover those of your interest following the same instructions I gave you before.
Recuva
Recuva is a free application produced by Piriform (the same company that produces CCleaner) that allows you to restore any type of file from hard drives, USB sticks and other storage drives.
To recover deleted files from Recycle Bin with Recuva, the first step you need to take is to download the program to your computer. To do this, click here, then scroll down the web page that is shown to you and click on the green Free Download button on the left. Next, presses the item CCleaner.com, click on the Start Download button and wait a few moments for the program to be downloaded to your multimedia station.
When the download is complete, start the installation package of the program, click on Yes and, once the software setup wizard window appears, select English from the menu for choosing the language located at the bottom right and click on the Next button. Next, presses Next, twice consecutively, put a check mark next to the item No thanks, I do not need CCleaner and click once again on the Next button. To conclude, presses the End button.
Then wait a few moments for the Recuva window to be visible on the screen (if the program does not start automatically double-click on the icon of the same that has been added to the desktop), then click on the Next button, select the type of file you want to recover by choosing between Images, Music, Documents, Video, Compressed, Email or All Files and click the Next button again.
Then put the check mark on the box located next to the location where you intend to search for deleted files to be recovered by choosing between I’m not sure, for all locations, On media card or iPod, in Documents, in the Trash or on In a specific location (to be indicated through the appropriate text field), click again on Next and then press Start, to start the search.
Then wait for the search procedure to be completed and, in the list that will later be shown to you, put the check mark next to the name of the file you intend to recover. Then click on the Recover, select the folder where you want to save the file and click OK, twice in a row to confirm the operation.
The files that can be recovered without problems are those with the green dot next to them. Those with the yellow sticker are recoverable but certainly damaged while those marked with the red dot unfortunately are corrupt and can no longer be restored.
If you cannot find the files you needed, try to start Recuva again and perform all the steps already seen to try to recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin, but taking care, this time, to put a check mark on the box located next to the item Activate deep scan that is visible immediately after indicating the type of documents to search: This is a special feature that, as the name suggests, performs a deeper scan of the route or drive of your interest. Keep in mind, however, that since this is a more “thorough” scanning process, it may take over an hour to complete in the case of exceptionally large drives.
Recover Deleted Files from macOS Recycle Bin
Using a Mac? In that case, you can rely on your hopes of recovering deleted files from the Recycle Bin to the applications listed below.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is also available for macOS. To download it, connected to the official website of the program click on the item for the Mac version of the software.
When the download is complete, open the .dmg package, drag the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard icon to the Applications folder of your Mac and launch the software, responding Open to the warning that appears on the screen.
Once this is done, enter the Mac administrator password in the appropriate text field, press Enter, select the drive from which to recover data and click on the Scan button (top right), to start searching for deleted files.
At the first run, you will need to authorize EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard in System Preferences, responding OK to the on-screen warning, pressing the lock icon located at the bottom left and then the Allow key, at the bottom right.
When the scan is complete, to recover the files of your interest, check the boxes related to them and click on the Recover Now button, at the top right.
Disk Drill
If you use a Mac and want to recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin, you can try Disk Drill, the macOS version of the data recovery program I told you about earlier in the Windows section of the guide. Disk Drill for Mac is paid (with prices starting from 94 euros) but is available in a free trial version that allows you to evaluate its effectiveness (i.e. to find out which files would be able to extract and preview them).
As on Windows, also on macOS Disk Drill is confirmed as a complete solution capable of recovering data of all kinds (documents, photos, videos, etc.) from any storage device. To download it to your computer, check the previous link and find Download free version button. Then wait for the download of the installation package of the program to be completed, then open the disk drill file.dmg which contains the software and, acting from the window that is shown on the desktop, drag the Disk Drill icon to the macOS Applications folder.
At this point, launch Disk Drill, accept the terms of use of the software, read the initial presentation and choose whether to activate the Recovery Vault data protection feature and / or share anonymous usage data with the developers. After that, click on the Get Started button, type your Mac password, and unlock the software in System Preferences by following the on-screen instructions (this is a matter of clicking on the lock at the bottom left, typing the Mac password and ticking the two boxes related to Disk Drill).
Now, to start the search for files to restore, open Disk Drill, select drive and partition from which you intend to recover data to be deleted (in this specific case, the internal disk of your Mac) and use the drop-down menu located on the right to indicate the recovery method to use: All recovery methods (which I recommend), Local MT Snapshot, Fast Analysis or Allocate Existing File System Data; then hit on the Scan for Lost Data button.
As the scan goes on, through the icons you see on the screen, you will be told the number of images, videos, audios, documents, archives, and other files found by Disk Drill. Without the need to stop scanning (which you can stop at any time, using the appropriate button at the top left), you can access the list of files found by the program by selecting one of the icons.
In the window that opens, use the icons at the top right to set how the results are displayed and filter them (e.g. based on size and date of last modification) and browse the various available paths to find the files of your interest.
Once you have found a file to recover, select it, click on its eye icon to see a preview, and check the box corresponding to it.
Finally, to start exporting one or more selected files (feasible only if the scan is not yet in progress), press the Recover button (bottom right), indicate the destination path, and press the OK button. Is it easier than that?!
Note that, in case of need, Disk Drill automatically saves previous scans and allows you to resume them quickly, selecting them from the left sidebar in its main window (under the heading Recent sessions).
Tenorshare UltData
Tenorshare UltData, the data recovery software I told you about earlier in the chapter dedicated to Windows, is also available for macOS. It has the same features and the same interface, with the difference that it costs 59.95 euros / year in full version and requires a small preliminary procedure.
To be able to use it on macOS 10.13 High Sierra and later, in fact, you must first disable a security feature called SIP. Then start the operating system in recovery mode (holding down cmd + r during boot) and disable the SIP protection system, calling the Terminal from the Utility menu (above) and issuing the command csrutil disable. When your Mac restarts, you can proceed to download Tenorshare UltData.
Then connect to the program’s website and click on the Free Download button; After that open the .dmg package you downloaded and drag the Tenorshare UltData icon to the Applications folder of your computer.
Now, open the software, type the Mac administration password, check the box for the drive or location to look for the data to be deleted (Trash for the Trash) and press the Scan button, to start scanning.
For the rest, just function as explained above for Windows systems: check the boxes related to the data to be recovered, press the recovery button, and choose a destination folder. Easier to do than to say!
Note: After using Tenorshare UltData, I recommend you re-enable the SIP, restarting your Mac in recovery mode and giving the csrutil enable command in Terminal.