How to Find Deleted Files

When you delete a file by selecting the delete option from the right-click menu, the file goes into the recycle bin from where you can easily restore it. But when you shift+delete a file, it disappears from your computer and you can't see it anywhere. Although this situation is not very different from the recycle bin situation, because you can recover this file also. That is because, when you delete a file, your operating system does not erase it from the hard drive, it merely deletes the link pointing toward the file location on the drive. Therefore, finding and recovering erased files is possible and mostly easy. In the following paragraphs, I have given some simple ways in which you can find and recover files on your Mac or PC, with or without using a software.

Finding Deleted Files on a Mac

If you have just deleted a file on your MackBook, using the 'delete' option, your file has gone to the TrashCan which you can see on the desktop. Now go to the TrashCan and find the file you want to restore and select it with a single click. Now drag the selection to any of the locations on your computer shown in the left panel of the Trash window. Or you can just drag it to the desktop and you will be able to recover the deleted file and restore lost data easily.

Another way of finding a deleted file on your Mac is to use 'Time Machine' application. All Apple computers purchased after November 2007 will, by default, come with the latest Mac OS, which is Leopard. And 'Time Machine' comes with Leopard, which is a program that can help you restore your files without difficulty. All you have to do is open the application and travel back to the point where you want to access your file and select 'Restore'. It will automatically be placed in its original folder prior to being removed or deleted.

Finding Deleted Files on Windows

In MS Windows too you can easily recover your files if they are not deleted using shift+delete. Just go to the 'Recycle bin' and find the files that you want to restore. Select the file or folder and right click on it. On this menu, click on 'restore' and your file will be back in no time. Then go to the location where the file or folder was placed prior to its deletion and you will see that it's back!

There are many simple, light and free utilities and data recovery software available for recovering deleted files. Two such utilities are Uneraser and File Recover. You'll also find very good unerase utilities in Ontrack SystemSuite and in Norton Utilities, which is available separately or as a part of Norton SystemWorks. Once you have the free software, install and launch it. They are all very easy to use and mostly you just have to click on 'recover deleted files'. It will show you all the recently erased files and you can choose to undelete the ones you want back.

Finding Deleted Internet Files

When you use the Internet, some temporary Internet files are created on your computer. These files are logs of your Internet activity. These files can also be restored if they have got deleted due to some reason. Software applications such as 'Easy FAT File Undelete', 'Snap Files Restoration', 'Smart undelete', etc., can be used for recovering any of the temporary Internet files that you may have deleted.

Finding Deleted Files Without Software

This actually depends on your operating system. If you are using any of the latest operating systems, that is, Windows XP or above, you cannot undelete files without any software. If you are using any earlier versions, you will have to use the command prompt and run undelete. But why go into all that mess when you have so many free software available for easy data recovery? It's simpler and faster that way.

I hope you have got all the information that you wanted on how to locate your removed files on various computer operating systems. Although, you should remember that if you have deleted a file long back, the chances of it getting restored are quite slim. Because, when you shift+delete a file, your OS will delete the reference to that file and it will make the space that was occupied by that file available for overwriting new data. So that file will be available for restoration only till its space gets overwritten by new data.