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Summary: In this blog, we’ve provided some free methods that will help you recover lost or deleted data from Windows 11. These methods work under different data loss scenarios, such as accidental deletion, drive formatting, corruption, etc. You can use a free data recovery software that can help you recover data lost due to any logical data loss scenario.
Many users with eligible systems have already installed Windows 11, since its public release on October 5, 2021. If you’re one of the users and have mistakenly deleted or lost data from Windows 11 system, there is no need to concern as you can easily recover the lost or deleted data. In this post, we’ve covered some DIY methods to recover lost data from Windows 11 system. But before that, let’s see the reasons for data loss.
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You may lose files, folders, and other data from your system due to various reasons, such as:
Here, we’ve covered the best DIY methods that will help you recover deleted or lost files in different data loss scenarios. These methods include:
If you’ve deleted the files from your Windows system using only the ‘Delete’ key, you can check the Recycle Bin folder for deleted files. To restore deleted data from Recycle Bin, follow the given steps:
Windows built-in File History feature creates and keeps a copy of your system data. If you’ve kept it turned on since setting up Windows 11, you can easily restore the data deleted using Shift+ Del keys, drive formatting, or corruption. To recover data using File History, follow the given steps:
It is another Windows built-in utility that, if enabled, keeps a backup of your data. You can recover permanently deleted files easily with the following steps:
The previous version is the copy of system files and folders that Windows automatically saves as a restore point. To recover files using the Previous Version, follow the given steps:
Sometimes, your hard drive may get infected with virus or malware, due to which your data stored on the drive may become hidden. You can run the ATTRIB command in the Command Prompt to perform data recovery. To do so,
Here,
–r represents read-only attribute: Files are only readable
–s allocates ‘System’ attribute to the chosen files
–h assigns the ‘Hidden’ attribute to the chosen files
‘/S’ implies to ‘Search’ attribute to the specified path
‘/D’ contains process folders
X: represents the selected hard drive
Once the process is completed, a new folder on your selected hard drive will be created with all the recovered data. The files will probably be in CHK format. Change the file format to make them accessible and save them at the preferred location.
If you can’t restore your files from backup, you can use Microsoft’s Windows File Recovery tool. It is a command-line tool that can recover files in case of accidental deletion, formatting, and corruption. The software is available with three modes of operations, including Default, Segment, and Signature.
Default mode only supports the recovery of recently deleted files from NTFS hard drives. You need to use Segment mode to recover data lost due to accidental deletion, formatting, and corruption from NTFS hard drives. However, the Signature Mode allows data recovery from FAT, exFAT, and ReFS hard drives.
There are a few limitations of using this software:
For hassle-free data recovery in all data loss scenarios, such as deletion, drive formatting, corruption, malware attack, etc., you can use a powerful data recovery software, such as Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition. It is a free data recovery software with powerful scanning and file recovery features. It restores all kinds of data, including documents, emails, PDF files, images, videos and audio files, and more, absolutely free of cost. You can even retrieve data from BitLocker-encrypted drives. You can recover lost data in just a few simple steps.
Note: You can recover up to 1 GB of data for free by using Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition.
You may lose data at any moment. Certainly, the above-discussed methods may help you retrieve lost or deleted data. However, it’s always said “Precaution is better than cure”. Thus, sharing some preventive measures for avoiding data loss in future.
Data loss is a serious problem that may occur due to multiple reasons. But, whether you’ve deleted the data accidentally or it got lost due to hard drive corruption or formatting, you can get it back. Try out the free DIY methods given in this blog to recover lost or deleted data.
If you’ve just deleted your files using the ‘Del’ key, Recycle Bin is the first place to check and retrieve your files. However, if the files are deleted permanently (using Shift+Del key or emptying Recycle Bin) or lost due to other reasons, you can use Backup features in Windows or data recovery software, such as Windows File Recovery and Stellar Data Recovery Free edition to recover the data. However, Windows File Recovery is a bit complicated tool for a normal user. Hence, we’d suggest you go with Stellar Data Recovery. It’s a DIY software that can recover data in all common data loss scenarios.
Mansi Verma is a Technology Writer at Stellar®. She is a Tech enthusiast, holding over 7 years of experience in Data Recovery, IoT, Artificial Intelligence, and the Robotics technology domain. She loves researching and providing DIY solutions and tips & tricks to solve Windows technical issues. In her spare time, she likes reading novels, and poetry. She also enjoys traveling and trekking.
I tried out these DIY methods mentioned in the article to recover lost and deleted files and it work out. Thanks for sharing informative article