How Do You Recover Deleted Items from The Recycle Bin?

How do you recover deleted items from the Recycle Bin on your Windows PC? In this post, we’ll show you several solutions to undo your deletion in Recycle Bin.

Posted by @Lucas December 17, 2024 Updated By @Lucas November 25, 2024

Scenario: Where do permanently deleted files go after Recycle Bin on Windows?

“I recently emptied my Recycle Bin in Windows 11, but I now realize I need to restore some crucial files that were permanently gone. I am aware that these files are not immediately erased from the hard drive and may be recoverable. On Windows 11, where do permanently deleted files go after they are removed from the Recycle Bin?

Can someone provide the best ways or tools for recovering permanently deleted files on Windows 11? Are there any recommended software applications or procedures I should take to increase my chances of getting my data back? I'd appreciate any help or suggestions!”

Can you recover items deleted from the Recycle Bin?

Usually, the Recycle Bin on your computer will retain all deleted files and folders for a specified duration. You have the option to locate the item and retrieve removed folders and files by accessing the Recycle Bin at this time.

However, it is common as the scenario shows that users may happen to clean the Recycle Bin unwittingly. The data can be recovered if it is not overwritten by newly written data, even it is not visible or accessible. Therefore, you must cease using your computer immediately until you have successfully recovered the desktop files or the files in the Recycle Bin.

How do you recover deleted items from the Recycle Bin on Windows computer?

In this part, we’ll show you some methods to recover deleted files in Recycle Bin, you can choose one for your situation.

Way 1. Recycle Bin recovery with the previous version

After you empty the Recycle Bin regularly, you can still recover previous versions of files and folders. It is important to enable system restoration and make system restore points available. This method may also help recover lost Word files.

Step 1. Start File Explorer/This PC. Locate the folder which is used to save the deleted file.

Step 2. Right-click it, and then select Properties > Previous Version.

Step 3. Select the folder version which is exactly the one before you delete it, and click Restore to restore deleted files to the previous version.

Way 2. Restore Files from Windows Backup and Restore

Backup and Restore is a built-in Windows backup software that lets you save and restore data. It first appeared in Windows 7 and was later renamed Backup and Restore in Windows 8, 10, and 11.

Step 1. Navigate to Control Panel > System and Security and select Backup and Restore (Windows 7). Then, click Restore my files.

Step 2. In the Restore Files box, you may search for and restore files and folders.

◤ Search: enter a portion of the filename and pick the deleted files to recover. ◤ Browse for files: Go to the folder containing deleted files from the Recycle Bin and select it. Next, choose Add Files. ◤ Browse for folders: choose the full folder containing deleted files.

Step 3. Select a location to restore deleted files from Recycle Bin. You can choose the original location or browse to a new location. Then, click Start Restore.

Way 3. Restore deleted files from Recycle Bin with OneDrive

Some users may backup files in OneDrive, so after you empty Recycle Bin, you can check your OneDrive to retrieve your lost files.

Step 1. Go to https://onedrive.com/ and log in with your Microsoft OneDrive account.

Step 2. Navigate to the folder containing deleted files. Select the file you want to restore and click the Download button to retrieve deleted file from Recycle Bin.

Way 4. Recover deleted items from Recycle Bin after empty using Command Prompt

If you’re familiar with CMD commands, you can try CMD to find lost files.

Step 1. Type cmd in the search box and select it with administrator priority.

Step 2. Type chkdsk /f C: and press Enter. It will automatically scan disk errors and fix the error it found.

Note: C: is the drive letter for drive containing deleted files in Recycle Bin. Please replace it with your own.

Step 3. Type ATTRIB -H -R -S /S /D C:*.* and press Enter to display hidden folders with deleted files.

Way 5. Recover deleted files from Recycle Bin via professional data recovery tool

As we’ve mentioned when you accidentally empty your Recycle Bin, the data can be recovered if it is not overwritten by newly written data, so the fastest fix is to stop all operations and find recovery software to retrieve files.

Here, we highly recommend you try AOMEI FastRecovery, to employ the “Recover Data” feature to recover the lost files. This handy tool supports all Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7 and Windows Server systems.

  • Simple to use: AOMEI FastRecovery is an intuitive and polished user interface that streamlines the entire data recovery process with a single click of the Recover button.
  • Powerful recovery: It supports over 2000 file formats and can recover them from any storage device or file system, including Excel, Word, images, videos, audio, emails, and so on.
  • Support for wild devices: Recover deleted or missing files from internal disks (HDD or SSD), external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, and other storage media.
  • Original name and path recovery: This utility uses complex algorithms that examine file system metadata and other information to restore files with their original names and directory structures.
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Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI FastRecovery. Choose the exact partition or disk where your data lost and click Scan.

Step 2. Then, the recovery tool start to scan and search. lt will execute the “Quickly Scan" first for finding your deleted data fast, and then execute the “Deep Scan" for searching other lost data.

Step 3. Once the scan is completed, all deleted files, recycle bins and other missing files will be displayed. Please select the file you would like to recover and then click "Recover".

Step 4. Then, select a folder path to save your recovered files.

Step 5. Wait patiently for this process of recovering ends.

To sum up

How do you recover deleted items from the Recycle Bin? Now, you have many options to solve this problem. Besides system built-in tools, you can try AOMEI FastRecovery to safely and fast retrieve removed files.