How to Recover A Deleted File from A Shared Drive

A brief overview of shared drive

>> What is a Shared Drive?

A shared drive is a centralized storage space that allows multiple users to access, manage, and collaborate on files. Shared drives are widely used in workplaces, educational institutions, and collaborative projects to streamline teamwork and data sharing. Examples of shared drives include network-based storage solutions and cloud services like Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox.

>> How Does a Shared Drive Work?

Users can conveniently access resources from a single location by centralizing file storage, which is the mechanism by which shared drives operate. As a centralized storage, all authorized users have access to a shared space where files are stored. Permissions are assigned to regulate user actions, including the viewing, modifying, and management of files. These controls guarantee that sensitive data is adequately managed.

The most recent version is displayed to all users, as any modifications to files are updated in real-time on cloud-based drives. Also, shared devices frequently incorporate built-in backups or version history features to safeguard data from accidental deletions or modifications.

Why do users need to recover files from a shared drive?

Generally, shared drives do not delete files automatically unless specific configurations or policies are set. Drives may be programmed to remove files older than a certain period or inactive for a long time. Besides automatically clean, some other spots may require you to recover lost data from shared drive:

• Accidental Deletion: Files might be deleted unintentionally by users with edit or management permissions.
• Version Rollback: Users may need to revert to an earlier version of a file to undo changes or errors.
• Access Revoked: If a user's access to a shared drive is removed, they might need to recover their work.
• Technical Issues: Network errors can lead to temporary or permanent file loss.

😢 Case 1: Accidentally deleted file from shared windows drive, need help!
A few days ago, I accidently deleted a critical work file from a shared Windows drive that all employees are required to complete. In a hurry, I attempted to retrieve it, but it was nowhere to be seen and was not in the Recycle Bin. It was a complete accident. Is this possible to recover it? Will others be able to see that my user (my name) has erased it?”
😩 Case 2: How to recover a deleted file from a shared onedrive that is not appearing in my recycle bin
I moved an excel file from one folder to another, but it did not disappear from its original place, so I destroyed it. This resulted in the file being deleted completely, including from the new location I had moved it to. I need to recover this file, but it's not in the recycle bin.

Step-by-step guide: how to recover a deleted file from a shared drive (Windows, Google, OneDrive solutions)

After we’ve known enough about shared drive, let’s see how to recover deleted files from Windows, Google, and OneDrive shared drives.

1. How to recover a shared drive and its files on Google

If a shared drive was deleted within the last 25 days and has to be restored, you can do it through the admin console. You can also utilize the Admin console to recover deleted files from a shared disk.

Before you start, if you restore multiple files or folders at once, it may take some time to restore all of them. And if you begin a restore while another is in progress, one of them is canceled.

Step 1. Sign in to your Google Admin console. (In any web browser, go to admin.google.com)

Step 2. In the Admin console, go to Menu > Apps > Google Workspace > Drive > Docs.

Step 3. Click Manage shared drives. You can click Add a filter, and from Status, select Deleted.

Step 4. Point to a shared drive and click the Restore button.

Step 5. Select a date range for data restoration. If you want to recover all of the files that were on the shared drive when it was removed, you must pick the date it was deleted up to the present.

Step 6. Once you find the target files, click Restore Data.

Notes:
1. If you and the user who deleted the shared drive are in different time zones, we recommend that you consider the time zone difference when you select a date range. For example, you can include an extra day on either side of your date range to make sure you don't miss any data you want to restore.
2. You can only restore items that were removed from the shared drive's trash within the last 25 days.

2. Restore removed files from OneDrive shared drive

Recovering deleted files in a shared OneDrive folder may differ from recovering files in a user's private OneDrive. But we’ll start from Recycle Bin.

# 1. Check receivers’ OneDrive Recycle Bin

If you are a file receiver, you can check your OneDrive recycle bin as the first step.

Step 1. Go to the OneDrive website, and sign in with either your Microsoft account or your work or school account. In the navigation pane, select Recycle bin.

Step 2. Select the files or folders you want to restore by pointing to each item and clicking the circle check box that appears, and then click Restore.

#2. Check Site Collection Recycle Bin (Need Admin account)

If you are an admin, you can check the Site Collection Recycle Bin for the OneDrive site associated with file send account. Follow these steps:

Step 1. Go to the SharePoint admin center.

Step 2. Under “Active sites,” find the OneDrive site associated with UserA.

Step 3. Click on the site, and then click “Recycle Bin” in the left navigation.

Step 4. Look for the deleted files and restore them.

#3. Use OneDrive PowerShell (Need Admin account)

Step 1.Install and connect to the SharePoint Online Management Shell.

Step 2. Use the Get-SPODeletedSite and Restore-SPODeletedSite cmdlets to check and restore deleted sites.

Step 3. The deleted files might be in the RecycleBin folder.

Please note that PowerShell commands should be used with caution, and it’s recommended to test them in a controlled environment before applying them to production data.

3. Recover files and folders in shared drives

For users want to recover last version or history versions on Windows local drive, you can try the following solution.

Step 1. Right click on the file and select Restore previous versions.

Step 2. Select a version from the date that you want to restore, Tip: You can select the different files and hit Open to see if it’s the correct version.

Further reading: How to recover deleted file from Windows local drive

For cloud or online drive, you may recover deleted files from online recycle bin or find deleted files due to saving period. However, if you find some deleted files on your Windows local drives aren’t in Recycle Bin, how can you trace them back?

The most reliable option is a professional data recovery tool. These programs provide the simplest and least complex way to recover data from an empty recycling bin. This method is also the fastest and has no precondition. If you don’t know how to choose one, we suggest you try AOMEI FastRecovery. Users of Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11 and Windows Servers can quickly recover data from hard disks, solid state drives, external hard drives, USB drives, SD cards, and other storage devices.

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 want to recover and click "Recover".

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

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

Conclusion

How to recover a deleted file from a shared drive? In this post, we've shown how to perform file recovery from Google, OneDrive and Windows drive, also the details of how to recover lost files from local drive in Windows computer. Now, you can follow our guide to fin your lost files.