Can deleted files be recovered?

On a hard drive, usually. Deleting removes the index entry and marks the space reusable while leaving the contents intact, so they survive until something overwrites them. On an SSD, often not — TRIM physically erases those blocks within minutes.

On a spinning disk, potentially weeks or months if little else is written. On an SSD, minutes. Either way the most useful thing you can do is shut the machine down, because a running computer writes constantly without being asked.

What should I check before using recovery software?

The Recycle Bin, Previous Versions or Time Machine, your cloud service’s deleted-items area through its web interface rather than the sync client, and anywhere the file has been — email attachments, Sent folders, colleagues. Those are free and resolve a good share of cases.

Why does installing recovery software cause problems?

Because the installer writes to the drive, potentially into the exact free space holding the files you want back. Install it to a different physical drive, and recover to a third location — never back onto the source.

I deleted files from an SSD an hour ago. Any chance?

Only if it was shut down almost immediately. TRIM erases the blocks in the background while the drive has power, so a machine switched off promptly may retain what the drive had not yet reached. Left running, generally not.

When do I actually need a professional?

When the drive is failing as well, when the file system is damaged rather than just missing an entry, when part of the data has been overwritten, or when the result may be scrutinised later. On healthy hardware with a recent deletion, software is often the honest answer.

Deleted files · recovery

Deleting a file barely touches it.

The entry describing where it lives is removed and the space marked reusable — the contents stay exactly where they were. That is why recovery works, and why a computer left running is quietly writing over them while you decide what to do.

Deleted file recovery →01223 655015

Stop writing, first

SSDs behave differently

From £300 +VAT

// the short version

The clock started when you deleted it.

Not when you noticed. Every save, update, cache write and search index pass is a candidate to land on the space that file occupied — and a running machine does all of that without being asked.

Marked

Not erased

Overwrite

The only real enemy

48 hr

Free diagnostic

£300

From, +VAT

×Do not install recovery software onto the same drive you are recovering from. The installer writes to that drive, and it may write precisely where your files were. If the deletion happened on your system drive, shut the machine down and recover the disk from another computer.

// deleting removes the pointer

not the data. Usually.

On a mechanical hard drive, deleting a file removes its directory entry and marks the space as available. The data stays exactly where it was until something else is written over it, which on a drive with free space can be months. That gap is the whole basis of deleted file recovery.

On an SSD it works differently and usually worse. TRIM tells the controller those blocks are free and the controller erases them, frequently within minutes. An erased NAND block is not recoverable by any tool or laboratory.

So the first question is what the file was on, and the second is what has happened since.

// what to do now

Four things, in this order.

Stop writing to the drive. Not stop deleting — stop writing anything. Browsing, saving, installing and background updates all consume free space, and free space is where your file is.

Check the obvious places. Recycle Bin, Previous Versions on the folder, OneDrive or Google Drive version history, Time Machine. A meaningful share of enquiries end here for nothing.

If you try software, install it elsewhere. Installing a recovery tool to the same drive writes over exactly the space holding your file. Use a USB stick or another machine.

If the drive is also noisy, do not run software at all. Scanning keeps a failing drive seeking for hours. Deleted files on a healthy drive can wait; a failing drive cannot.

// questions

Answered.

Not fatal on a mechanical drive. The pointer went and the data stayed. Stop using the drive and the odds are good.

Depends entirely on how much has been written since. Light use on a drive with plenty of free space often leaves the file intact.

Usually not, and we will say so before taking money. TRIM erases the blocks. If the machine was powered down immediately there is a chance.

From £250 +VAT for cards and USB, £300 +VAT for drives. Logical work is the cheapest class we handle.