How To Recover Permanently Deleted Files on Windows? | Windows 11, Windows 10

In Windows, you can recover permanently deleted files in more than one way. This article will list out all the methods in detail. Select the options that best suit your needs.

Written by John Harris / Approved by Praneeth / Updated on August 08, 2025

Most users can recover their files when they act quickly. To get back deleted files, you need the most effective methods available. We’ve covered a few of them in this list.

As Remo Software has been dealing with all sorts of data recovery situations on a day-to-day basis for over a decade, we can help you get back deleted files and emptied Recycle Bin. However, to restore permanently deleted files on Windows, you will have to:

  1. Avoid further use of the deleted drive.
  2. Do not save any new data on the partition or the drive until you safely recover the older data.
  3. Act as quickly as possible to increase your chances.
  4. If you have an up-to-date backup of the deleted files, I highly recommend you use it. Click here to learn how to restore backup copies of permanently deleted files.

Also Read: How to Recover Shift + Deleted files?

How To Recover Permanently Deleted Files From Windows System?

Method 1: File History

  1. If you’ve set up File History, you may be able to restore previous versions.
  2. Right-click the folder where the deleted file was located.
  3. Click “Restore previous versions.”
  4. Select the version with your file and click Restore.

Also Read: how to recover files lost during cut and paste.

Method 2: The Cloud (Google Drive or OneDrive)

If your files were synced or saved as a backup on cloud drives, then recover files from there:

Sign in to your OneDrive account with your Microsoft ID and Password.

A list of all files that were saved will appear on your screen from the list select the file(s) you want to restore. Once done click on the Download button located on the toolbar.

Google Drive:

  1. Sign in to your Google Drive using your Google Account.
  2. A complete catalog of all files and folders saved on the Drive will be displayed.
  3. Select the copies of original files you want to restore.
  4. Click on the More actions option, then click on Download.
  5. The selected files will be downloaded to your system (usually in the Downloads folder).
  6. Unzip the files and choose a location to save them.

Method 3: File Recovery Software

1. Windows File Recovery

The Microsoft Windows File Recovery tool helps users recover deleted files or folders for free using command-line.

  1. Download, install, and launch the tool.
  2. Use this command to start recovery: 
    winfr destination-drive: source-drive: [/mode] [/switches]
  3. Select a recovery mode:
    • Regular Mode – for basic data loss situations
    • Extensive Mode – for complex data loss scenarios
  4. Mention the file types and location: 
    Winfr E: D: /regular /n .ppt /n .pdf
    Winfr E: D: /extensive /n \Users\\foldername\.ppt /n \Users\\foldername\.pdf
  5. Press the Y key to initiate recovery.
  6. Wait until the process completes and press Ctrl + C to exit.
  7. Recovered files will be saved in the destination drive.

2. Remo Recover

When other recovery tools fail, use Remo Recover — a deep scanning tool that supports recovery after Shift+Delete or format.

  • Supports 500+ file formats
  • Works on internal/external drives, USBs, SD cards, and more
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Remo is not only compatible with all versions of Windows OS, Remo can also recover permanently deleted files from Windows Server.

How To Use Remo to Recover Permanently Deleted Files From Windows?

Here’s a simple 7-step process to perform Permanently Deleted File Recovery using Remo.

Step 1: Download the Remo File Recovery software on your Windows system.

Step 2: Launch the tool and select the drive from where you want to bring back permanently deleted files or folders, click on the Scan button to initiate the drive scanning process.

select the location from where you want to recover permanently deleted files

Step 3: While the scan is in progress. Use the Dynamic Recovery View option to look at the recovered files and save them without having to wait till the completion of the entire scanning process.

click on the dynamic recovery view option to look at the recovered files that were permanently deleted

Step 4: Upon successful completion of the scan. Remo will display a list of files that the tool has recovered.

Step 5: Use of the Advanced Filter option to easily filter and find files that are important.

use the advanced filter option to sort, filter and find the permanently deleted files

Step 6: Preview the recovered files by double clicking on them.

double click on any of the recovered files to preview them

Step 7: When you are completely satisfied with the data recovery process. Select the files that you want to get back. Click on the Recover button and select a location where you would like to save the recovered files.

select a location to save the recover files which were permanently deleted from windows

That’s it. You have now successfully recovered all of your files that were permanently deleted.

completion of the file restoration process on windows

In addition to recovering more than 500 types of files, Remo can also recover User Folder, and also restore deleted files and folders from the C Drive.

Now that you have safely recovered your files if you are curious to find out how other Windows users delete or lose their data permanently, go through this section.

Conclusion:

This brings us to the end of our discussion. We hope you found this article helpful. If you've emptied the Recycle Bin or don't have a backup of your deleted files, it's important to make an informed decision to recover them. Built-in Windows tools such as Previous Versions, File History, and the Microsoft Windows File Recovery tool, along with trusted solutions like Remo Recover are among the few tried-and-tested methods that can help restore permanently deleted files.

Frequently Asked Questions

The files you deleted permanently are no longer readily available in your Windows system. However, those files still reside in the internal drive of your system. It’s just that the operating system marks the space as empty and ready to be used.

Fortunately, the answer is no. But the catch is the deleted files are no longer available in your system and are not visible to the human eye. But they do reside on the internal hard drive of your Windows system. This is where specialized tools like Remo Recover come to your assistance.

In almost all cases, the answer is almost definitely “Yes” as long as you have not saved any new files in the same space where the deleted files were originally residing.

Free methods to recover permanently deleted files include: restoring and using backup copies of original files and using free data recovery tools by Microsoft such as Previous versions, File History, and Windows File Recovery tool.
But those solutions also come with many drawbacks, which sometimes makes the permanently deleted file recovery process a bit demanding and sometimes impossible.
You can refer to our article to discover all the possible ways to recover files from Windows.

The answer is NO. When you delete any file or folder from your Windows system, it ends up in the Recycle Bin folder till the end of time. But if you have permanently deleted those files, they are gone forever. The only way to bring them back is by using a professional data recovery tool like Remo.

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