If you are a long-time Windows or Mac system user, who also deals with big chunks of data, then I am sure you know what Zip files are.
ZIP is a widely used file format for compressing and archiving files, making storage and transfers easier.
However, ZIP files can be lost or deleted due to accidental deletion, transfer errors, or hard drive corruption/damage.
This article covers common causes of ZIP file loss and explains methods to recover deleted ZIP files on Windows and Mac for free.
Table of Contents:
Why Do You Lose ZIP Files from Windows or Mac Systems?
The reason(s) why you or other users might lose ZIP files are as follows:
- Accidentally deleting the ZIP files using the Shift + Delete keys or emptying the Bin folder.
- The partition or the drive where you have saved your ZIP files might get corrupted.
- You might have formatted the drive where you have saved ZIP files without taking a proper backup.
- You might have also lost files during a sudden system shutdown due to an unexpected power failure.
- You might also lose your ZIP files during incomplete Cut and Paste or during the file transfer process.
Now that you know why you might have deleted or lost your ZIP files from your Windows or Mac system. You might be wondering whether the ZIP file recovery process is possible. Let’s explore the answer in the next section.
Can You Recover Lost ZIP Files?
Fortunately, you can recover lost and permanently deleted zip files from any version of Windows and Mac.
- Recycle Bin
- Backup and Restore option,
- Previous Versions, Microsoft Windows File Recovery tool
- Remo File Recovery offers some ways to help you recover a deleted ZIP file.
How to Recover Deleted or Lost ZIP files on Windows?
This section talks about various solutions that can help you retrieve ZIP files from any Windows. Solutions include Recycle Bin, Backups, and Remo File Recovery tool, a specialized ZIP file recovery software.
Method 1: Recover Deleted ZIP Files from Recycle Bin
Whenever you delete any file from your Windows system, it is moved to the Recycle Bin.
Keep in mind that permanently deleted files, including ZIP files that were formatted, lost due to virus or malware infections, or lost during transfer, cannot be recovered from the Bin folder.
Steps to Recover Deleted ZIP Files from Recycle Bin
- Open Recycle Bin on your computer.
- Locate the deleted ZIP files or folders you want to recover.
- Right-click on the selected ZIP files and choose the Restore option
- You can find the deleted .zip files in the exact location where they were initially stored.
Keep reading the solutions mentioned below to restore deleted zip files from Windows.
Method 2: Restore Deleted ZIP Files Using the File History Option (Windows 10 & 11)
Check whether File History is enabled on your computer. If it is enabled, you can restore previous versions of your deleted ZIP files. This is an effective manual method for Windows 10 and 11 users.
Steps to Restore ZIP Files via File History option:
- Click the Start button or use the Search bar and type “Restore your files with File History”.
- Click to open the “Restore your files with File History” window in Control Panel.
- At the top of the window, check the status:
- If the status shows “File History is on”, the feature is enabled and you can proceed to Step 4.
- If the status shows “No file history was found” and “File History is currently turned off”, File History is not enabled and previous versions will not be available. Recommend you to jump to Method 3 mentioned below
- Navigate to the folder where your deleted ZIP file was originally stored.
- Use the arrow buttons at the bottom to browse through available versions until you find the ZIP file you want to recover.
- Select the ZIP file and click the green Restore button (circular arrow icon) to restore it to its original location.
If you don’t have a backup, you can try the following method, which talks about a specialized zip file recovery tool that is guaranteed to recover files from the Windows system.
Method 3: Recover Deleted ZIP using in-built Windows File Recovery
For Windows 10 and 11 users, there is an option of recovering ZIP files using Windows in-built file recovery utility called Windows File Recovery. To do so follow the steps.
Step 1: Click Windows + R. Type cmd and press enter.
Step 2: Enter the command with the syntax :
winfr source-drive: destination-folder: /mode /n*.zip
where the source drive is where your deleted zip file was originally saved, the destination folder is where you want to save the file after recovery and modes can be extensive or regular depending on when the file was deleted so you would require regular for a quick scan and extensive for a deep scan.
Step 3: It will scan for all the deleted .zip files in the drive selected. Files found can be restored
Method 4: Recover Deleted ZIP Files using Remo Recover Windows
Deleting or losing a ZIP folder means losing the complete files compressed in it. Use Remo File Recovery Software, a user-friendly software, to safely get back ZIP files lost under various data loss scenarios. This tool is compatible with all Windows systems, including Windows 11, Windows 10, and other older Windows versions.
Download demo version of this ZIP file recovery software for free now
Recover ZIP files and other compressed file formats, such as RAR, TAR, 7ZIP, etc.
Also Read: How to Repair Corrupted 7Zip Files?
Steps to Recover ZIP Files from Windows Using Remo File Recovery Tool
- Install the Remo Recover software on your Windows system to start the recovery process.
- Launch the tool and select the drive or the location from which you deleted or lost the ZIP folder, and click on the Scan button to start the zip file recovery process.
- Click on the Dynamic Recovery View option to view the scanning process.
- Use the Advanced Filter option to filter the .zip files. You can also use the Search bar to find the recovered zip files from the Windows system.
- Once the tool has recovered all zip files from the selected location, you can double-click on any file to preview it.
- Select the recovered .zip files and click the Recover button. You are now asked to select a location where you want to save the recovered zip files from the Windows system.
Remo Can also help you recover deleted files from the Downloads folder as well as help you recover deleted files from C Drive.
If you are a Mac user, you can try the following solutions that are proven to recover ZIP files from Mac.
How To Recover Deleted or Lost ZIP Files From Mac?
You can recover deleted or lost ZIP files from the Mac system using the Trash Bin, Time Machine Backups or Remo Mac File Recovery:
Method 1: Restore Deleted ZIP Archives from the Mac Trash Bin
Mac Trash Bin is the equivalent of Windows Recycle Bin for Mac. So any file or folder that you delete from your Macbook or iMac ends up in the Trash Bin of your Mac system.
Steps to Recover Deleted ZIP Files from Mac Trash
- Open Trash Bin on your Mac system.
- Locate the deleted ZIP files or folders you want to recover.
- Right-click on the selected ZIP files and click on the Put Back option.
- You can find the deleted .zip files in the exact location where they were initially stored.
Follow this article in case you want to recover files deleted from Mac Trash.
Method 2: Restore Lost ZIP files Using Mac Time Machine Backup
Time Machine backup is designed to help Mac users take incremental backups of files, applications, system settings, etc.
If you have saved a backup of the missing ZIP files on any external hard drive. Then you can follow the below steps to restore the backup .zip files.
Steps to Restore Backup ZIP files using Time Machine Backups
- Step 1: Connect the Time Machine backup drive to your Mac system.
- Step 2: Open Time Machine; you can do it by clicking on the Time Machine icon. Open the Finder windows and choose the location where you want to restore the .zip files, and press Command + Shift + T keys.
- Step 3: In the Time Machine, you will find a list of all backups. Use the arrow keys to browse the timeline to find the particular backup containing the zip files.
- Step 4: Once you have found the backup that contains your ZIP files. Select the .zip files that you want to restore. You can also use the Command + Click option to select multiple files.
- Step 5: Once you have selected the files, click the Restore button at the bottom of the Time Machine window.
- Step 6: You will be prompted to select a location where you want to restore the backup zip files.
- Step 7: The Time Machine will restore the backup copies of ZIP files on the selected location. Once the process gets completed, you can view and use the restored ZIP files.
I am pretty sure, by now, you have safely restored your zip files. If you don’t have a backup or did not find those files in the Trash bin folder, I recommend you try the next solution guaranteed to help you recover deleted or lost .zip files from your Mac.
Method 3: Recover ZIP Files on Mac Using Remo Recover for Mac
Remo File Recovery for Mac is a specialized tool that can assist you in recovering deleted or lost ZIP files with just a few simple clicks. The tool’s powerful drive identifiers identify and recover more than 500 types of files from any Macbook or iMac running on any version of Mac OS.
Download Remo Recover for Mac demo version for free
