Are you looking for ways to recover your deleted files? If yes, you have come to the right place. Today we will teach you how to recover your deleted data with 3 simple steps with recuva.

Now, if you go to any tech shop they asking for recovery of those data, they will charge an absurdly high price or say it’s impossible, and tell you to look elsewhere. That too if you’re lucky.

But is it really the case? Does recovering data and files actually require that much money and effort?

That is why we decided to make a guide just to help you solve this issue for free. Yes, you read that correctly for free.

This tutorial will show you how you can restore deleted files on a windows system completely free of cost. Note this can recover a lot of hidden files as well, so do proceed with caution.

Recuva – Forensics Data recovery tool

We will be using the famous data recovery tool called Recuva. It has no ads and can be downloaded from the official website for free.

Recuva is an information recovery program for Windows, developed by Piriform, meant for forensics and data recovery. These are the same guys who made the world-famous CCleaner app. So you know you are in trusted hands.

So without further ado, let’s begin the recovery with Recuva

Step 1: Download and install Recuva.

You can download the Recuva from the official website, as shown below.

Once downloaded, start the installation.

The installation process is pretty straightforward. Once you have finished the installation of Recuva, you will see the following screen:

Step 2: Run the data recovery

Once you start recurva, you will be asked the following questions by the start-up wizard.

  • Which files to recover
  • From where to recover

Simply put, you can give specific options depending on the file you are trying to restore. If you have deleted a video file, then you can use the video file option to search and recover only video files.

You can also recover data from external hard drives, usb drives, music players, memory cards, etc. Talk about being overpowered.

If you know that the file was present in the D drive, then you can choose that location so that the file will be found faster and restored as soon as possible.

Step 3: Recover Data with Recuva

You can do a regular scan or a deep scan. A deep scan is much more through but will take a long time. However, if you desperately want to find a specific file that you need, I recommend you select this option.

Once you start the scan, you will see the following process bar:

Once the data is found, you can see the condition it is in. Depending on the condition, you can choose whether you want to recover the files with Recuva.

 

Red dots: The files are too damaged and cannot be recovered by Recuva

Yellow dots: The files are partially recovered by Recuva.

Green dots: The files are in excellent condition and can be completely recovered with Recuva.

Now, right-click and choose the highlighted files or select the recover option to recover the files. And congrats recovering files on your Windows system is this easy.

How does Recuva work?

Recuva is a data recovery software that specializes in data recovery. But what exactly happens when we delete something from the system. To better explain this, I will give you a real-life example.

Step 1: Imagine I delete a file of 1GB (File 1).

Step 2: That 1GB space is now marked as available, also known as free space. Even though the existing data is not completely wiped.

Step 3: When a new 1GB (File 2) is saved, it will replace the data of (File 1) since it was marked as free space.

Now, if step 3 has already happened, then Recuva cannot recover the original files since the data is overwritten. However, if step 3 has yet to happen, then you can easily recover the files with Recuva. It basically checks the data which we cannot directly see and interact with. Since the data is still present, even though marked as free space in step 2, Recuva can restore and recover the file.

Must read: How to install kali on android without root..!!

Commonly asked questions about recovering files

Q1. I did not find my deleted files. Or they show as unrecoverable. What do I do?

This is not a 100% guaranteed solution. Sometimes the files are overwritten on the system, in which case recovery of those files becomes impossible. For more info, read the section about how recurva works.

Q2. Is this tool legal to use?

Of course, it’s legal as long as you are using your system. Trying to get someone else’s personal deleted data is not legal, even if that person is your girlfriend or fiance.

Q3. What does it mean when my file shows as unrecoverable?

It means that the file was damaged and overwritten. And cannot be successfully recovered.

Q4. The quality fo the recovered file is bad, or it cannot be used. What do I do?

This is never a full-proof method. If the data is damaged beyond recovery, there is little you can do to recover it. You will only be able to recover bits and pieces of information that may or may not be readable.

Q.5 Can Recuva recover all types of files?

Yes, as a matter of fact, it can pretty much recover any file you want, providing it was not damaged by some other data being overwritten.

Q.6 What about the paid version. Is there anything different in the paid version?

No, frankly, there is nothing new except automatic updates and virtual drive support. Automatic updates are not really needed. I mean, you can always manually download the application, and it is not updated that frequently. And the virtual drive support is an advanced feature only a handful of people need.

I’m sure you enjoyed reading this tutorial!

Do make sure to share the tutorial with your friends and family.

Happy Hacking…!!!

 

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