We’ve all experienced the frustration of scouring our computer, smartphone, or tablet for a specific photo, video, or document only to come up empty-handed. Despite our efforts to comb through every conceivable folder, the conclusion is disheartening the document seems to have vanished, likely deleted accidentally during the last device cleanup.
In some instances, the deletion of a document may not immediately impact us, either because we deem it unimportant or have alternate access through backups. However, there are scenarios where the document holds unique significance, and its loss is irreplaceable. In such cases, the ability to recover deleted files becomes crucial, potentially saving us from significant inconvenience.
What Happens When We Delete A Document?
In most systems, when we delete a document, it is not actually deleted from the media where it was stored. What the system does is mark the space it occupied as “available.” Thus, this space can be used by the system when necessary, replaced, for example, by a new photo or a new document. But even if this space is marked as free, the deleted document will continue to be stored on the drive where it was located, so using the appropriate tools it could be recovered.
This operation will only be possible as long as the space it occupied has not been overwritten by another document, in which case recovering the deleted file may be impossible.
In the following image we show you how the sequence occurs from when a document is deleted from a hard drive until it is overwritten by another.
How Can We Recover Deleted Files?
When we have deleted a document and we want to recover it, we have several options to try.
Restore a Backup
Given that we possess a backup copy of the deleted document, restoration becomes feasible, allowing us to reclaim access to its contents.
Search in the Trash
Windows And Mac
In some operating systems such as Windows or Mac, when we delete a document it is not deleted, it is moved to a special folder called “Trash” or “Recycle Bin” where it remains stored until we proceed to empty it. When you send a document to the trash, the space it occupies on the hard drive is still marked as occupied, so we can access it without the need for any specific tool.
When the trash is emptied, the space occupied by each document is marked as available and therefore we will not be able to access it with the tools provided by the operating system. Searching the trash can get us out of more than one trouble since as the documents remain stored there we can recover them as long as we have not emptied it.
iOS
Apple devices that incorporate this operating system do not have a recycle bin where deleted files are stored.
A functionality similar to that of a recycle bin can be found in the Photos application that iOS has by default. When we delete a chart item like a photo or video, it goes to an album called “Deleted.” The elements will be stored here for a month until the space occupied by the document is marked as available. At that time the operating system will be able to overwrite it when necessary and its recovery may be more complicated and may not even be possible.
Android
Like iOS, Android also does not have a recycle bin. What does exist is an application called ES File Explorer, available on Google Play, which allows, among other functions, to manage files. It has a function that acts as a recycling bin called “Recycle Bin” and is enabled by default in the app.
Having this functionality can save us from more than one trouble since any deleted item will be moved to the recycling folder until we empty it, but this function only works if we delete the items from the app itself.
Conclusion
When we lose a file it is always convenient to know what methods we can use to recover it, such as searching the recycle bin or recovery tools, but the element that will never fail will be backup copies, so make backup copies of your most important files.