It's a common fear: you've accidentally deleted a file, and you're not sure if it can be recovered. The good news is that, in most cases, data can be recovered - but the difficulty of the process depends on how long ago the file was deleted. If you've accidentally deleted data stored on a storage medium using Flash, however, it's likely gone for good. Fortunately, data can usually be recovered from an erased hard drive - as long as you act quickly and stop using the drive the moment you realize your mistake.
Windows File Recovery is an accessible data recovery tool owned by Microsoft that can help you recover deleted files without backup. When it comes to Flash memory, which is typically found in SSDs and mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, data must be erased before new information can be stored in the same location. The data recovery process varies depending on the circumstances of the data loss, the data recovery software used to create the backup, and the destination medium of the backup. In business IT, data recovery usually refers to restoring data to a desktop computer, laptop, server, or external storage system from a backup.
Specialized data recovery software like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can also be used to recover files that were not backed up and that were accidentally deleted from a computer's file system - but still remain on the hard drive in fragments. If you need to make sure that all data on a hard drive has been erased before selling it, there is software and hardware available that can completely erase all the data on a hard drive. The process of removing any reference to the locations of the bytes that make up a file is extremely fast - while erasing the data completely is a much longer process.
