Recovering deleted files from memory cards, flash drives / thumb drives with Restoration

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

If you accidentally delete files from a USB flash drive / USB key / USB stick / thumb drive or a memory stick / memory card like an SD card (which you can open and read on your PC using a card reader), unfortunately they don't go into a Recycle Bin from which you can restore them.

Fortunately, there is a way to get deleted files back from a removable disk, if you act fast - i.e. before you try to write anything else to that flash drive or memory card, or indeed ideally before you do anything else with it.

Plug the thumb drive into your PC, or insert the memory card into the card reader and plug that in to your PC. Then try Brian Kato's excellent Restoration utility - which is a free little download that's been around for some years, and works on all versions of Windows before Vista, i.e. XP back to Windows 95.

It can restore files deleted from hard drives too - but in that case you're better off downloading it to a USB key or flash drive (rather than the affected hard drive) and running it from there, so as to try to preserve the deleted files on your hard drive (which should still be there, just invisible). Better still, why not download Restoration in advance onto a thumb drive, and then in future if you need it you can just plug it in and run it from there.

NB do NOT download Restoration to the drive, stick or card containing the accidentally deleted files - download it to another drive!

It's easy to use, but here's a walk through of how to use Restoration:

After you've opened Restoration.exe from wherever you've downloaded it to, select the removable drive from which you want to recover deleted files.
Click "Search Deleted Files".
Normally I'd say "No" to "Do you want to scan vacant clusters?" (but if the search didn't turn up what you wanted, you might try Yes).
The deleted files that it can detect are listed on the left. Simply select the files you want to restore by clicking on them, holding down the Ctrl key as you click if you want to select more than one file.
Then click "Restore by Copying", and choose where on your computer (or external hard drive, or indeed the memory card or USB key) you want the selected deleted files to be restored to. That's it!

It's always worked perfectly whenever I've tried it. I've not needed to use it much as, obviously, I normally try to be careful and not delete files unless I'm very sure I don't need them. But whenever I've used it, it's done the job and saved my bacon. There's no guarantee it will always work, of course, but it's certainly worth a try.

Thanks for the lifesaver, Brian!

Labels: tools, Windows

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16 Comment(s):

Thanks for solving my problem..
mistakenly i too deleted few files from memory card..
Now i resotred them all..
thanks..

regards,
www.elechub.com

(By abdul, at 25 August, 2008 06:08) Edit Comment

Oh WOW! thanks! this program just saved my life indeed! :) just yesterday i deleted 3 pages of a literature review an hour before it was due (not to mention an hour before the campus was closing for columbus day break). i cried and ran with my computer to one of the computer experts where we tried to recover it to no avail... i tried again today, and with this great help page you wrote up I was able to find it on my own! =) thank you so much!
-darla
dsucy@mail.keuka.edu

(By Anonymous, at 12 October, 2008 00:30) Edit Comment

Hi, came across this tool this morning after deleting a vital document from my USB. I ran the program and it is finding old deleted items but not the one I deleted today. I am quite destressed about this as I have been working on this all night and then stupidly deleted the wrong version. Can anyone help??

(By Anonymous, at 14 October, 2008 05:27) Edit Comment

Thank God!i've just deleted my important video which i won't get it anywhere.This programme save my life!!

(By Anonymous, at 27 October, 2008 11:32) Edit Comment

Thank you so much!! I'm an 8th grade student and I accidently deleted a huge report from my flash drive. I had so many things due and i definitely didnt have time to rewrite it. I dont know what I would have done without this program

(By Anonymous, at 24 January, 2009 20:02) Edit Comment

OMG .... That was a lifesaver.
Thanks!

(By Anonymous, at 23 March, 2009 19:33) Edit Comment

Worked great and easy to use

(By james, at 31 March, 2009 18:10) Edit Comment

Thank you all for the feedback, very glad it worked for you! (sympathies in the 1 case where it didn't...)

(By Improbulus, at 31 March, 2009 23:30) Edit Comment

THANK YA BABY JESUS!
I accidently delete my family vacation & my little brother 4th grade honor roll party! i was gonna be in trouble for sure but this program just save my butt big time

THANNNNNNNNNNKKK YOOOOU!

(By Anonymous, at 11 July, 2009 01:16) Edit Comment

GREAT Work Brian!!!
Your tool rocks! So easy and functional! I have saved a database I have been working on for days and erased by accident. This link was the first I have visited and it worked. Thank you so much.

(By Branko, at 20 July, 2009 21:16) Edit Comment

I installed the application on my flash drive, but after I enter my file name and click SEARCH DELETED FILES, I get the following error message:

"Access is denied.

Please log on an account with Administrator privilege and then run the program again."

As I'm the administrator of my little flash drive, what do I do?

Thanks!

(By Anonymous, at 11 January, 2010 17:21) Edit Comment

Hi Brian

I have the same problem...
"Access is denied.
Please log on an account with Administrator privilege and then run the program again."

Can anyone help?? Mistakenly deleted a file i worked overnight on.... sigh!

(By aimei, at 19 January, 2010 02:18) Edit Comment

actually am following the strategy to restore my deleted files but unfortunately its' giving an error and closing !! WHAT SHOULD BE DONE ?

(By Anonymous, at 24 May, 2010 08:16) Edit Comment

thanks very much brian,the software saved my ass

(By Anonymous, at 04 June, 2010 11:02) Edit Comment

i hav used a software called kernel for fat and ntfs which works perfectly with latest version of windows, it wrks in two modes standard and advance modes respectively for recent data lost and lost of data long time ago. This software will show preview of data recovered to check your all files are recovered are not,demo version can b downloaded frm
http://www.recoverdeletedfile.org/

(By Scott Parisi, at 12 August, 2010 13:09) Edit Comment

does it work if i formatted my thumbdrive?

(By Anonymous, at 26 August, 2010 09:25) Edit Comment