Data loss is a constant fear for many people. Whether you’re a business, an individual, or a member of society, the fear of losing important or irreplaceable information is always lurking in the back of your mind. Today, it seems like everyone is keeping a digital record of their lives in some way or another. Whether it’s a summer vacation photo, a family heirloom, or a treasured piece of personal correspondence, people are inevitably going to lose data.
If you’ve accidentally deleted some important files and you don’t have time to recover them, you’re in luck. Fortunately, there are a variety of safe and secure ways to quickly and easily recover data after accidentally deleting it.
Use Your Previous Versions
One of the first things you should do if you’ve accidentally deleted some important files is to go and look at your previous versions. If you’re using a Mac, this is easy to do with Time Machine; if you’re using a PC, use the System Restore tool. This can be a tedious process, but it will help you recover your data and save time.
Time Machine
If you’re an Apple user, then your first stop should be Time Machine. This program is built into all Mac laptops and desktops, so if you have a Mac, then you can access it with ease. Time Machine doesn’t just let you go back in time to recover data that’s been deleted; it also automatically backs up your data for when disasters strike.
This feature will automatically back up the files on your computer and save them to a hard drive that’s separate from the one that currently stores your system information. If something happens to this external drive, like it gets disconnected or destroyed, there’s no need to panic. All of the data is still safe because backup copies are stored on the external drive.
If you want to preview what files are lost before recovering them with Time Machine, use Disk Utility and browse through the folder list. Any files that have red x’s next to them were deleted and can be recovered by right-clicking them and selecting “Recover.”
Securely Deleted the Trash
If you emptied the trash on your Mac, there’s a good chance you can still recover it. You’ll need to go through file and folder by file and folder to find where the deleted items are hiding.
1) Press Command + Shift + A to open up a Finder window.
2) Double click on the Trash folder in the left column and locate the files you have deleted.
3) Drag these files back onto your desktop, or right-click and select “Restore” if they’re not automatically restored.
4) If they’re not showing up in Finder, try using some third party software like Disk Drill. It’s a great piece of software that can recover data from physical hard drives and USB flash drives as well as from various cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, SkyDrive, OneDrive, iCloud, etc.
Secure Cloud Storage
One way to recover lost data is by using secure cloud storage. Secure cloud storage is a service that allows you to store your files in cloud-based servers outside of your computer. This means that if you lose your computer or it crashes, you’ll still be able to access your files through this service.
The benefit of using secure cloud storage is that it provides peace of mind for those who are worried about losing their data. By storing all of your important files in one place, you won’t have to worry about deleting them accidentally and not being able to retrieve them.
Another positive aspect of secure cloud storage is that there are many different options available for the price point and package size you desire. This means that even if you don’t have a lot of money to spend on securing your files, there are some affordable options available for you.
Recover Deleted Data with a Data Recovery Service
One of the most common ways people recover deleted data is by using a data recovery service. Data recovery services are offered by third-party companies and will cost anywhere from $50-2000 depending on how much information has been lost. A typical data recovery service will attempt to restore your files by scanning through your hard drive looking for those files that have not yet been overwritten. If they can’t find them, they will use special software that attempts to do so.
Another way to recover deleted data is with cloud backup services. Today, many people use cloud backup services like Dropbox and Google Drive instead of traditional external hard drives. This is an excellent way to back up all of your important files in case you delete them off your computer or lose access to them in some other way. The best way to do this is by connecting the external hard drive or flash memory card on which you store the backup directly onto your computer and then pasting the folder containing the backup into the same place as where your original content was before you deleted it. This ensures that it has replaced what was lost and gets around any issues with overwriting issues or permissions problems that might arise if you simply copy over your old files without replacing them (in which case, any new content would overwrite the old).
Conclusion
Recovering data after accidentally deleting it can be a scary process, but there are ways to make it less stressful. All computers have a Trash folder that stores deleted data until the user empties it. If the user empties it, the data is gone for good. You can try to recover deleted data from the Trash without emptying it first. But if the data was deleted over a period of time, you may not be able to recover it all.
One way to avoid this is with a cloud storage service. You can upload your files to an online server and access them from anywhere. This way, you don’t have to worry about accidentally deleting files or losing them if your computer crashes.