Help! I’ve accidentally deleted a file!

We’ve all been there. That accidental press of a key, and whoosh - it’s gone! But has your file disappeared forever? As with many things in life (particularly computers), the answer is ‘it depends’.

More often than not, a deleted file is sent to temporary storage, where it sits for a certain period until it gets emptied automatically. But even if a file hasn’t been stored in this temporary location, it still doesn’t necessarily mean it has been permanently destroyed. Read on to find out more…

As a general rule, when a file gets deleted the OS (operating system) recognises that it is no longer needed. It then marks up the storage space that file is occupying as ‘available for use’. So, until some other data is written over it, one can restore the deleted file with the help of a specialised utility.

​You may have now guessed that the most important thing to do after accidentally deleting a file is to STOP what you are doing!

To have the best chance of being able to recover deleted files from your SD card, flash drive, hard drive or any other external storage medium, you should shut down the computer or unmount the drive, and - if you are not au fait with data recovery - seek professional assistance.

To get the lost files back with maximum efficiency, please do not start up the computer/drive again before the Data Recovery specialist has had a chance to look at it for you.

​If you are experiencing a deleted file emergency, or have any other data recovery requirements, please call Richard on 01403 753666.