The Best Free Tool to Undelete Files on Windows

Disk Drill for Windows is a full-featured, data recovery software application that will enable you to recover your deleted files from your Windows machine. You can download this excellent undelete software tool for free and use it to recover up to 500 MB of data at no cost to you.
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Disk Drill is designed to be used by all Windows users, from seasoned data recovery professionals to casual computer users who may have inadvertently deleted some photos, music files, videos, documents, etc. Using Disk Drill you can undelete files from your Windows XP, 7, 8 or 10 PC as well as any peripheral storage device that is compatible with the Windows operating system.

Steps to Recover Deleted Files on Windows:


  1. Download Disk Drill for Windows. This free undelete program lets you recover up to 500MB of data and perform unlimited scans and previews of potentially recoverable files. An easy upgrade to the Pro version which provides unlimited data recovery capabilities is available.

    If you can download and then run the application from a different disk partition than the one you will be recovering it will further protect your data from being overwritten.

  2. Install & launch the application. Provide your password if prompted, the app needs system level access to accomplish its task of recovering deleted files.

  3. Select the disk or partition where the deleted files were located.

  4. Click the “Recover” button. You will be presented with a list of the files that can be recovered by the app. You can sort, filter and preview the files that can be recovered.

  5. Select the files you wish to restore. It's important to select a new location where you will store your files. Don’t use their original location as this can lead to file corruption during the restore.

  6. Click “Recover” and Disk Drill will restore the deleted files. Navigate to the new location and verify that the files are fully recovered and usable by whatever application needs them.


That’s all there is to using Disk Drill to restore deleted files. Using this method, the app performs a quick scan in order to return results as soon as possible. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this data recovery solution. There are some advanced features available in this free undelete application.

Advanced Features of Disk Drill for Windows

Multiple Scan Options

In many cases, Disk Drill’s Quick Scan will be sufficient to recover your deleted files. Files that were deleted further in the past may need the power of Deep Scan. Disk Drill’s Deep Scan will go over your disk on a sector by sector basis and has knowledge of over 350 different file formats. This allows the app to reconstruct many files from fragments it locates during the scan. Running Deep Scan can be time-consuming based on the size of your hard drive. Multiple Scan Options

Session Management

Disk Drill offers the user the ability to pause, stop, and resume scanning sessions at any time. Sessions are easily managed in the intuitive user interface. While monitoring a scan you can stop it immediately upon finding the file you are interested in and proceed at once with the actual data recovery. This is preferred over having to wait for the scan to complete. You can pause a scan and resume it at a later time. You should always remember to strive for minimal or no disk usage on the target drive until the recovery is complete. Session Management

Recovery Vault Data Protection

In addition to its excellent data recovery capabilities, Disk Drill offers data protection that warrants you downloading the program before you ever experience a data loss scenario. Recovery Vault acts as an extension of the Windows Recycle Bin and stores meta-data concerning all files deleted from your system, making them instantly recoverable through the Vault. This added protection has no limit on its usage and is available with the free download of Disk Drill.

How is Recovery of Deleted Files Possible?

While we could just point to the results of using this undelete program and call it magic, there is an underlying reason that allows Disk Drill to recover deleted files. It can even be used to recover deleted files that have been emptied from your Recycle Bin. Let’s see how this is accomplished.

In a manner similar to most modern operating systems, Windows does not permanently physically delete files from your hard drive when they are logically deleted. The OS marks the space previously occupied by the deleted file as being available for reuse. Until this space has been fully used and overwritten with another file, the original deleted file can be recovered.

For this reason, you should minimize disk use as much as possible as soon as you notice data loss. This will give you the best chance of eventually recovering the files without having them overwritten in the interim. Depending on the level of disk usage, file fragments sufficient to allow Disk Drill to enact a recovery can remain for a considerable amount of time.

How is Recovery of Deleted Files
When you delete a file on a Windows 10/8/7 system, the file is logically moved to the Recycle Bin. It is a simple matter to restore a file that is in the Recycle Bin. Simply open it up, select the file you want to restore, and restore it to its original location or drag it out of the Bin to a folder of your choice.

But what if the Recycle Bin has been emptied before you realize you needed a file? Or perhaps files went missing due to an upgrade or hard disk issue and never made it to the Bin. This is where Disk Drill enters the picture to enable you to recover deleted files even if they are logically gone from your machine.

Recovery of Deleted Files

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated on by Disk Drill Team

You can restore a deleted file in a number of different ways.

  1. Open the Recycle Bin and search for the file.
  2. Launch your backup tool and restore a previous version of the file.
  3. Use data recovery software such as Disk Drill.

To install Disk Drill follow these steps:

  1. Download Disk Drill for Windows.
  2. Click on the executable file.
  3. Provide your system credentials when prompted to allow the tool to recover data.
  4. Click on the Disk Drill icon to launch the program.

Recover permanently deleted folders with these steps:

  1. Launch Disk Drill.
  2. Select the disk or partition that contained the deleted folders.
  3. Click the Recover button to scan the disk.
  4. Choose the files to restore, choose a storage location, and click the Recover button again.

Recover an emptied Recycle Bin with this procedure:

  1. Start Disk Drill.
  2. Select the disk that contains the Recycle Bin.
  3. Click the Recover button to scan the disk.
  4. Determine the files to be recovered, a storage location on a different drive, and click Recover a second time.

The price of data recovery software varies, with many options available for less than $100. Data recovery services are more expensive than software solutions but may be able to recover data that an application cannot. Disk Drill for Windows allows users to recover 500 MB of data for free.

You can download Disk Drill for free and take advantage of its data protection and maintenance features. You can also preview recoverable files from storage media before investing in the paid version of the tool. Windows users can recover up to 500 MB of data for free with Disk Drill.

Try Disk Drill for Free

If we haven’t convinced you that Disk Drill is an essential data recovery tool for the Windows operating system, just download it from this site and see for yourself. Start protecting your valuable data from accidental deletion and be prepared for that unexpected data loss that always hits when you least expect it.
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How Disk Drill serves other users

  • LISA BOYNTON
    LISA BOYNTON
    I have used a number of recovery programs including "Acronis True Image"(an excellent program). However, Disk Drill is in a new class of excellence. I was able to recover over 280,000 files from a 1 terabyte hard drive. Further, it recognizes hard drives that other programs do not see. I am pleased beyond words to express my satisfaction and recommendation of this program.
    Read more
  • AboutTech
    AboutTech
    «Disk Drill is an awesome free file recovery program, both because of its long list of features and its exceptionally simple-to-use interface.» by Tim Fisher
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