How to Recover Deleted Files from External Hard Drive? Complete Methods

The use of external hard disks is increasing day by day. A large number of people use it to store important data such as images, videos, and documents instead of storing them on the system. However, it has been seen that the majority of the time when a user tries to connect an HDD or SDD to the system, the data either becomes unavailable or the operating system fails to recognize the connected device. Most of the time, users are searching for the solution to “how to recover deleted files from external hard drive without software” without knowing the real reason for this error.

Hence, in this post, we will discuss several available techniques to recover permanently deleted files from external hard drives that become unrecoverable.

Now, let us know about the main reason.

Motive to Recover Deleted Files from External Hard Drive

Data loss from external hard drives can happen due to many reasons. To wisely retain the essential files kept in it, you need to be aware of some common data loss or deletion scenarios:

• Inadvertent deletion of files from external hard drives.
• Lost data as a result of formatting an external hard disk.
• Missing data from a damaged or inaccessible external hard disk.
• Transferring from an external hard drive, files get lost or erased.
• Interruptions, such as system shutdown or power surge problems, when using an external hard disk.
• Data loss may occur if an external hard disk or USB flash drive is accidentally removed.

Well, we have learned about all the important points that have been thought of in the above section. Now, we are going to learn how to solve it easily. So here, from the beginning, there have been different types of solutions, first manual and second automated. So let’s go to the bottom part and see the solutions.

Techniques to Recover Deleted Data from External Hard Disk

There are different methods available to restore lost files from external hard drive storage devices.

So let’s start with the first technical solutions:

Method 1: Recover Deleted Files from External Hard Drive—Manually

There are several manual techniques available that can be used to successfully retrieve deleted external hard drive data. Now, read and follow the step-by-step given below:

Recover Missing Files from External Hard Drive from Backup File

Keeping a daily backup of your data is a very good habit; through this, you can restore your data if it gets deleted anytime. follow these steps to recover:

Open the “Control Panel” of your device. Select “System and Security” from the menu. Select “Backup and Restore” under System and Security.

• After entering the “Backup and Restore” box, select the “Restore my files” option. .
• Your backups are now visible. You can manually select the folder or file you want to restore or select a specific backup.

Method 2: Recover Hidden Files from External Hard Drive Check the Recycle Bin (Windows)

If you accidentally deleted a file from your external hard drive but didn’t permanently delete it, the file may have been moved to the recycle bin.

• Open the recycle bin on your computer (usually located on the desktop).
• Find the file you want to recover.
• Once you search the file, right-click on it and choose the Restore tab. The file will be restored to its original destination on the external drive.

Method 3: Recover Lost Files from External Hard Drive Use File History (Windows)

If File History is enabled on your computer, you can use this feature to restore a previous version of a file.

1. Right-click the folder on the external drive where the deleted file is located.
2. Select Properties.
3. Click the Previous Versions tab.
4. Select the version of the file before it was missing or deleted.
5. Tick the options to Restore or Copy to recover the file.

Method 4: Using Time Machine (Mac)

If you use a Mac and have Time Machine enabled, you can retrieve deleted data from an external drive.

1. Go to the folder where the files are located on the external drive.
2. Tap the Time Machine option in the menu bar to start the time machine.
3. Search your backups and find versions of files before they were deleted.
4. Click Restore to restore the file.

Method 5: Check for Auto-Recovery Files

Many applications (like Microsoft Office, Adobe, etc.) have an auto-recovery feature. Sometimes, they save backup copies of files you’re working on.

• Start the program you used to modify the file.
• Look for any auto-saved versions or recovery options (e.g., in Microsoft Word, look in the Document Recovery pane).

Method 6: Recover Missing Files from External Hard Drive Using File Explorer/Finder

Sometimes, files you think you’ve deleted are actually hidden.

On Windows

• Open File Explorer.
• Navigate to your external hard drive.
• Press the View button and check Hidden File Items to display hidden files & folders.
• Check if the missing or deleted files are still there.

On Mac:

• Open the Finder.
• Enter Command + Shift + period (.) to switch to hidden data files.
• Check for hidden files on the drive.

Method 7: Use Windows Command Prompt (for Advanced Users)

In some cases, files can still be recovered using a command-line utility like chkdsk (check disk) or Command Prompt.

• Connect or join your external hard drive to the machine.
• Open Command Prompt as an administrator.

For Windows 10/11:

• Right-click the Start button and select Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows Terminal (Admin). Type the following command and then press Enter:

chkdsk [drive letter]: /f

(For example, if your external drive is E, type chkdsk E: /f.).

• Wait for the process to complete. The methods will attempt to solve the issue and recover missing files from the drive.
• Then check the external drive for recovered files.

Note: This method is beneficial for recovering your data only when you have made a backup of your files. If you have not made any backup, then you cannot restore data through it.

Also read: How Can I Change GPT to MBR Without Losing Data?

Amazing Benefits of Tool

• From any Windows system hard drive, you can recover your important images, movies, music files, documents, data files, and other multimedia types of files while preserving the original formatting and features.
• Additionally, it supports the recovery of raw data files from formatted drives, including ZIP, JPEG, GIF, PDF, MPEG Layer III, PNG, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, WAV, AVI, FH9, FH11, BMP, and more.
• It enables the recovery of data from Mac OS (HFS+) and Windows OS (NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, and Extended FAT file systems).
• Items can be recovered from formatted or reformatted hard disk drives (c: / d: / e: / f: / k: etc.) of any size with this hard drive data restoration program.

The Last Recommendation

Most individuals exhibit this highly careless behavior by trying to recover the erased data on their own. As a result, the data are overwritten. No software or application can recover deleted files from external hard drive once the data is overwritten. So it is advised to hold off until you find a solution or hire a data recovery specialist. If you don’t want to contact a professional recovery company, you can use Revove hard drive recovery software to accurately recover permanently deleted files from external hard drives.