Recuva is a great file recovery tool for Windows PCs that allows you to easily undelete data that you might have lost – and with its clear interface and useful search options, it’s really simple to use.

When you accidentally delete a file on your computer or storage device like USB flash drive or SD card, you might think your chances of seeing it again are gone. When you delete a file, the first place it goes is the Recycle Bin, where it can be easily restored. But what happens when you accidentally empty the Recycle Bin? While it is certainly trickier to get your file back, it isn’t impossible, and this is due to how data on a hard drive is stored. When you “delete” a file, it isn’t strictly deleted; your operating system removed the path to access that file, and designates the space where it was stored as free for new data to be written to. This is where file recovery software comes in. Software like Recuva can scour the drive for traces of your deleted data, and piece it back together. Of course, this doesn’t mean all data can be recovered. If a file has been partially or fully overwritten, even the best file recovery software will fail. The longer you leave it, the slimmer the chances of a successful data recovery are. So, while deleted data is definitely not recoverable 100% of the time, it’s worth utilising free data recovery software to see if undeletion is possible.

Recuva is designed to take advantage of the fact that files remain restorable until the portion of the drive they were stored on is overwritten with new data. Whether you’ve accidentally deleted files and emptied your Recycle Bin, or suffered from a malware infection, Recuva may be able to help you undelete your files. We’d advise installing Recuva on your machine now, as installing it further down the line when you actually need to recover data could be counterproductive – it could end up overwriting the portion of the drive that your data is stored on. If you do find yourself reading this and it’s too late, Recuva can be installed as a portable app on a USB flash drive.

Recuva is an incredibly easy piece of software to use, and users can take advantage of a file recovery wizard that guides to through the process. You can search for a file name, or if you’re looking for multiple files of the same type, you can narrow it down to a specific file type, like .jpg or .mov, for example. You can also choose whether to search the entire drive for your data, or just a specific folder. You can also search for data on portable media like USB flash drives or SD cards. Recuva utilises a traffic light system, showing you how recoverable the data is that it’s found during the scan.

Recuva offers a free and paid version, costing £19.95. The paid version allows you to perform an advanced scan, and offers support for virtual hard drives. Updates to the file recovery software are also done automatically.