Using system restore to recover a file i accidentally deleted​ 2025

System restore creates restore points at various times on your computer. These restore points contain information about the system settings, registry configurations, and some system files as they existed at that specific moment. The main purpose of system restore is to allow you to roll back your computer’s state in case something goes wrong after installing new software, making system changes, or if your computer starts experiencing issues like software conflicts or stability problems. For example, if you install a new program that causes your computer to crash frequently, you can use system restore to go back to a point before that program was installed and hopefully have a stable system again.

How System Restore Works

When you initiate a system restore to a particular restore point, the operating system will overwrite certain current system files and settings with the ones from the selected restore point. It’s a bit like traveling back in time for your computer’s configuration. The restore process involves the following general steps:

Selecting a restore point: You’ll be presented with a list of available restore points on your computer. These are usually labeled with the date and a brief description of what was happening on the computer at that time (such as “Before software update” or “Before driver installation”). You need to choose a restore point that you think was created before the file was deleted.

Initiating the restore: Once you’ve selected the restore point, the system restore process will start. The computer will restart, and during the restart, it will copy the relevant files and configurations from the restore point’s backup to overwrite the current ones. This process can take some time depending on how much data needs to be replaced and the speed of your computer.

Completion and verification: After the restore is complete, the computer will boot up again. You’ll then need to check if the file you wanted to recover is actually there. However, as mentioned earlier, there’s no guarantee that the file you deleted will be restored through this process.

Limitations of Using System Restore for File Recovery

File Inclusion: System restore mainly focuses on system-related files and settings. It typically does not include user-created files like documents, photos, or other personal files in its backup for restore points. So, if the file you accidentally deleted was a personal document (e.g., a Word file, a PDF, or an image), chances are very slim that it will be recovered using system restore. For example, if you deleted a presentation you were working on from your “Documents” folder, system restore probably won’t bring it back.

Overwriting Changes: When you perform a system restore, you’re not only potentially recovering the file you want but also reverting many other system settings and files. This means that any changes you made to your computer after the restore point was created will be lost. For instance, if you installed new software, updated drivers, or made customizations to your desktop layout after the restore point was made, all of those will be undone. This can be a significant drawback if you don’t want to lose those other changes.

No Selective Recovery: System restore is an all-or-nothing process when it comes to restoring files and settings. You can’t choose just to restore the specific deleted file. Instead, it restores a whole set of system configurations from the chosen restore point. So, even if the file you want was somehow included in the restore point (which is unlikely for user files), you’ll still have to deal with all the other changes that come along with the restore.

Restore Point Availability: The success of using system restore also depends on whether there are appropriate restore points available. If you haven’t enabled system restore or if the restore points that were created don’t go back far enough in time (before the file was deleted), then you won’t be able to use this method to attempt recovery. For example, if you accidentally deleted a file today and the earliest restore point on your computer was created last week after the file was already deleted, system restore won’t be of any help.

Alternative Approaches for File Recovery

Given the limitations of system restore for file recovery, here are some other methods you might want to try:

Recycle Bin/Trash: The first and simplest place to check is the recycle bin (on Windows) or the trash (on macOS and many Linux distributions). When you delete a file on your computer, it usually goes to the recycle bin or trash first, and you can easily restore it from there. Just open the recycle bin or trash, find the file you want to recover, right-click on it, and select the option to restore it to its original location. However, if you emptied the recycle bin or trash or if the file was deleted using a method that bypasses it (like using the “Shift + Delete” command on Windows), then this won’t work.

File History (Windows) or Time Machine (macOS):

File History on Windows: If you have enabled File History on your Windows computer, it continuously backs up copies of your files. You can use it to restore previous versions of files, including ones that have been accidentally deleted. To access File History, go to the folder where the file was originally located, right-click on an empty space in the folder, and select “Restore previous versions.” You’ll then be able to browse through the different versions of the folder and files available in the File History backups and restore the deleted file if it’s there.

Time Machine on macOS: Similar to File History on Windows, Time Machine is a backup feature on macOS. If you have a Time Machine backup drive connected and have been regularly backing up your computer, you can use it to recover deleted files. Open the folder where the file was located, click on the Time Machine icon in the menu bar, and use the time-travel interface to go back to a point when the file was still present and restore it.

Data Recovery Software: There are numerous data recovery software available for both Windows and macOS. These programs work by scanning your computer’s hard drive or storage devices for deleted files. They look for traces of the files that still exist even after deletion. Some popular data recovery software include Recuva (for Windows), Disk Drill (for both Windows and macOS), and Data Rescue (for macOS). However, the success of these programs depends on various factors such as how long ago the file was deleted, whether the space occupied by the file has been overwritten by new data, and the type of storage device. For example, if you immediately try to use data recovery software after deleting a file and the hard drive hasn’t been used much since then, you have a better chance of recovering the file.

Cloud Storage and Backups: If you had saved the file to a cloud storage service like Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive before deleting it, you can simply log into your cloud storage account and restore the file from there. Many cloud services keep previous versions of files for a certain period of time, so even if you made changes to the file before deleting it, you might be able to retrieve an earlier version. Additionally, if you had a backup of your computer’s files on an external hard drive or a network-attached storage (NAS) device through a backup program like Windows Backup or Time Machine (if using macOS), you can use that backup to restore the deleted file.