Deleted files after emptying Recycle Bin

I accidentally deleted a folder and also emptied the Recycle Bin before realizing it had my project files.

Is there any method to recover permanently deleted files in Windows 10/11?

Windows data recovery

All Replies

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

Jace Elric

Participant

February 27, 2026 at 6:21 am

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and guidance. I followed your advice, stopped using the laptop, and ran a recovery scan — I was actually able to recover most of the important files!

Really appreciate the quick help from this community. I’ve now enabled backups and the delete confirmation so I don’t repeat this mistake again 😅

Marking this as resolved.

Ezra Flint

Participant

February 27, 2026 at 6:09 am

Update us after the scan.

And for future — enable this:

Right-click Recycle Bin → Properties → “Display delete confirmation dialog”

Saved me many times.

Good luck! 👍

Kael Rowan

Participant

February 27, 2026 at 6:05 am

+1 to this.

First rule of recovery:

the more you use the computer, the lower your chances.

If you can, shut it down and use another PC to create a recovery USB OR install a recovery tool on a different drive (like external HDD).

deken

Participant

February 27, 2026 at 5:53 am

Don’t panic yet.

When you empty the recycle bin, Windows usually just removes the file record — the data itself often still exists on the disk until it gets overwritten.

Important:

👉 Stop using the PC immediately.

Every new file (downloads, browsing cache, updates) can overwrite the deleted data.

Do NOT install random programs on the same drive.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)