Recuva Professional Deleted File Recovery Utility

Recuva is a user friendly utility that recovers pictures, music, documents and videos from your hard drive.

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Key Features of Recuva File Recovery

  • Recuva File Recovery is a premier data restoration utility designed for high performance retrieval of accidentally deleted files.
  • It allows users to recover a wide variety of file types including photos, music, documents, and emails from local hard drives and external media like USB sticks or memory cards.
  • The software features both a quick scan for recently deleted items and an advanced deep scan to scour drives for traces of buried data.
  • In 2026, it remains a vital tool for IT professionals and home users needing a safe and verified environment for emergency data salvage.
  • Its secure overwrite feature also provides a military grade solution for permanently erasing files to ensure complete privacy.
  • Recuva is the trusted choice for maintaining digital integrity and recovering lost assets across all Windows platforms globally.

How to recover accidentally deleted files with Recuva

Recuva can rescue lost pictures, documents, and videos from your computer, USB drives, or camera memory cards. Take a deep breath, stop saving any new files to your computer, and follow these steps to get your data back:

  1. Download and Install (Carefully!)
    Download the free Recuva setup. Crucial Step: If possible, install the software on a different drive or a USB stick rather than the drive where you lost your files. This prevents your lost data from being permanently overwritten by the installation.
  2. Follow the Recovery Wizard
    Launch Recuva. The friendly Wizard will ask you what type of files you are looking for (e.g., Pictures, Documents) and exactly where they were located before they were deleted (e.g., "In the Recycle Bin" or "On my media card").
  3. Scan Your Drive
    Click Start. Recuva will perform a rapid scan of your drive and present a list of deleted files. A green circle next to the file means it is in excellent condition and easily recoverable!
  4. Preview and Recover
    Click on a file to view a preview of it in the right-hand panel. Check the boxes next to the files you want to keep, click Recover, and select a safe, alternative location (like an external hard drive or desktop folder) to save your rescued data.
Pro Tip: Did the initial Quick Scan fail to find your missing file? Don't panic! Rerun the Wizard and check the box that says "Enable Deep Scan." It takes much longer, but it will scour every sector of your drive for buried or heavily fragmented files.

Frequently Asked Questions

This is the golden rule of data recovery. When a file is "deleted," Windows just marks the space as available. If you save the recovered file directly back to that same drive, you risk overwriting the very hidden data you are trying to rescue. Always save recovered files to a different partition or an external USB drive.

Recuva uses a traffic light system to indicate file health. Green means the file is completely intact. Orange means the file has been partially overwritten by other data and might be corrupted. Red means the file is completely overwritten and is unfortunately unrecoverable.

Yes. If you accidentally formatted a camera SD card or a USB thumb drive, do not save any new files to it. Plug it into your PC, launch Recuva, and ensure you check the box for Enable Deep Scan. Recuva can often piece together the original files even after a format.

No. Recuva is built exclusively for Windows PCs. However, if your Android phone or digital camera uses a removable MicroSD card, you can take that card out, plug it into your Windows computer using a card reader, and scan it with Recuva to recover the files.

Technical Specifications

Recuva File Recovery Screenshot

Screenshot of Recuva Data Recovery Software

User Rating

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