In most cases, it is possible to recover files you accidentally deleted from the recycle bin in all versions of Windows, or the trash can on a Mac.
Once you empty the recycle bin/trash, these files are not really deleted; they still reside on your hard drive. You do, however, have a limited window; maybe a couple days to a week, where you can recover them, or else the operating system will write over the area with new data. The more space you have left on your hard drive, it is more likely you can recover your files. Be sure not to do any major work on your hard drive, such as Disk Defrag, till after your files are recovered.
So, how do you recover those files you are asking yourself? Well, you need third party software to do this. These programs are not included with any version of Windows or Mac OS. The software allows you to preview the “deleted” files prior to recovering, and allows you to choose which you want to recover. Some of these files (programs) are free to use, while others are free to preview the files, but to recover you need to pay for it. Some examples of the pay software include; Stellar Phoenix, R-Studio and Data Rescue PC, while free software includes; Panda Recovery and Recuva. There are many others, if you require software like this, I’d recommend a doing a Google Search and compare what is out there.
Note: The above article was written and submitted to us for publication by: Brett Bowdring: MCTS: Win7, A+ certified, Security+ . Thanks for sharing your article with us, Brett!