Accidentally wiped your hard drive by CCleaner and lost important files? Don’t panic—your data may still be recoverable! This guide covers step-by-step methods to restore wiped files, including using powerful data recovery software, checking Windows backups, utilizing File History, and exploring System Restore.
I used CCleaner to wipe my external hard drive completly, however I forgot to backup some of my files (mainly photos and videos). Is it possbile to get these back somehow? Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance!
- Question from www.reddit.com
CCleaner is a popular system optimization tool. It helps users to clean temporary files, browser cache, and junk data, fix registry errors,manage startup programs, securely delete sensitive files (if configured). Does CCleaner Permanently Delete Files and can you recover files deleted by CCleaner? The short answer: It depends on how you use it.
By default, CCleaner does not permanently erase files—it only deletes them normally, meaning they can still be recovered.
If you enable "Secure File Deletion" (in Options > Settings), CCleaner can overwrite files 1–35 times (depending on the method), making recovery extremely difficult or impossible without professional data recovery tools.
To recover files deleted or wiped by CCleaner software, you can try the following 4 methods, from basic methods to advanced methods.
When CCleaner deletes files in its default mode (without secure deletion), they are often sent to the Recycle Bin first, unless the tool was configured to bypass it. This makes the Recycle Bin the easiest place to check for recently deleted files.
Step 1. Open the Recycle Bin by double-clicking its desktop icon or searching for it in the Windows Start menu.
Step 2. Browse through the deleted files and locate the ones removed by CCleaner.
Step 3. Right-click the desired file(s) and select "Restore" to recover them to their original location.
If CCleaner didn’t bypass the Recycle Bin, this method offers the fastest and simplest way to recover deleted files. However, if the files aren’t there, proceed to other recovery options.
If you had automatic backups enabled (such as Windows File History, a system backup, or cloud storage like OneDrive/Google Drive), restoring from a backup is the safest method. Next, we will explain how to restore files deleetd by CCleaner using Windows File History.
Step 1. Check File History (Windows) by searching for "Restore your files with File History" in the Start menu.
Step 2. Navigate to the folder where the deleted files were stored and select a previous version to restore.
If using cloud backups (OneDrive, Google Drive), check the "Recycle Bin" or "Trash" in the respective service.
Backups provide the most reliable recovery method, but they only work if you had them enabled before deleting files using CCleaner.
If CCleaner deleted critical system files or registry entries, System Restore can revert your PC to an earlier state when the files were intact.
Step 1. Type "Create a restore point" in the Windows search bar and open the System Properties window.
Step 2. Click "System Restore" .
Step 3. Choose a restore point from before the files were deleted. Follow the prompts to complete the restoration (note: this won’t affect personal files but may uninstall recently added programs).
System Restore is useful for recovering lost system files but won’t help to restore personal documents unless they were stored in system directories.
If the files were deleted by CCleaner advanced deletion mode and you don’t have any backup available, specialized data recovery software is useful to scan the drive and seach for recoverable traces. Among the myriad of recovery tools available today, MyRecover distinguishes itself through its exceptional features:
Step 1. Download and install MyRecover.
Step 2. Launch the software and select the drive from which you want to recover files deleted by CCleaner. Then click on “Scan”.
Step 3. After the scanning, all recoverable files will be listed. Select the ones you need, and preview them if necessary.
Step 4. Restore them to a different drive (to avoid overwriting data).
How to recover files deleted by CCleaner? There are 4 different method in total you can choose from based on your situation. If you enable the Secure File Deletion in CCleaner, then try the professional data recovery software like MyRecover, which can deal with almost all data loss scenarios, including normal deletion, shift+delete deletion, format, corrupted drive, raw partition recovery, deleted partition recovery, virus attack, system crash recovery and more.
