Recover Deleted Files Windows 8: 5 Easy Methods

The Common Causes of File Loss on Windows 8/8.1

File loss can happen on any operating system, and Windows 8/8.1 is no exception. Similar to Windows 10/11, there are multiple methods to recover deleted data on Windows 8. It's important to note that due to product compatibility issues, some file recovery software effective on Windows 10/11—such as Windows File Recovery—will not work on Windows 8. 

Before delve into the recovery methods, let's see the causes of file loss on windows 8/8.1. Understanding the common causes of file loss on these systems is essential to preventing data loss and ensuring you can recover files quickly if something goes wrong.

• Accidental Deletion: One of the most frequent reasons for file loss is simply accidentally deleting files. It can happen when cleaning up your PC or moving files around.
• Virus or Malware Attacks: Malware infections can corrupt or delete files, making them unrecoverable or inaccessible.
• Hard Drive Failures: Mechanical or electrical failure of the hard drive can lead to files becoming unreadable or lost.
• Corrupt File System: A damaged file system can cause files to disappear or become unreadable. This can occur due to power outages, improper shutdowns, or hardware issues.
• Software Crashes: Sometimes software crashes or errors can cause files to be lost, especially if a file was being edited or saved at the time of the crash.

How to Recover Deleted Files on Windows 8/8.1

If you’ve lost important files, don’t panic! There are multiple ways to recover deleted files on Windows 8 and 8.1. In this section, we will walk you through five free and effective ways to recover these deleted files, including methods that require backup or not.

Methods 1. Check in the Recycle Bin

If you just accidentally deleted (not using Shift + Delete) files, the Recycle Bin is the first place to recover the deleted files. Windows sends deleted files to Recycle Bin until permanently removing them from Recycle Bin or restore it. If you’ve deleted your files recently, this is often the quickest and easiest way to recover deleted files on Windows 8.

Step 1. Double click the Recycle Bin icon to open it.

Step 2. Browse and select the files you wish to recover.

Step 3. Right click the file and choose "Restore" to recover it to its original location.

Method 2. Restore Previous Versions

Similar with Windows 10 and 11, Windows 8/8.1 keeps copies of your files through a feature called Previous Versions (also known as Shadow Copies). If the file was deleted or changed, you might be able to restore it to a previous version. This method works well if you’ve previously set up System Restore or have enabled File History on your Windows. However, it may not work for files that were deleted long ago or if you haven’t enabled previous versions.

Step 1. Navigate to the folder where the deleted files were stored.

Step 2. Right click and choose "Restore previous versions".

Step 3. Select a desired version and click "Restore" to recover the deleted files.

Method 3. Restore your Files with File History

File History is another recovery feature available in Windows 8. Unfortunately, it isn’t automatically enabled by default, but if you’ve manually set it up, you can easily recover deleted files using it.

Step 1. Type "Restore your files with File History" in the Start menu and open it.

Step 2. Browse and select the folder with deleted files, then choose a desired version sorted by backup time.

Step 3. Click the green "Restore" button at the bottom of the window to recover the deleted files to their original location.

Method 4. Restore from Cloud Backup Tools

If you’ve been regularly backing up your files using any Cloud backup tools or external drive, recovering deleted files becomes much simpler. Cloud Backup tools are designed to create copies of your files at specific intervals, making it easy to restore them later. Here's take Google Drive as an example.

Step 1. Sign in to Google Drive with your account.

Step 2. Browse and select the files you wish to recover, then click "Download" button to recover them to a destination folder.

Method 5. Recover via Professional Data Recovery Tool—MyRecover

If you've deleted files via "Shift + Delete" on Windows 8 without any backups, third-party data recovery software like MyRecover becomes your last resort. Specializing in recovering permanently deleted files, MyRecover supports Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11 & Server systems.

Here's why MyRecover stands out among other tools:

✅Broad Compatibility: It supports file recovery from SSDs, HDDs, SD cards, and USB drives and more storage devices.

✅High Reliability: During the recovery process, it only reads data without writing, avoiding data overwriting.

✅Versatile Recovery Capability: It can cover various complex data loss scenarios, such as recover from inaccessible partition, partition deletion, hard disk formatting, system crashes, and more.

✅Comprehensive Scan: You can run quick scan to recover data quickly, or choose “Deep Scan” to retrieve more data from fragmented clues.

4 steps to recover deleted files on windows 8

Step 1. Download and install MyRecover on your computer, avoid installing it on the drive with lost files.

Step 2. Launch it and select the drive where files were deleted to scan, then click "Scan".

Step 3. Choose the files you want to recover from the recoverable lists and click "Recover".

Step 4. Select a safe location to save the recovered files.

Upon the completion of recovery process, the message "Files have been recovered successfully" will pop up. You can access and check the recovered files by clicking the destination folder.

Summary

By using above methods, you can recover deleted files on Windows 8 with minimal effort and hassle. For more complex data loss scenarios or when you have no backups, we recommend using MyRecover, a reliable data recovery software.

To meet the advanced needs of users and professionals, MyRecover also offers the Professional and Technician Editions. These editions support data recovery from crashed Windows systems and provide a file preview function before restoring files.