If you're going to recover files from an SSD device, read this article first: File Recovery Specifics for SSD devices

Most likely you came to this page because you need to recover your data lost during some computer accident. Sometimes such a recovery can be a very tricky task that only data recovery experts can solve, but most cases fit well into one of the typical file recovery scenarios in the list we compiled. All you need to do is pick the most relevant case from the list below and get detailed instructions on how to get the data back in that particular case, but before going into action we recommend you read our general advice on data recovery.

General advice:

1. First and foremost: Stay calm, don't hurry, and don't worsen the situation. Ensure that no further alterations are made to the storage device where the lost files resided. Don't save files to the damaged disk. If it's your system (boot) disk, from which the operating system loads, then it is best to just shut down the computer. Make all software preparations on a different computer.

2. Learn more about data recovery. We recommend you to read our article File Recovery Basics: How Data Recovery Works. You'll understand how data recovery works and what to expect from it in your particular case. You may also estimate chances for successful file recovery for several typical cases in our article: Predicting Success of Common Data Recovery Cases.

3. Inspect the affected disk. Don't work on disks with damaged hardware. Symptoms that a hard drive has hardware problems:

• Your system does not recognize the device anymore, or it appears under an unusual name.
• The hard drive makes unusual noises, clicks, starts too slowly.
• Bad blocks constantly appear on your hard drive.
• SMART inspecting programs report a severe hardware failure event. You may use our data recovery programs for such inspection.

Important! If you believe that the hard drive in the computer is malfunctioning, use R-Studio Emergency to create an image of the entire hard drive. DO NOT DO ANYTHING ELSE WITH IT BY YOURSELF ANYMORE! Don't try to run a scan or recovery procedure. Don't try to use some other data recovery software. Remember, tampering with a drive in this condition will surely inflict more damage to your files. At best, you'll have to pay extra money to a professional data recovery service. At worst, you'll lose all your data for good. Bring the drive to qualified data recovery professionals. They have special equipment, software, and, most important, the required skills to work with such drives.

4. Try to work with images rather than actual disks. This keeps your data safe from accidental data corruption. Read this article for more details: Clone Disks Before File Recovery.

5. Prepare a large enough place to store recovered files and images, if necessary. Never try to save recovered files on the disks where they resided.

6. Last but not the least: don't buy any data recovery software unless you're sure it can recover files in your particular case. Any decent data recovery program allows you to work in its demo mode to find your lost files and estimate their chances for their successful recovery. Please note that even if the program shows you a correct file and folder structure, that doesn't guarantee that the files can be successfully recovered. Only successfully previewed files can be successfully recovered.

Typical data recovery cases:

• Recovery of accidentally deleted files
  Get deleted files back. What to do if you accidentally deleted your files from Recycle Bin or bypassed it.
  Easy file recovery in three steps.
  Free Photo and Video File Recovery Tutorial.
• File recovery from a non-functional computer
  Computer software problems. Signs that the computer's hardware works normally and the problem is in faulty system software: the computer powers on, the start-up procedure begins, the operating system starts loading, but then stops, and computer either hangs or goes to restart.
  Emergency File Recovery Using R-Studio Emergency. How to recover files from a non-starting Windows or Linux computer.
  File Recovery from an Unbootable Mac Computer. How to recover files from a non-starting Macintosh.
  Emergency Data Recovery over Network. How to recover files from a non-starting computer via network.
  Computer hardware problems. Signs that the computer cannot start because of faulty hardware: the computer doesn't power on, you hear unusual beeps during startup, the startup procedure abruptly interrupts, the computer throws warning about malfunctioning hardware components, etc.
  R-Studio: Data recovery from a non-functional computer. How to recover files from a broken computer using R-Studio.
  R-Undelete: File recovery from a non-functional computer. How to recover files from a broken computer using R-Undelete.
• Photo and video recovery from SD cards
  Free Photo Recovery from a Deleted, Damaged or Formatted Digital Camera Memory Card.
  HD Video Recovery from SD cards.
  R-Undelete: Video Recovery.
• File recovery from a disk with a damaged file system, after accidental reformat or fresh OS re-install
  Data Recovery from an External Disk with a Damaged File System.
  File Recovery after Re-installing Windows.
  The best way to recover files from a Mac system disk.
  Data Recovery from a Re-Formatted NTFS Disk (Windows).
  Data Recovery from an ReFS disk (Windows).
  Data Recovery from a Re-Formatted exFAT/FAT Disk (Windows/macOS/Linux).
  Data Recovery from an Erased HFS Disk (macOS).
  Data Recovery from an Erased APFS Disk (macOS).
  Data Recovery from a Re-Formatted Ext2/3/4FS Disk (Linux).
  Data Recovery from an XFS Disk (Linux).
  Recovery from an External Device with a Damaged File System.
  Free File Recovery from an Android Phone Memory Card.
• RAID reconstruction and recovery
  RAID Recovery Presentation. How to work with RAIDs in R-Studio.
  Automatic RAID Parameter Detection.
  Finding RAID parametersHow to find RAID parameters manually when automatic detection has failed.
  Default Parameters of Software Stripe Sets (RAID 0) in Mac OS X
  How to connect virtual RAID and LVM/LDM volumes to the operating system
  Creating a Custom Known File Type for R-Studio
• File recovery from Windows Storage Spaces, Apple RAIDs, Linux LVM/LVM2, and NAS devices
  Data recovery from Windows Storage Spaces.
  Data recovery from Apple RAIDs.
  Data recovery from Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM and LVM2).
  Data Recovery from a Simple NAS
  
• File recovery from virtual machines, various file container formats, and encrypted disks
  BitLocker Drive Encryption.
  Data Recovery from disks of Virtual Machines.
  Data Recovery from Virtual Hard Disks (.VHD/VHDX) files.
  Data Recovery from Various File Container Formats and Encrypted Disks.
  Data Recovery from an Encrypted Linux Disk after a System Crash.
  Data Recovery from Apple Disk Images (.DMG files).
• Network Data Recovery
  R-Studio: Data Recovery over Network.
  How To Use R-Studio Corporate Package.
  Emergency Data Recovery over Network.
  R-Studio Technician: Data Recovery over the Internet.
  NAT and Firewall Traversal for Remote Data Recovery.
  
• Imaging of failing hard drives
  Linear Imaging vs Runtime Imaging vs Multi-Pass Imaging.
  Runtime Imaging in R-Studio.
  Multi-pass imaging in R-Studio.
  
• Working with the third-party hardware
  USB Stabilizer Tech for unstable USB devices.
  DeepSpar RapidSpar™.
  DeepSpar Disk Imager™.
  Joint work of R-Studio and PC-3000 UDMA hardware.
  Joint work of R-Studio and HDDSuperClone.
  
• Helps, FAQs, Forums
  R-Studio Help.
  R-Studio for Mac Help.
  R-Studio for Linux Help.
  R-Undelete Help.
  File Recovery FAQ.
  Data Recovery Forum.