Deleting a file removes its index entry and marks the space reusable. The contents sit untouched until something writes over them, which is why the clock that matters started at the deletion rather than at the moment you noticed. Several free options are worth trying before anyone pays for anything.
$ bdr diagnose /dev/sdb → Device: SanDisk SD card (128 GB) · camera → Status: DELETED FILES — 1,240 photos removed → Client: confidential · Winchester SO23 $ bdr engineer-working → Forensic image: taken · originals untouched → Deep scan + carve: JPEG/RAW signatures → Found: 1,236 / 1,240 files $ bdr verify → ✓ holiday_photos — 1,236 files → ✓ all preview OK — intact → ✓ deleted shots — recovered
Deleting removes the index entry and marks the space reusable. The files stay until something lands on them, so every file saved, every update installed and every browser cache write is a candidate. If it is your system drive, shut the machine down.
The route to the loss determines a good deal about what comes back.
Worth exhausting before anyone pays for anything.
Obvious, regularly forgotten, and instant.
Windows keeps restore points and file history that can return a file without touching the live file system.
Macs take local snapshots automatically, even with no backup drive attached. Frequently holds a file deleted the same day.
OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and iCloud retain deleted items and prior versions for a period, often 30 days. Check the web interface, not the app.
The file may have been sent, shared or synced somewhere else entirely — the least technical route and often the fastest.
Where the free routes fail, the difference between a lab and a scan is what the work is performed on.
The drive is imaged read-only first, and every recovery attempt runs against that image. That matters for two reasons. On a healthy drive it means nothing we do can overwrite anything, so multiple approaches can be tried without cost. On a drive that is also failing — which is more common than people expect, because deletion and hardware trouble often surface together — it means the disk is read once rather than scanned repeatedly for hours.
From the image, deleted entries are recovered from the file system where the records survive, and carved by signature where they do not. Where both work, the structure-based results are used because they keep filenames and folders.
Including when the answer is that you do not need us.
A single drive, SSD or external is from £300 +VAT; cards and USB sticks from £250 +VAT; RAID, NAS and servers from £500 +VAT. Free 48-hour diagnostic and a written quote first, most jobs no fix, no fee.
If the diagnostic shows the files were TRIMmed from a working SSD, or overwritten by months of subsequent use, we will tell you and there is nothing to pay. Equally, if the job is one you could do yourself with read-only software on a healthy drive, we will say so.
Send the device in for its free diagnostic and tell us briefly what happened; an engineer reviews it and confirms your exact quote in writing before anything starts.
Getting your data back begins with getting the device to us. Pack it up safely, pop your contact details inside, and send it over — once we’ve run the free diagnostic, we’ll confirm your exact price in writing before any work starts.
Posting it? A tracked, insured service is what we’d recommend. Rather drop it in? You’re welcome Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm — just package the device up as above first.
Want a bit more detail first? Fill in the form with more about your issue and an engineer will review it and send you a custom quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 01865 593000.
The things people most often want to know about getting deleted files back.
Often. “Permanently deleted” usually means bypassing the Recycle Bin, which removes the index entry rather than the data. The file stays until something overwrites it, so what decides the outcome is how much the drive has been used since.
Stop using the drive. Don’t save files, don’t install anything — including recovery software — and if it is your system drive, shut the machine down. Every write afterwards is a chance to land on the space your file occupied.
Usually not, if the drive is working normally. TRIM tells the SSD to erase blocks belonging to deleted files, and that erasure happens within minutes. Externals in USB enclosures often escape TRIM, and a failed SSD cannot run it at all.
There is no fixed period — it depends entirely on how much the drive is used. A file deleted an hour ago on a machine switched off since is in excellent shape; the same file after a fortnight of daily use may be entirely overwritten.
On a healthy drive, and if you install it elsewhere and recover elsewhere, yes — and we’ll say so rather than take the job. On a drive that is making noise or dropping out, no: scanning is hours of the wrong stress.
From £300 plus VAT for a single drive and £250 plus VAT for cards and USB sticks, fixed in a written quote after a free 48-hour diagnostic. If the files turn out to be genuinely gone, there is nothing to pay.
A free diagnostic, no fix no fee on most jobs, and deleted-file recovery from any drive, stick or card. The sooner you stop, the more comes back — start today.