Tips On Recovering Permanently Deleted Files From Windows & Mac

After deleting files & emptying the Recycle Bin/Trash or pressing "Shift + Delete" to delete files directly, most users think they’ve deleted useless files permanently and can’t find them back. But, it is often not the case.

If users find they have made mistakes in deleting files permanently, we’ve got solutions to recovering permanently deleted files from Windows and Mac. If users want to remove data off hard drive completely, they’d better choose to wipe disk rather than simple deletion.



So, please don’t get into endless panic right after deleting files by mistake; the permanently deleted files can be recovered easily as long as the real content still remain intact, having not been overwritten by new data yet.

Based on those facts, we decide to firstly talk about permanent deletion. Then, we’ll focus on the ways to permanently delete files on both Windows and Mac. In the end, some easy and practical solutions will be introduced for recovering deleted files.

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Get to Know Permanent Deletion of Files

What is file deletion exactly? In fact, it refers to the process of removing file from file system, making it disappear from computer. We often choose to delete files in order to release more free space, protect private information or avoid confusion.

Well, it’s not difficult to discover the fact that – we can easily undelete files with the help of data recovery software like MiniTool Power Data Recovery. And the tutorials on how to recover your deleted file are everywhere on the internet.

But before we show you the detailed steps to recover data, we guess you may be curious about what really happens when you delete a file. So, that’s what we’re going to tell you in the next part. After knowing it, you’ll have a clear understanding of why deleted files can be recovered and how the recovery is achieved.

File Storage on Hard Drive

To know the actual changes of hard drive after file deletion, we must know the storage of a file on hard drive at first. In Windows OS (Operating System), a hard drive is divided into 5 areas: MBR, DBR, FAT, DIR and DATA.

MBR (Master Boot Record): generated by Fdisk – the partitioning command, it is located in cylinder 0, head 0 and sector 1. When you see "55 AA", you should know it’s the end of MBR.

DBR (Dos Boot Record): generated by formatting command, it is located in cylinder 0, head 1 and sector 1. It’s the first sector that OS could have access to. It includes a bootstrap program and a BIOS parameter block.



FAT (File Allocation Table): in Windows, a file is actually divided into several segments and each segment is saved into dispersed hard disk clusters. The connection information among different segments is saved in FAT. So when accessing a file, the system can find certain segments quickly and accurately according to records in FAT.

DIR (Directory): this area is also known as FDT (File Directory Table), which records the information of each file (directory), such as starting & ending unit and attributes, in the root directory.

DATA: this is the exact place where the real content of files is stored.

What Happens When Files Are Deleted

So, what’s the real story for file deletion?
As a matter of fact, when files are deleting by system, a deletion mark will be placed onto their file directory entries. Then, the clusters occupied by them in FAT will be marked as empty and available for use.

At this time, there’s no change made to the DATA area. So, to sum up, it is the certain information in FAT/FDT that has been destroyed when file is deleting; the real content still remains intact.

Reasons for Deleting Files Permanently

Once a file is saved to hard drive, it’ll always be there until we choose to delete it or unexpected accidents occur to remove it. Well, do you know the reason why we want to delete files permanently? If not, please take a closer look at the following possible reasons.

Release free space: as the data we store in computer or other storage devices is increasing rapidly, the demands for large capacity and frequent backup are also increasing. This leaves great pressure on both individuals and enterprises. Thus, file deletion is a good way to relieve the pressure.

Avoid confusion: when we have many files with similar names, we may choose to delete the unnecessary ones to avoid confusion. Or when we have a few modification versions of a file, we’d better delete the useless ones to avoid misoperation.

Protect sensitive data: for both individuals and companies, they may save files include personal information, bank account and other sensitive data in computer hard drive or removable disk when they need to use them. For safety considerations, they’ll delete those sensitive data after using them.



Avoid privacy leakage: when we plan to sell our computer/other equipment, we need to firstly check whether it contains any confidential data. If it has, we must delete them permanently before selling to stay away from privacy leakage.

Well, the real problem appears – how can we remove files permanently?

How to Permanently Delete Files on Windows & Mac

Here, we summarize the ways people often used to permanently delete files on both Windows and Mac.

Permanently Delete Files on Windows

If you are running a Windows system, you may be familiar with the permanent remove process of data from hard disk. Why? That is because permanent file deletion on Windows is frequently talked about and you can easily find related posts on the internet.

There’re 4 common ways that are adopted to delete files on Windows.

1.Select the files needing to be deleted -> press "Delete" in keyboard (or right click on the files and choose "Delete") –> find Recycle Bin and right click on it -> choose "Empty Recycle Bin".

Note:
The last two steps are not necessary when the files we choose to delete are saved in removable disks connected to computer, such as external hard drive and memory card.



2.Select the files needing to be deleted -> press "Shift" and "Delete" in keyboard at the same time -> choose "Yes" in the pop-up prompt window.



3.Open Windows Disk Management -> select certain partition under Disk Management -> right click on it and choose "Delete Volume…". (You can also make use of third-party software like MiniTool Partition Wizard to delete partition)

4.Open Windows Disk Management -> select certain partition under Disk Management -> right click on it and choose "Format…" to clear data. (You can also choose to format the partition/disk by using Diskpart command).

Here’s how to recover data after diskpart clean if you made a mistake.

Permanently Delete Files on Mac

If you don’t know how to permanently delete files on Mac, please follow the steps given below.

1.Select the files you plan to delete -> Drag & Drop them directly into Trash ->



2.Select the files -> right click on them -> choose "Move to Trash" -> find Trash -> right click on it -> choose "Empty Trash" from the pop-up menu. (You can also go to Finder to choose "Empty Trash".)



3.Select the files -> press "command" and "delete" in keyboard at the same time –> find Trash and click on it to choose "Empty Trash".



4.Select the files -> press "command", "shift" and "delete" in keyboard simultaneously.

Click this to know how to securely empty the Trash/prevent Trash warning message.

In addition, you can also choose to delete/format a certain drive to clear data in Mac.

Nevertheless, are data really removed permanently from computer by using those ways? Can we really sit back and relax after deleting confidential files? Don’t rush to answer these questions.

Recovering Permanently Deleted Files from Windows & Mac

To be honest, data security has always been the issue that we are concerned about. But, file deletion can be a security "bug" that is relatively easy to be ignored by people.

As we said, after file deletion, the real content will not be removed immediately. By analyzing related information, data recovery software is able to bring them back.

Obviously, this tends to cause privacy leakage to individuals or serious losses to companies. Yet, as every coin has two sides, this also leaves a second chance for people who deleted files permanently and then want to recover deleted files from memory card, USB flash drive or hard drive.

Note:
We suggest users who want to sell storage device to other people to wipe data completely, instead of just deleting them (they can choose professional tool like MiniTool Partition Wizard or choose to write in and delete new data repeatedly to erase data completely).

And we suggest users who want to recover permanently deleted files to stop using the drive immediately after finding themselves made a mistake.

So, how can you actually recover deleted files?

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files from Recycle Bin

Look, if you’re running Windows, please download MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free Edtion V7.0 – one of the best data recovery tools – to check whether your deleted files are still there, haven’t been overwritten.

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Then, follow this to recover deleted files for free:
a). choose a module from main interface according to actual needs.

Choose "Undelete Recovery" to recover files deleted by mistake; choose "Lost Partition Recovery" to recover files from deleted partition; choose "Damaged Partition Recovery" to recover files deleted by formatting.

b). select the partition/disk from which you’d like to recover deleted files and click on "Scan" button or "Full Scan" button to detect files.

c). look through the found files one by one (or use "Find"/"Filter" to narrow search range) and pick out the ones you want to recover. And finally, press "Save" to set a storage path for them.

However, if the size of files you selected to recover exceeds 1GB, you’ll need to buy a license to complete the recovery.

Note:
If you connected your memory card, such as SD card, to computer but can’t see it in partition list after choosing a module, you may as well click on "Refresh" button to have a try. If this still not work, go to check it in Disk Management and check the status of connection cable and interface.

Here’s all you need to know before recovering deleted files from SD card.

How to Recover Deleted Files from Hard Drive on Mac

What if you’re running Mac? Well, here’s the solution – download MiniTool Mac Data Recovery and install it.



Then, follow this to recover deleted files from Mac (the interface and operations of Mac Data Recovery are similar to that of Power Data Recovery):

a). choose a suitable module after running the software.

b). select the partition/disk to scan in order to find deleted files.

c). browse the scan result carefully and choose needed to recover.

Different from the free edition of Windows data recovery software, this Mac data recovery software can only help you restore no more than 1MB files. So you’ll certainly need a license to continue after finding that the software can find what you need.

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Note:
It doesn’t matter if you’re running Windows or Mac, we provide corresponding boot disk for recovering deleted files when the computer can’t boot as usual.

Conclusion on Permanently Deleted Files

In short, what we mean permanent deletion is not complete deletion actually. After we’ve done what we think is a permanent deletion, the content of files is not erased from disk until new data write in and occupy the corresponding disk place. Otherwise, we’ve got great chance to finish recovering permanently deleted files.

All we have to notice is that we must stop using the computer/device right after we found the permanent deletion is wrong. Then, we need to choose a reliable tool from the countless data recovery tools on the internet (secondary damage may be brought if we choose an inferior one).

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is just the right one. It is equipped with simple interfaces and is totally free (free of charge and free from virus & spyware). With the help of it, you can finish recovery in only a few easy steps. Can’t believe it? Just try the free edition yourself.

How to Convert Logical Partition to Primary without Restricts

Question: I want to convert one of my data partitions to primary since I’m planning to install another Windows, but Disk Management does not provide such a function. I had tried to delete the very logical partition to create a primary one but disk management only allowed me to create a logical drive. What’s the matter and how to convert logical partition to primary with ease?

Answer: generally, deleting a logical drive will create a free space that can only be used to create logical partitions in Disk Management while unallocated space can only be used to create primary partitions. If a logical partition has been created, the best way to convert logical partition to primary is using third party partition magic. And MiniTool Partition Wizard is available since it is safe enough, powerful, and easy to use. For detailed steps, please look at the following example.

How to Convert Logical Partition to Primary with MiniTool Partition Wizard

Run this partition magic to get its main interface below:



Then, select the logical partition which needs converting and choose “Set Partition as Primary” from the left pane. Note: users can not set the logical partition which is between 2 logical partitions as primary, because a primary partition can not be located among logical partitions.



Now, we can see the selected logical partition has become primary, so we need to click “Apply” button to apply the change to our computer. After application, to convert logical partition to primary will be completed, and users are able to dual boot Windows.

Actually, the partition magic MiniTool Partition Wizard provides another solution to this problem. To be specific, it is able to create a primary partition in free space since it allows users to choose partition type (primary or logical) in the process of creating partition.

Convert GPT Dynamic Disk to Basic Disk

During the process of using GPT file system to manage Windows partitions, lots of Windows users are bothered because they don’t know the way to convert GPT dynamic disk to basic disk. Since Windows built-in disk management tool has functional defection, it can only convert GPT dynamic disk to basic when no dynamic volume exists in GPT dynamic disk, failing meeting the GPT disk management requirements. Here, lots of Windows computer users think of using professional partition magic software to convert GPT dynamic disk to basic disk, but the fact is not that simple. Lots of professional partition magic software has functional defects, for instance, don’t support operations on GPT disk or dynamic disk or can only convert GPT dynamic disk to basic when no dynamic volume exists in GPT dynamic disk. Therefore, many Windows users desire a piece of partition magic software which helps convert GPT dynamic disk to basic disk. Now, as partition management software technology becomes maturity, the professional partition magic software which can convert GPT dynamic disk to basic disk emerged – MiniTool Partition Wizard. As long as users own this professional partition magic software, you can convert GPT dynamic disk to basic disk with ease.

Use MiniTool Partition Wizard to convert GPT dynamic disk to basic disk
To convert GPT dynamic disk to basic disk with professional partition magic software MiniTool Partition Wizard, users should firstly visit the official website of this software https://www.partitionwizard.com/, and then install and start it to see the main interface below:



After entering the main interface of this professional partition magic software MiniTool Partition Wizard, if users want to convert GPT dynamic disk to basic disk, choose the partition to convert and click “Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic”.



Here, users can see GPT dynamic disk is already converted into basic disk and three pending operations emerges in “Operations” area. To complete all operations, users just need to click “Apply”. After that, users thoroughly convert GPT dynamic disk to basic disk with the professional partition magic software MiniTool Partition Wizard.

What software will convert Windows disk to a basic disk without destroying the data

What software will convert Windows disk to a basic disk without destroying the data

• Computer users especially HP users often convert basic disk to dynamic by accident when they are creating a new partition. Indeed, users can create much more partitions on dynamic disk, but problems may emerge from time to time. For example, users will be unable to dual boot Windows 7 Home Premium in Windows 8 Pro since almost all Windows free editions do not support dynamic disk. Therefore, the problem what software will convert dynamic disk to basic without destroying data is commonly seen.
  
  Ways to Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic Disk
  
  Microsoft equips a function to system snap-in Disk Management to revert dynamic disk to basic, but users have to delete all simple or dynamic volumes in advance. If not, users will see the following situation:
  
  
  
  From the screenshot above, we see the function "Convert to Basic Disk" is grayed out and can not be used. Therefore, Windows built-in Disk Management is not the software which can convert dynamic disk to basic without destroying data. At this time, some users may feel desperate and badly need a safe enough solution.
  
  As a matter of fact, third-party partition manager is the best alternative to Windows built-in Disk Management. As long as users download an excellent partition magic, they can convert dynamic disk to basic without destroying any data and in pretty simple operations. And MiniTool Partition Wizard can meet users’ demands.
  
  Revert Dynamic Disk to Basic Disk with MiniTool Partition Wizard
  
  By using this partition manager, users can complete disk conversion without deleting any data or partition. Specific operations are as follows:
  
  Step 1: run MiniTool Partition Wizard to open its main interface:
  
  
  
  Step 2: click the area boxed by red line and choose the function "Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic".
  
  Step 3: click "Apply" button in toolbar to apply disk conversion and confirm to restart computer in accordance with prompts. After restart, let's open Windows Disk Management to check whether dynamic disk has been reverted to basic disk:
  
  
  
  Now, we can say we are successful to convert dynamic disk to basic without destroying any data or partition. After that, both dual boot and multi-boot can be realized. And other disadvantages of dynamic disk can be avoided at the same time.
  
  Note: MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition does not support operating dynamic disk, and users need to purchase MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional Edition in stead, which is quite useful and economical.
  
  

Set Partition as Logical

About “Set Partition as Logical”

One of the biggest limitations of MBR disk is that it can support up to four primary partitions. What are used supposed to do when they need more than four partitions? If users have no more than three primary partitions now, they can create a logical partition by using free space on disk, of course. However, what if there are already four primary partitions on the MBR disk? We guess the best way to solve this problem is to set partition as logical. In this way, users can get as many partitions as they want through creating logical partitions by adjusting the size of existing partitions.

Now, the only obstacle is how to set partition as logical. Considering that users are not familiar with such task at all, we feel glad to offer a wonderful tool named MiniTool Partition Wizard. Detailed tips can be found in each interface of this tool, so users got nothing to worry about.

How to Set Partition as Logical

Here’s the MiniTool Partition Wizard tutorial for setting a primary partition as logical; it only consists of three steps.

1.In the main interface, choose any one primary partition that users want to set as logical (except for the one that includes system files).



2.Initialize “Set Partition as Logical” function by clicking it in the “Operations” list. Of course, users can also employ the following ways to complete such work.

a. Right click the target partition -> choose “Modify” -> choose “Set Partition as Logical”.

b. Select “Partition” in menu bar -> choose “Modify”-> choose “Set Partition as Logical”.



3.Tap “Apply” button in the tool bar to execute pending operation, and then click “Yes” in the pop-up window to allow changes.

Primary Partition vs. Extended Partition vs. Logical Partition: Their Exact Features

Most of you would have heard of primary partition, extended partition and logical partition, right?

But do you know exact features of these 3 types of partitions? Or what partition type should you employ when partitioning a hard disk? Or have you ever encountered problems when creating such kinds of partitions?... If you are interested in these topics, please keep reading this post.

Today, we will show users these contents:


• What Are Primary Partition, Extended Partition, and Logical Partition
• How to Create Primary Partition, Extended Partition, and Logical Partition
• Why and How to Convert Primary Partition to Logical
• Why and How to Convert Logical Partition to Primary

Tip: primary partition, extended partition, and logical partition are much related to MBR disk, because GPT disk only contains primary partition.

Read This Part, and You Will be Clear to Primary Partition, Extended Partition, and Logical Partition

First of all, let’s see a picture:

Partition Layout in Windows Computer/Disk Management Tool

From legends at the bottom of the picture we know: partition C and partition E are primary partitions; partition F and partition G are logical drives (also called logical partition); partition F and partition G are contained in a large partition which is named extended partition.

But what is primary partition, logical partition, or extended partition? What features do they have? Here are answers.

Primary partition is the hard disk partition where both Windows OS and other data can be stored, and it is the only partition that can be set active. In addition, at a time only one primary partition on one hard disk can be set active to boot operating system. On an MBR disk, there can only be 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions plus 1 extended partition at most. 

Extended partition is the hard disk partition where logical partitions reside. One hard disk can hold the maximum number of 1 extended partition, but we can create lots of logical partitions here. Extended partition cannot be used directly to save data, and we have to partition it to logical drives.

Logical partition is the hard disk partition created in extended partition. Like primary partition, a logical partition can be used to install Windows and any other types of files, but we are unable to set it active.


Now, you would get a basic understanding of primary partition, extended partition, and logical partition. However, have you ever created such kinds of partitions before? If not, see our step-by-step tutorial below.

It’s Very Easy to Create Primary Partition, Extended Partition, and Logical Partition

You can do this in Windows Computer/Disk Management tool:



You might be interested in this post How do I open Disk Management on Windows 8.1

Right click unallocated space, choose New Simple Volume, and set partition properties by following instructions. Nevertheless, in recent Windows operating systems, like Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10, the former 3 partitions will be formatted to primary, and the fourth one formatted to extended by default. If you want to format the second or third partition to logical partition, third party program is required.

So you can choose to create partitions in MiniTool Partition Wizard:



Select the unallocated space and choose "Create Partition" feature from the left action pane.



Then, set properties for this partition, and here we can choose partition type, either primary or logical, even if we are creating the first partition.



Now we create a logical partition on Disk 4. To make this change finally performed, please click "Apply" button.

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"MiniTool Partition Wizard makes it so easy to create primary partition and logical partition, so you can choose it when necessary."
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However, sometimes we may need to convert a primary partition to logical or logical to primary. But when and How? Let’s see details.

Why and How to Convert Primary Partition to Logical

Have you ever received one of the following error messages when creating partitions in Disk Management?
Error 1:



This error message will appear if you create new partition in unallocated space of the hard disk which contains 3 primary partitions and one extended partition already.

Error 2:



This error message will emerge if you create new partition on the disk which holds 4 primary partitions already.

If you are troubled by these errors, to convert a primary partition to logical is a good solution. Of course, there are other solutions, and you can refer to Solutions to Maximum Number of Partitions and Creating Partition Will Convert Disk to Dynamic to get more details.

Tip: do not set system partition and boot partition logical, because this may make Windows unbootable.

Why and How to Convert Logical Partition to Primary

If you are going to install old versions of Windows which must be installed on primary partition, you'll need to convert logical partition to primary if there is no primary partition available. In addition, even if you are instlaling OS that can be installed to logical drive, there must be a primary partition to set active to hold Windows boot files. Under this situation, you'll also need to convert a logical partition to primary. For detailed steps or video help, please see Set partition as Primary.

"It’s very necessary to change partition type since this can help us solve some problems, and Partition Wizard helps us complete the change in easy steps"
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Should you have problems about primary partition, logical partition and extended partition or during converting partition type, just feel free to contact us or leave us message.

Free Pen Drive Space Extending Software Increases Space with Ease

Users may meet the situation: a newly bought 8G pen drive just shows 7G or less space available. At this time, a piece of pen drive space extending software may help solve the problem.

Why Available Space of Pen Drive Is Reduced

1G claimed by manufacturers equals to 1000MB while 1G in theory is 1024MB, so actual size of pen drive is relatively smaller. Moreover, if some space on pen drive keeps unallocated, its available space will be reduced, too. In general, unallocated space can not be seen and used in Windows Explore but visible in Disk Management. Therefore, users need to open Windows disk management utility to see whether there is such an unallocated space on pen drive. If there is, extend the existing partition to it by using pen drive space extending software (Windows can only recognize the first partition on removable device, so there is always 1 partition on a pen drive).

Here, MiniTool Partition Wizard Free is highly recommended since it is free for all non server users, safe enough to ensure data security, and easy to use. Next, let’s see how to extend partition with this program.

Extend Partition on Pen Drive with MiniTool Partition Wizard

Firstly, run the pen drive space extending software and choose “Launch Application” module to get its main interface shown below:



Then select the partition which needs extending and choose “Extend Partition” or “Move/Resize Partition” from the left pane. Here, we choose the former to get the following interface:



In this interface please take free space from unallocated space on the same drive to extend the target partition. After that, drag sliding button to decide how much space to take and click “OK” to go back to the main interface:



Now we can see the selected partition has been extended to unallocated space, so please click “Apply” button to apply changes. Once the application is completed, we increase partition size by using pen drive space extending software successfully.

If users are troubled by similar situations, try using MiniTool Partition Wizard to extend partition on pen drive. For video help, please see Extend Partition.