One of the most common fears among computer users is data loss. We use our computers to store videos or movies. But sometimes, any video may get mistakenly deleted, or the hard disc becomes corrupted due to a system malfunction.
Here, in this guide, we’ll let you know about some standard methods used for video recovery. If they don’t work, a third-party video recovery application can help you recover video files on your computer.
Common Reasons for Video Loss
Before going into video recovery, it is essential to point out the reason behind the video loss. There can be a variety of reasons behind data loss.
- Deletion by Accident
Sometimes, a file gets deleted accidentally if the delete button is pressed by mistake or deleted instead of another file.
- Hardware or Software Issues
Sometimes a corrupted or damaged drive or application may cause data loss.
- Storage Formatting
If a storage device is formatted without taking a backup of its files, all data inside it gets wiped out.
- Virus Attacks
A malware attack may delete all files in a system if programmed for that.
Useful Methods to Recover Lost Video Files
If the procedure is unknown, recovering deleted videos might be a difficult task. There are many data recovery tools out there, but most of them don’t function as promised and often may even make things worse. As a result, knowing what data recovery software to employ is critical.
The methods listed below may be used to restore data for free on Windows and Mac OS.
- Check the Recycle Bin (or Trash Bin on Mac systems)
Unless you permanently delete something by pressing the ‘Shift + Delete’ keys together, the system sends the deleted stuff to the recycle bin.
So, checking the recycle bin for your deleted videos is the best thing to do before downloading any recovery software.
NOTE: The system automatically deletes any file which has been in the recycle bin for 30 days.
Recovering video files from the recycle bin:
- Go to the Windows Desktop and look for the Recycle Bin (or Trash Bin on the Mac home screen).
- Open it and go through the list of everything you’ve removed; if you’re lucky, you’ll locate your deleted item.
- Right-click the object you want to recover.
- From the drop-down menu, choose ‘Restore’ (or ‘Put Back’ on Mac), and the file will be restored to its original location.
- Check for Backups
We strongly recommend that you keep a backup of vital videos on an external drive or cloud storage to avoid data loss. Important files can be backed up to an external drive so that they can be recovered if the internal drive gets corrupted.
Google Drive, Apple Cloud, Microsoft OneDrive, MEGA, and many other free cloud storage options are available. They keep your data on cloud servers so that you can recover them whenever needed.
Video files can be safely backed up and stored on local storage devices, like an external drive, using Windows’ ‘File History’ or Apple’s ‘Time Machine.
Recovering video files from Backup:
- Connect the backup drive to the computer.
For Windows:
- Go to Control Panel and choose ‘Restore Files’ from System and Security.
- From the left menu, choose ‘File History’ and then select ‘Restore Personal Files.’
- Navigate to the video’s location and select it (to preview, double-click on it).
- To restore the video to its original location, click the Restore button at the bottom of the screen.
For Mac:
- From the menu bar, select the backup icon.
- Select “Time Machine” from the drop-down menu.
- Find the deleted video by scrolling through the timeline.
- Click to select it (press Space Bar to preview it).
- Select ‘Restore,’ and the video will be returned to its original location.
- If the video is backed up to the cloud, go to the Cloud Storage service, log in, and download a copy of it.
Recover Videos Using Wondershare Recoverit
If none of the other options work, you’ll have to switch to a video recovery application. On the internet, there are dozens of video recovery software that claim to retrieve erased files.
But which one should you use?
We recommend using Wondershare Recoverit, the best data recovery software that you can get on the web. Its powerful tools can recover any data effectively and quickly, and it can recover videos, images, audio files, documents, and many other deleted stuff.
Recoverit is available on both Windows and Mac OS.
Recovering video files with Recoverit:
First, you must download and install the Recoverit data recovery software on your computer.
NOTE: Do not download or install Recoverit on the drive where the data was saved before deletion. This prevents the installed application from overwriting the deleted file’s memory location.
After the installation, proceed as follows:
- Start the Recoverit application on your computer. Let the software detect all the internal and external drives connected to your system. Select the drive to search for deleted videos and click ‘Start.’
2. The selected drive will be thoroughly scanned for deleted videos. The scanning speed is affected by the storage capacity. As the app continues to scan, a real-time scan result showing removed items will emerge (you can stop the scan once the deleted video shows on the list before the scan is finished).
3. Once the scan is finished, the app will show a list of all recoverable files on the screen. Select the videos you want to recover and press the ‘Recover’ button. You’ll be asked to select the location to save your file.
After that, you can navigate to the location and play the video.
If the video isn’t still recovered, don’t worry. Recoverit has an ‘Advanced Video Recovery’ mode to deep scan and recovers the deleted video files.
To use the feature, press the ‘Advance Video Recovery’ option from the left menu of the app’s home screen. The software will perform a deep scan of your system and search for deleted videos (this scan takes more time than a normal scan).
After the scan is complete, you can check the results and preview the recovered file. If the file is present in the list, save it by clicking the ‘Recover’ button.
(How does data recovery software work? When we delete anything permanently from a storage device, the system keeps the contents of the deleted file at its original memory position until it is replaced by another file when the system allocates the free storage space to new data. So, unless the erased data is overwritten by anything else, it is feasible to retrieve it.)
Features of Wondershare Recoverit
- Supports over 1000 file types saved in NTFS, FAT, HFS+, APFS, and other file systems
- Guarantees 100% data security
- Boasts a recovery success rate of over 95%
- Recovers data from over 2000 different types of storage devices on both Mac and Windows platforms
- Works with a camcorder, video/music player, camera, and other everyday gadgets
- Recovers data from all unfortunate circumstances such as accidental deletion, malware attack, formatting, hardware damage, software corruption, and more.
- Advanced built-in abilities to recover and repair faulty videos and photos and access data from a crashed machine.
- Advanced Video Repair tool to deep scan and recover deleted videos.
Conclusion
If none of the previous data recovery methods work, then your storage may be corrupted, or your drive may be physically damaged. In that situation, it’s best to get it checked out by a specialist as soon as possible. Tampering with it might cause more harm and, as a result, irreversible data loss.
Even if you’re extremely cautious, you never know when your important videos may get deleted, which happens to practically everyone on the planet regularly. But you need not worry anymore because Wondershare Recoverit is here at your rescue.