Can files be permanently erased from a BitLocker-protected drive?
Can files be permanently erased from a BitLocker-protected drive?
Windows experienced issues while moving files and canceling the transfer. Instead of restoring the moved items, they vanished from both the original and target locations. They weren't found in the recycle bin either because they were too large. Attempts to recover the data using various software have failed—the files don’t open even when listed. I haven’t copied any new information to the source drive. Windows File Recovery and R Studio both show all file names but can’t retrieve or open any of them successfully. The drive remains unlocked during recovery attempts, yet the recovered files stay inaccessible.
Using a data recovery service like DriveSavers can help retrieve lost information. They possess the expertise and tools necessary to recover your files. Even if they cannot restore your data, they won’t charge anything. This method involved saving the moved data to your clipboard. Knowing this earlier could have prevented the loss. The feature to enable is clipboard history, which allows saved data to persist without being overwritten when new items are copied. However, currently this information offers limited benefit. In the future, it may be worth considering and utilizing such options.
Do your storage devices use HDDs or SSDs? Are the internal components or external drives? Internal SSDs lose data when files are deleted, becoming nearly impossible to recover through software or operating system tools within roughly five minutes on my machine—unless the file size is very small (under 1–2K). If the OS was occupied and TRIM wasn’t triggered, your SSDs will be scheduled for weekly optimization, which includes a TRIM operation. By then, recovery chances at the software level are extremely low. Even if recovery software reports success, the actual data remains unreadable.
We do not provide guidance on circumventing BitLocker protection, but general data recovery tips remain acceptable.