Deleted folders in Windows 11 are removed from the system storage.
Deleted folders in Windows 11 are removed from the system storage.
I'm trying really hard to figure this out, but it's all confusing. Maybe my dog was the culprit when I left my laptop on the sofa. There are several folders gone from my Onedrive/File Explorer, and the M365 warnings ended up in the junk folder. I thought they might be in the recycling bin, but they’re too damaged to fix. I used a recovery tool to try and get the files back, but they’re all corrupted. I changed their extensions—like from docx to pdf—and moved the files to a folder on my C drive. I also ran some repair tools and tried uploading them to Google Drive, but nothing worked. I lost a lot of important files, including my CV and many documents. If anyone has any advice, I’d really appreciate it. I’m really upset.
I also used the repairit tool to restore the files, but it returned a result that was too severely damaged to fix. When I attempted to repair them again, the process failed.
The files were stored locally or cached. They should be recoverable like any other deleted file on Windows. Microsoft typically doesn’t assist with files beyond the bin folder, but you can try other recovery programs. Microsoft offers a solution here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/wind...3cb4e1d4c4. If you prefer not to use the command line, watching the suggested video can help, as it explains the process clearly. Files become unrecoverable only after being overwritten; they aren’t truly deleted until that point. If your drive is nearly full, files are more likely to be overwritten and corrupted. Changing the file type (e.g., to PDF) won’t restore them, as they’re different versions.
Thank you for your guidance. I truly value the help you provided. I attempted the Windows file recovery tool and managed to restore the entire C drive. However, the files either displayed as gibberish when opened or indicated that no recoverable files were found when trying different extensions like .pptx and .xls. Since I own both a laptop and a PC, I plan to use the Windows file recovery app on my PC, as it was used on my laptop. It seems the files might have been deleted from the laptop, possibly via OneDrive, which was removed over 30 days ago. It’s frustrating I only discovered this recently. I’m a bit concerned someone might have access now, especially after receiving another email stating many files were deleted and I haven’t cleared anything. I have Bitdefender installed on both devices, so I’ll run some scans to check for any issues. It looks like I might have lost important data.
That's excellent news! To secure your Onedrive account, update your password and consider enabling two-factor authentication if you haven't already. Log out of all active devices via the Microsoft account page. Onedrive occasionally sends emails about large deletions, but these are typically sent shortly after the event rather than 30 days later. It's great to hear you successfully recovered your files!