Retrieving files/folders from $Recycle.bin when Recycle Bin is empty

I'm dealing with a backup drive from the year 2013. The backup software says that a particular backup dataset is in the Recycle Bin. It must have been deleted by accident in early 2014 (?) when I was changing out the backup drive in my system. (I use a new back up drive every year.) That deletion was done in Windows 7 no doubt, and my current Windows 10 install is a fresh install, not an upgrade from Win 7.

So how can I convince Windows to restore this file?

If you are lucky and none of the sectors were reused you may be able to get the file back with a tool that recovers deleted files.

A backup file will be pretty big so the likely hood that a sector was reused goes up but worth a shot.
@jumanji is one of the best at data recovery.

Caledon Ken said:

If you are lucky and none of the sectors were reused you may be able to get the file back with a tool that recovers deleted files.

A backup file will be pretty big so the likely hood that a sector was reused goes up but worth a shot.
@jumanji is one of the best at data recovery.

Thanks. I realize that it's quite possible that some sectors of that deleted file have been reused. Still, I just dropped a message to @jumanji

Maybe he (and Brink ...) should do a tutorial on this subject? I doubt I'm the first person with this problem.

@jumanji

Thank you sir. Let's hope OP is successful.

Caledon Ken said:

@jumanji

Thank you sir. Let's hope OP is successful.

I was successful, but not in any way that I could have imagined. Here is the deal.

I use Retrospect Desktop, which is like Macrium Reflect on steroids. Been using it like forever. And I decided that now was the time to clean up all my old backups, and consolidate old backup files on just one or two large HDDs. My approach has been to do a fresh backup drive every year, and I've got a bunch of these drives in a drawer.

Retrospect told me that my"dataset" (backup file) 2013-12 Transact DATA was in Recycle Bin, but I had no way to find it using Explorer. Quite by accident, I ran JAM Software Treesize Free (+1 for this utility) on the drive in question. And what do you know, Treesize Free clearly showed the missing dataset folder in $Recyle.Bin. Using the COPY function in Treesize Free (like I said, +1), I was able to copy that folder to a different drive and then I got Retrospect to recognize the dataset in a new location.

The key here is that the folder containing my file was never actually deleted, because the Recycle Bin was never emptied, so that the folder and its files remained intact.



Who wudda thunk it?

So thanks to everyone who responded with real help here. That's why this forum is so great.

jumanji said:

Glad that you were able to retrieve the data in the recycle bin with your own effort and thanks for sharing it here. Please mark this thread as solved and that should help others in the same predicament looking for a resolution .

Absolutely,

x509