Recycle Bin Recovery Software Free | Best 14 Choices

Brithny updated on Oct 29, 2024 to Data Recovery | How-to Articles

This post lists the 14 best free Recycle Bin recovery software with pros and cons. Download the best data recovery software and restore deleted files from the Recycle Bin or hard drive in Windows 11/10/8/7.

Are you looking for the best way to recover deleted files and restore them from your Windows Recycle Bin? Whether it's an accidentally deleted file, family photos, important documents, or private data - everyone has experienced a situation where they need to retrieve something that was previously discarded. Fortunately, there are several data recovery tools available.

This post will discuss the eight best Recycle Bin recovery software. Read on to discover which one is the most suitable solution for your requirements!

  1. 1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard💯
  2. 2. Recuva
  3. 3. TestDisk
  4. 4. Windows File Recovery
  5. 5. PhotoRec
  6. 6. Stellar Data Recovery
  7. 7. Disk Drill
  8. 8. Ontrack EasyRecovery
  9. 9. Cisdem Data Recovery
  10. 10. Puran File Recovery
  11. 11. DiskGenius
  12. 12. R-Studio
  13. 13. Wise Data Recovery
  14. 14. Recoverit Data Recovery

We evaluated the Recycle Bin recovery software mentioned above based on a number of factors, including performance, affordability, compatibility, and ease of use. The test results are displayed in the table below:

⚒Data loss cases Focus on Recycle Bin recovery
🔢Number of SD card recovery software tested 14
⏳ Time duration 4 weeks
💻OS versions Windows, macOS, Linux
⚙ Cost Free & Paid versions

Free Recycle Bin Recovery Is Possible

Yes. You can recover an emptied Recycle Bin with Recycle Bin Recovery Software. After emptying the Recycle Bin, files are not actually deleted from your hard drive. Instead, they are simply moved to another location on the computer. In this new spot on the hard drive is where deleted Recycle Bin files are held until they are overwritten by other files stored in the computer's memory. 

This is why it is possible to recover items emptied from the Recycle Bin if you act quickly enough before they are overwritten. While it is not guaranteed that all lost data can be restored successfully, using specialist data recovery software is often beneficial to identify files that may have been thought lost forever. Keep reading to get the best data recovery software.

Top 14 Recycle Bin Recovery Software Free Download

To find out the most effective Recycle Bin recovery software, we have tried over 20 data recovery software and picked out the eight most workable ones. You can compare their features, pros, and cons to select the most effective one according to your needs.

Top 1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free for Recycle Bin Recovery

  • Free✅ | For Windows, macOS, Linux⭐

As a comprehensive and reliable data recovery tool, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard works well in recovering files that have been accidentally deleted, emptied from the Recycle Bin, formatted, or otherwise lost due to virus attacks and other issues. With a straightforward user interface, this Recycle Bin recovery software enables effortless navigation, making it suitable for novice and experienced computer users. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free also offers dedicated tools for repairing selected files before recovery, download this software and recover deleted files from Recycle Bin for free.

Pros Cons
  • ✅Restore lost files with only three steps
  • ✅Support video repair and photo repair
  • ✅Recover 1000+ file types on various devices
  • ✅Provide fast scanning speed and high-quality data recovery

User Review (Full Information from Lifewire)

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a free file recovery program for Windows and Mac operating systems. It recovers data from internal and external hard drives, USB devices, memory cards, iOS devices, music players, and similar devices...

Overall, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free is a versatile tool with advantages and disadvantages, underscoring usability as its highest priority. You may want to jump to the detailed Recycle Bin recovery tutorial right now. Click this link to go directly. Go to the Recycle Bin recovery tutorial >>

If you think this recommendation is helpful, please share this guide with more Windows users!

 

Top 2. Recuva (Free Recycle Bin Recovery Software)

  • Free✅ | For Windows, macOS⭐

If you are looking for 100% free data recovery software, you should consider Recuva. This free data recovery software is designed to safely restore deleted files, including pictures, music, documents, videos, emails, and more. One of the best features of Recuva is its deep scan, which allows users to locate hard-to-find files that even Recycle Bin may not be able to identify. Another great thing about Recuva is that it's pretty easy to use, so anyone can start using it without too much effort and recover deleted files in Windows 11 or other versions.

Pros Cons
  • ✅100% free data recovery software for Windows users
  • ✅Recover data for free without any limitation
  • ✅Provide a portable data recovery version
  • ❌You need to buy the professional version to enjoy the virtual drive recovery, automatic updates, and tech support.

User Review (Full Information from Techradar)

Recuva is a feature-rich data and files recovery program that's up there with the best we've used. For starters, it enables you to retrieve data from reformatted or damaged drives, improving the chance of a successful recovery. A deep scan mode is also available, which helps find hidden files...

Top 3. TestDisk (Free Download)

  • Free✅ | For Windows, macOS, Linux⭐

TestDisk is a powerful and free data recovery software. It is an open-source application and works on multiple operating systems, making it suitable for a wide user base. This tool helps you recover lost partitions, as well as individual files, even after the Recycle Bin has been emptied. The features of TestDisk data recovery also include the repair of corrupted boot sectors and partition tables, providing practical solutions to users with system crash issues.

Pros Cons
  • ✅100% free data recovery software for different platforms
  • ✅Fix a drive that is not working
  • ✅Recover accidentally deleted partitions and various files
  • ❌TestDisk requires some technical expertise as you can use command lines only.

User Review (Full Information from Techradar)

If you're looking for a free file recovery tool(opens in new tab), one of the first suggestions you'll come across is TestDisk and PhotoRec.

Top 4. Windows File Recovery (from Microsoft)

  • Free✅ | For Windows⭐

Windows File Recovery is Microsoft's Windows-compatible software, which is designed to help users recover deleted files from their system. It is an advanced tool that scans, identifies, and recovers data that has been deleted from the Windows Recycle Bin. With this tool, you can get back photos, documents, videos, and more.

Pros Cons
  • ✅100% free data recovery software for Windows 10 users
  • ✅Works well in recovering JPEG, PDF, PNG, MPEG, Office files, MP3, MP4, ZIP files, and more.
  • ❌Only available for Windows 10 2004 and above

User Review (Full Information from Help Desk Geek)

If you don't have access to another file recovery program and the computer already has Windows File Recovery, it might be worth using first. If your usual file recovery app cannot recover the files, then Windows File Recovery may be worth trying as a backup solution.

Top 5. PhotoRec (Open-source Software)

  • Free✅ | For Windows, macOS, Linux⭐

PhotoRec is a free, open-source data recovery tool designed to help recover photos, documents, videos, compressed archives, and more. With this tool, you can undelete files in Windows on Windows, Linux, and Mac devices. Besides, this free data recovery software works well in retrieving files from FAT/NTFS/exFAT/ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystem/HFS+.

Pros Cons
  • ✅100% free data recovery software
  • ✅Recover data from Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and more
  • ❌It's not easy for beginners
  • ❌Can't restore the names and structures of lost files

User Review (Full Information from Alternativeto)

I used PhotoRec on my GNU/Linux PC (Xubuntu 20.10) to undelete deleted photos on an SD card in my camera. It worked fantastically and took little time. Great software, I immediately donated a few bucks.

Top 6. Stellar Data Recovery (1GB Free)

  • Free✅ | For Windows, macOS⭐

Stellar Data Recovery is an advanced tool for restoring lost or inaccessible data from both Windows and Mac computers. It boasts a suite of multiple features, such as quick scanning to identify lost files, secure data recovery, file selection for recovery, support for data storage media, previewing of necessary files before saving them, and the ability to store recovered files in any location of choice. 

Pros Cons
  • ✅Get back lost files with only three steps
  • ✅Support unlimited file extension type recovery
  • Recover data from hard disks, SSDs, and 4K drives
  • ❌Recover 1GB of data for free
  • ❌The Pro version costs $29.99-$79.99 and has different limits according to the plans

User Review (Full Information from Trustpilot)

Devashish Sharma was able to fix my Stellar Deduplication issue in an efficient manner. Excellent troubleshooting skills!

Hope these recommendations are helpful and let you learn more about Recycle Bin recovery software, don't hesitate to share this passage on Facebook or X.

 

Top 7. Disk Drill (500MB Free)

  • Free✅ | For Windows, macOS⭐

Another free Recycle Bin recovery software I recommend is Disk Drill. It is a powerful data recovery tool that provides reliable solutions to retrieve accidentally deleted files or data. With the help of powerful scanning algorithms, you can quickly locate and retrieve lost data from Windows and Mac devices. Users can preview recoverable files in Disk Drill before committing to a full recovery package, which can be especially helpful when dealing with sensitive information.

Pros Cons
  • ✅Bring back lost data with simple clicks
  • ✅Support data recovery on Windows and Mac
  • ✅Allow to search for and preview lost data
  • ❌The free version can only recover 500MB of data for free
  • ❌Users can check the data quality in the scan results

User Review (Full Information from Lifewire)

Disk Drill is a nifty free file recovery program, both because of its long list of features and its exceptionally simple-to-use interface.

Top 8. Ontrack EasyRecovery

  • Free✅ | For Windows, macOS⭐

Ontrack EasyRecovery is a useful data recovery tool that helps users safely and effectively restore files, folders, documents, and more. It offers a host of valuable features, such as the ability to create bootable media for emergency boots, identify and repair faulty or missing system files, fully control compressed file recovery from archives, search for vital Windows system files, and much more.

Pros Cons
  • ✅Provide a simple and user-friendly interface
  • ✅24x7 hours of support from experts
  • ✅Allow for a deep scan for lost files
  • ❌The free version can only recover 1GB of data for free
  • ❌Can't recover data from inaccessible partitions for free

User Review (Full Information from PCmag)

Ontrack EasyRecovery deserves its long-standing reputation as the powerhouse among data recovery software. (Full Information from PCmag)

Top 9. Cisdem Data Recovery

  • Free✅ | For Windows, macOS, Linux⭐

Are files removed by accidentally deleting them, by using the shortcut "Shift+Del," or both? Remain calm. With the use of Cisdem Data Recovery, erased files - including emails, documents, pictures, audio files, archives, and more - can be promptly recovered easily. This software is the OEM product of EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard; you can find similar features to the EaseUS Recycle Bin recovery tool.

Pros Cons
  • ✅The scanning findings are organized into an easy-to-use file tree and are very readable.
  • ✅File restoration is possible without pausing the scanning procedure.
  • ✅Files are grouped by tags to provide results. 
  • ❌The program is a copy of EaseUS and works identically to it with limited functionality only.

User Review (Full Information from Trustpilot)

Cisdem Software is excellent, for example, cisdem data recovery, pdf converter ocr, video converter, and appcrypt.

Top 10. Puran File Recovery

  • Free✅ | For Windows⭐

Partitions and erased files can be recovered with Puran File Recovery. Files can also be restored from formatted disks and the emptied Recycle Bin for free. Regardless of the file system, almost anything Windows recognizes as a disk can be inspected. Any type of storage device, including hard drives, pen drives, memory cards, cell phones, CDs, and DVDs, can be used.

Pros Cons
  • ✅You may quickly view the size and condition of each deleted Recycle Bin file next to it.
  • ✅Portable versions are available.
  • ✅The download file is not large
  • ❌A long time has passed since the latest update

User Review (Full Information from Lifwire)

Puran File Recovery is a free file recovery program. If you need to restore lost or deleted files, Puran File Recovery is a great solution, as the disk scans are quick, and the program is easy to learn.

Top 11. DiskGenius

  • Free✅ | For Windows⭐

DiskGenius is a feature-rich data recovery manager that is free and dependable. To enable both advanced users and beginners by streamlining data recovery operations. This software is a dependable choice whether you wish to restore deleted files or formatted/damaged files from Recycle Bin.

Pros Cons
  • ✅An all-in-one product: a partition manager, and a backup & restore tool.
  • ✅enables users to view and examine internal and external drives' SMART data. 
  • ✅The program is able to search your disk for damaged sectors and attempt to repair them.
  • ❌The interface is not user-friendly

User Review (Full Information from TechRadar)

While the user interface is lacking and leads to some confusion, the functionality on offer in Eassos DiskGenius is considerable. Pricing is sensible, matching competitors while offering a little more, but most importantly, the free version of DiskGenius is largely unrestricted, making it ideal for home users and small businesses.

Top 12. R-Studio

  • Free✅ | For Windows, macOS, Linux⭐

R-Studio is a data recovery program that can help you recover data that has been erased accidentally from the Recycle Bin, damaged by viruses, hard drive corruption, or partition loss. This self-service utility allows data to be restored from FAT, NTFS, and ReFS on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers.

Pros Cons
  • ✅Offers a user-friendly interface compared to other software applications such as Matlab or Python.
  • ✅Nothing compares to free, and R statistics is no exception, as it provides an excellent selection of functions at no cost. 
  • ❌Not suitable for computer beginners

User Review (Full Information from TechRadar)

An impressively complete recovery utility, with options for retrieving lost data, managing disks and partitions, and creating virtual RAIDs. While there might be too much here for the beginner, the wealth of options cannot be overlooked.

Top 13. Wise Data Recovery

  • Free✅ | For Windows, macOS⭐

Wise Data Recovery is also a wonderful Recycle Bin data recovery software. It can be used for free to recover deleted files up to 2 GB, including emails, documents, videos, and pictures. Wise Data Recovery can swiftly recover files that have been completely erased by using Shift + Delete, emptying the Recycle Bin, or even formatting a disk.

Pros Cons
  • ✅Clean and user-friendly interface
  • ✅Support portable versions
  • ✅Support filter and search for files
  • ❌Images on a preview window do not enlarge to display the full file.

User Review (Full Information from TechRadar)

Wise Data Recovery is a good free option for recovering deleted files. But, if you have a damaged hard drive, you may get more bangs for your buck from other data recovery tools.

Top 14. Recoverit Data Recovery

  • Free✅ | For Windows, macOS⭐

Wondershare Recoverit data recovery software supports both Windows and macOS operating systems. It can recover any kind of file, including emails, documents, graphics, audio, and video files. Recoverit can recover data from all circumstances involving data loss, such as accidentally emptying the Recycle Bin.

Pros Cons
  • ✅Before committing to recovery, users can preview files to make sure the right data is being retrieved.
  • ✅Ability to restore a wide variety of file formats.
  • ✅Relatively a high recovery success rate.
  • ❌The resource-intensiveness of the deep scanning process may cause some users' other computer operations to lag.

User Review (Full Information from TechRadar)

Wondershare Recoverit is a data protection software that stores all your important information. There are lots of advanced features and a free option.

How to Recover Data with Recycle Bin Recovery Software for Free

Choose the best 14 free Recycle Bin recovery software to meet your needs. Here are the steps to run a Recycle Bin recovery (even after emptying) in Windows 11, 10, and other versions with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. Download this free hard drive recovery software to recover deleted files.

Step 1. To specifically recover files from emptied Recycle Bin on Windows 11/10/8/7, hover the mouse pointer over the "Recycle Bin" option under the "Hardware Disk" section and click "Search for Lost Data".

Step 2. EaseUS data recovery software will start a quick scan immediately for all deleted files, and later a deep scan will launch automatically to scan more lost files. After the scanning process, you can use the "Filter" feature to select a specific file type, such as Pictures, Word, videos, etc.

Step 3. Once you locate the files you want to restore, you can double-click it for a full preview. Then, select the target files and click "Recover". We suggest you select a different volume or an external USB drive to save the recovered files to avoid data overwriting. You can choose a cloud storage, such as OneDrive, Google Drive, etc., and click "Save" to save your recovered files.

After learning all the handy applications of Recycle Bin recovery, don't forget to mark this page or share it on social media.

 

Conclusion

Whenever you have emptied your Recycle Bin in Windows 11, don't worry. Choose the best free Recycle Bin recovery software to meet your needs. Download the best data recovery software and restore lost data with simple clicks.

Recycle Bin Recovery Software FAQs

That's all about Recycle Bin recovery. Keep reading, and you can get additional help.

1. How do I recover permanently deleted files?

Follow the steps to Restore Deleted Files in Windows 10:

  • Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
  • Select the disk partition and click Scan
  • Preview and restore lost Windows files

2. Can Recycle Bin be recovered?

Yes. Recycle Bin recovery after emptying is possible. You need to run data recovery software or Windows backup to restore lost data.

3. Where do files go after being deleted from the Recycle Bin?

They are still on the drive. Windows marks its storage space as free, allowing other files to be stored on it.

4. How to prevent data loss?

  • Back up your data regularly
  • Maintain your computer
  • Use reliable hardware components