Can I recover files deleted from a USB key?

Q I installed Portable Firefox on a USB flash memory drive and later deleted it to free up some storage space. Unfortunately I also deleted an important folder I wanted to keep along with it. I checked the Recycle Bin but it wasn’t there. Is a way to recover this folder?

James Smith

A Windows doesn’t use the Recycle Bin for external drives, so deleted files cannot be recovered in the same way as files deleted from an internal hard disk drive.

As long as nothing else has been stored on the USB flash drive in the meantime, though, the deleted folder should be relatively easy to recover. The process will require a third-party ‘undelete’ utility.

There are, of course, lots to choose from but one that will do the job well is PC Inspector File Recovery 4, which is free. Install and run the program, select English as the language in the first dialogue box and click the large red ‘X’ to close the second ‘Welcome’ dialogue box.

Now connect the USB flash drive, and in File Recovery 4, click File and then Drive, select the appropriate letter for the USB flash drive and click the green tick button. A list of folders will be displayed in the left pane of the program window. Click to select the one called Deleted: this folder’s content will appear in the right pane. Right-click the deleted folder, select Save to and then save it to the PC’s hard disk (not the USB flash drive) to undelete it.

This type of undeletion is possible because when Windows deletes a file or folder on a USB flash drive, it does not actually remove it, but instead marks the space it occupies as free for use. So, as long as the space hasn’t been used to store another file, finding the deleted file or folder and recovering it is generally easy.

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