How to Recover Deleted Video Files on PC & Android

It’s a painful experience, and we’re sorry you’re also going through it. We’re talking, of course, about the dreadful realization your videos have disappeared from your smartphone or computer. Invisible. Gone. Nowhere to be found.

Well, we’ve been there, and we’ve gone through the process. First, realization. Then, panic. Finally, sorrow. And if someone thinks we’re overstating things, no, dear friends. We’re talking personal videos. Private videos. Moments from our life with friends and relatives, some of which we’ll never meet again. Minutes from our long-gone youth. Memories we held on to dearly.

Precisely because we’ve lived through it before, we’ve also dealt with the problem. Thankfully, in most cases, there was a solution. Sometimes more than one. What follows is a list of all the ways we’ve managed to save images and videos from virtual extinction. We hope you’ll find them as useful as we did.

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The Six Best Ways to Recover Deleted Videos

The fact modern operating systems don’t erase files when they’re deleted has a nice side-effect: it renders them recoverable.

1. Maybe Your Deleted Videos Are in the Bin?

Are you on a computer with a modern operating system? Then, the first thing you should do as soon as you realize your videos or photos are gone is look in the Recycle Bin. Or Trashcan. Or simply “Trash”.

This magical folder’s name changes among operating systems. Still, it works similarly on all of them: it’s the place where the operating system moves all files and folders marked for deletion. Saving your files from there is probably the easiest method of file recovery – as we’ll see using Windows 10 for the process.

1. On most operating systems, the Recycle Bin (or equivalent) will be right there on your desktop – at least, if you haven’t tweaked your OS’s default settings.
2. Open the Recycle Bin by double-clicking on it.
3. If your lost files are there, you can already consider them recovered. Select them, right-click on the selection, and choose Restore.
4. After a while, you’ll find them back at their original spot.

3. Recover Deleted Videos From Your Smartphone’s Storage

Most modern smartphones are streamlined to the point of forgoing support for external storage. Thus, you can’t just slap their SD card on your PC to recover lost videos from the comfort of your desktop. Instead, you’ll have to turn to solutions that specialize in fishing your lost data out of your smartphone’s internal storage.

Option A: FoneLab Android Data Recovery

FoneLab Android Data Recovery is a one-two combo that runs on your PC but also installs a client on your smartphone that allows it to “pull” your precious media from there to your desktop. To save your lost videos with it:

1. Download the app from its official site. Then, proceed with its installation.
2. Connect your smartphone to your computer. If you never connected it before, Windows might need to install some drivers for it.
3. Click on Android Data Recovery if the app doesn’t spring automatically to action.
4. Follow the on-screen advice to enable USB debugging mode on your smartphone.
5. Choose the types of files you want to recover. In our case, we’ll go for videos, but you can also recover messages, call logs, etc.
6. Click on Next, on the bottom right. You might be asked to install the extra FoneGo App. This will allow FoneLab Android Data Recovery to communicate freely with your smartphone and pull data out of it. You’ll also have to authorize the app to access the types of data you want to recover.
7. Soon, you’ll see formerly lost files popping-up in the app. When it’s located the ones you want back, stop the scanning process, tap on them to select them, and click on Recover on the bottom right.
8. Choose where you want your files recovered on your PC, and soon you’ll have them back.

Option B: DiskDigger

If you prefer a more all-in-one solution, DiskDigger runs solely on your smartphone, but you’ll need root access for it to be able to recover lost videos.

1. Pay a visit to the app’s official page at Google Play and install it on your phone.
2. Run the app and choose Basic Scan if your device isn’t rooted or, for even better results, Full Scan if it’s rooted. In the second case, you’ll also be able to select the memory partition you want to scan. In most cases, the internal storage will show up as “/data” while the external storage (removable media like SD cards) will show up as “/mnt/DEVICE_TYPE” (for example, “/mnt/sdcard”).
3. The rest of the process is pretty straightforward. First, choose the type of files you want to recover. On a rooted device, you’ll also have to grant it access through a Superuser request window.
4. Soon after, DiskDigger will start presenting the files it found. Tap on the ones you want to get back.
5. Tap on the Recover button, in the top toolbar, and choose where you want to save your files. You can restore to:
   • Third-party apps (email, Dropbox, etc.)
   • Custom location (either on the internal or external storage of your device)
   • An FTP server (to which you’ll need access)

   

4. How to Recover Deleted Videos on Samsung Smartphones

If you’re using a smartphone by Samsung, and you’re taking advantage of its online syncing capabilities, rejoice! Your files are (probably) safe, already backed-up online! So, even if they disappeared from your device, you can get them back, and allow us to use a fancy popular term, “from the cloud”! Or, rather, Microsoft’s OneDrive, for that’s what Samsung’s using these days for online syncing.

• Open your smartphone’s official Gallery app.
• Tap on the button with the three dots and choose Settings.
• Tap on the Recycle Bin.
• Choose the videos you’d like to recover from there. Simple, right?

Despite Samsung’s dominance, if you’re using a phone from a different manufacturer, Google offers a similar solution as we’ll see next.

5. Video File Recovery on Non-Samsung Smartphones

Are you using a non-Samsung smartphone with a more “vanilla” version of Android? Thankfully, Google offers similar cloud-syncing solutions. If you accepted your phone’s default settings during its initial setup, your lost videos are probably already saved there. You can get them – and any lost photos – back with the following ultra-simple steps:

1. Open Google’s official Photos app and move to the Library section.
2. Tap on the Trash button at the top right. Your files will probably be inside.
3. Tap-and-hold on each of the ones you want recovered to select them.
4. Tap on the Restore option that will pop-up at the bottom of your screen.

And that was it. Can it get any simpler than that? Well, we admit that no, but still, there’s another alternative we should cover: what if you’re backing up your media on Google Drive?

6. Get Your Lost Videos Back From Google Drive

Google’s smartphone OS comes with baked-in support for Google Drive, which you’re probably already using if you’re on “vanilla” Android. Similarly, did you install Google’s Backup and Sync client on your desktop without altering its default options? Then, it’s probably backing up your default Photos and Videos folders automatically. In both cases, you can get your files back from there.

1. Open the Drive app and look in the default Home section for your lost files. If they’re there, jump to the last step.
2. Tap on “Files” to see your Drive’s contents in a more organized fashion. Look at the folder(s) where you’d stored your files in the past. If you can’t locate your files there either, it’s time to use the Search function.
3. Tap on “Search in Drive” at the top and enter “mp4” – which is nowadays the most popular extension for video files and the default for most smartphones. If your lost files still don’t appear on the screen, there’s one last possible place to check.
4. “Drag” from the left side of the screen and choose Trash. Hopefully, your files will be there.
5. When you finally find your lost files, tap on the icon with the three dots on their right and choose Download. If they’re in the Trash, this option won’t show up. You’ll instead have to choose Restore, then locate them in Drive’s folders and download them from there.

You can also pay a visit to Google Drive’s site from your computer, but we won’t go into details on how to restore your files from there. The process is a) similar to the above and b) straightforward. The primary difference is that you’ll be using your mouse and keyboard instead of tapping on a touchscreen.

Video File Loss: The Main Reasons and Ways of Prevention

Video files are often captured on mobile devices or saved on external storage media such as flash drives. They are susceptible to being lost in several ways.

• ⛔ Human error is the leading cause of all data loss. It’s extremely easy to accidentally delete files or format the wrong flash drive resulting in lost videos and photos. It’s probably happened to you. The best way to prevent this type of data loss is to exercise caution when deleting files. Labeling flash drives is not a bad idea to help guard against inadvertently formatting the wrong one.
• 👾 Infection by viruses and malware is another reason that videos might suddenly disappear from your computer. Maintaining antivirus software is your main defense against this problem. Avoid connecting flash drives or removable storage devices to your computer as this might expose it to potential contamination by malicious software.
• 💡 Environmental factors such as excessive moisture or heat can cause damage to storage media and lead to corrupt or missing files. Keeping your computers and storage devices in a cool, dry location will prevent this type of data loss.

FAQ

So, Can I Get Back All My Lost Video Files?

Sadly, there are no guarantees. As we said at the very beginning, in most cases, there is a solution. But not always. Your OS might have marked your files for deletion without actually deleting them, but sooner or later, they will be covered by newer data. Or they might be kept in the temporary storage of a Recycle Bin implementation, but that’s another ticking time bomb, since after X amount of time, or if newer data needs their space, they’ll be overwritten.

That’s why we always suggest you act as soon as you realize your files are gone and stop using the device where the lost files resided before recovering them. By following those two simple rules, you maximize your chances to recover deleted videos – or any other type of files – successfully.