How To Protect Files From Accidental Deletion

In the event you've accidentally deleted a sensitive file or two from your computer's hard disk, Inclusive of emptying the Recycle Bin, the first thing you'd do, Is try and restore It by using a third-party recovery software. All Is well and good when It succeeds, but the recovery process does fail, even In the most favorable circumstances. In this tutorial, I will show you how to protect files from accidental deletion, by using an Impressive tool named Disk Drill.


Let's face It, there Isn't a single tool that can guarantee (100%) to recover files and folders that have been accidentally and permanently deleted from your computer. If you happen to read otherwise, do not believe It for a minute- It's simply not possible, namely when the deleted file has been overwritten by another file on your PC's hard disk.

Sure, permanently deleted files can well and truly be recovered but whether It succeeds with each and every one, remains to be seen. There are too many variables that determine the outcome, and the last thing you need, Is to lose your critical office document (that you've mistakenly deleted) with no chance of recovery.

As per the proverb Prevention Is better than cure, I will apply this and demonstrate how to protect your files and folders from accidental deletion, by using a feature named Recovery Vault that's part of a tool called Disk Drill.

Simply put, once Disk Drill Is Installed and Recovery Vault Is enabled, It will monitor your computer's hard disk. When you delete a file, It remembers It's metadata, thus allows you to recover It with Incredible ease.

Of course, the first thing you need to do, Is download Disk Drill from their official website, and Install It thereafter. I will then show you how to apply the Recovery Vault feature. Now that you're all ready to go, let's rip Into this tutorial.

Step One:
Given you have Disk Drill Installed on your PC, execute the tool, and select the drive or partition that contains the files/folders you wish to protect. For the purpose of this guide, I've chosen my C Drive. Then hit Protect.

Step Two:
Next, browse to the folder that contains your sensitive files, by clicking the Add folder button. By default, both of the directories below are already added.

Step Three:
I will be protecting my files In a folder named Windows 10 Tips. Once you've made your selection, hit OK.

Step Four:
Next to Recovery Vault toward the top right, hit the ON button. Every folder/directory listed In the tool's Interface, Is now protected from accidental deletion.

Step Five:
If you don't want to protect certain file types, click on Choose files to exclude from protection as arrowed below.

Step Six:
Now enter the file extension In the Input field. For demonstration purposes, I've entered .txt. This means that every text file will not be protected.

Step Seven:
You can also check and uncheck the boxes, for files, subfolders and paths according to your preference and usability. When done, hit the Back button to return to the tool's main menu.

Step Eight:
In the event you've accidentally deleted a protected file or folder, click the arrow next to the drive In question, and then select Undelete protected data.

Last Step:
As you can see, I have the option to choose the folders that I'd like to recover. Once I've made my selection, simply hit the Recover button, and they'll be restored to their original directory.

Final Thoughts:
Without question, you should always backup your sensitive files every time you apply changes, to a removable device, such as a USB flash drive or external HDD. That said, we're only human and do tend to forget at the best of times, and that's when the above method via Disk Drill's Recovery Vault, will safeguard your files from accidental deletion.

Once the Recovery Vault protection Is set to On as per Step Four above, It will remain that way- even after completely closing the tool, so rest assured, you're In good hands.