Introduction
I recently updated my Windows 10 computer to the latest version and afterward realized that some of my important personal files were missing. Losing files after a Windows update is a common issue that many users face. Thankfully, there are several methods I can try to recover my lost files. In this article, I will walk through the steps I took to attempt to restore my missing documents, photos, and other important files after applying a Windows update.
Back Up Your Computer Before Updating
The best way to avoid losing files during a Windows update is to properly back up your computer beforehand. Here are some tips:
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Use File History to automatically back up files to an external drive. This allows you to restore previous versions of files.
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Manually copy important folders like Documents, Pictures, etc. to an external hard drive or cloud storage.
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Create a system image, which is like a snapshot of your entire system you can restore from.
Backing up ahead of time gives you a safety net in case something goes wrong during the update process.
Check the Windows.old Folder
After a major Windows 10 update, your old Windows installation files get moved to a folder called Windows.old. I navigated to C:\Windows.old in File Explorer to see if my missing personal files were still present in that folder.
Unfortunately, I did not find the missing files there. But this folder can be a good first place to check if files disappear after an update.
Use Previous Versions to Restore Files
I right-clicked on the folder where my files used to be and selected Restore previous versions in the menu.
This allows you to revert a file or folder back to an earlier version from a restore point or backup. I browsed through the available previous versions but could not find my missing files there either.
Previous versions can potentially help you recover files lost during an update, but only if the files were backed up or included in a system restore point.
Use File Recovery Software
At this point, I decided to try using data recovery software to scan my hard drive and attempt to find my deleted files.
I downloaded a few free file recovery programs like Recuva, TestDisk, and Photorec. After scanning my system with Recuva, I was able to find and restore some of my missing documents and photos!
File recovery utilities may be able to locate your lost files even if you have no backups. Just avoid writing new data to your drive to prevent overwriting the deleted data.
Reset Windows To Before the Update
If all else fails, you may need to use Windows 10’s reset feature to fully roll back your system to the state it was in before the update.
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Make sure to back up any important new files created after the update before resetting.
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Go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery and select Get started under the Reset this PC section.
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Choose to keep or remove your files when prompted. Proceed with the system reset.
After resetting Windows, your files should be restored to their original locations. Just be aware you’ll have to reinstall any programs and apps that were added after the update.
Conclusion
Losing important personal files and documents due to a Windows update is frustrating. But by utilizing previous versions, file recovery software, and system reset features, you can often get back missing data. Just be sure to properly back up your system before applying Windows updates in the future. Following the steps outlined in this article, I was fortunately able to recover many of my important files and get my system working again after a problematic Windows 10 update.
