Undo Disk Cleanup in Windows Without Losing Data

"Disk Cleanup deleted my Downloads folder"

"Disk Cleanup deleted my Downloads folder, which contained personal files and photos from the past five years. How can I recover them?"

This is an excerpt from a Reddit post. The content is about a user who frequently performs disk cleanups to free up hard drive space, having done it hundreds of times, but in this instance, they weren't paying attention and accidentally deleted their "Downloads" folder.

According to Microsoft's official explanation, Disk Cleanup is a utility that frees up disk space by deleting temporary files, junk files, and many other unnecessary items. You get to choose what to remove from your hard drive.

Most of your personal files and system files aren't included in this, so it's unlikely that Disk Cleanup would delete your personal files. However, with the release of Windows 10 version 1809, Disk Cleanup now includes the “Downloads” folder, which many people may not realize. This is why several other Windows 10 users have accidentally deleted their “Downloads” folder while freeing up disk space.

Undo Disk Cleanup in Windows 11/10/8/7 and Restore Deleted Files

As shown in the screenshot, when I run Disk Cleanup on the C drive in Windows 10 1809, the Downloads folder appears on the list and is selected by default.

Aside from the Download folder, users might also delete the Windows ESD installation files, which could cause their computer to fail to function properly. Is there a way to undo Disk Cleanup to restore the wrongfully cleaned files? The Windows utility does not provide an undo option for Disk Cleanup. However, you can attempt to recover accidentally deleted files from the Windows File History backup or directly use a third-party data recovery tool like Data Recovery Wizard.

Quick navigation:

If you have backed up your computer's disk partition data with File History, proceed with Method 1. Use the restore function of a specific backup method if you used a data backup software to save the backup to the cloud, for example. Skip to Method 2 if you didn't make any backups at all. A tool like Data Recovery Software can help you recover deleted files and folders after deletion, formatting, or a virus attack. It's one of the best Windows data recovery software available to date, which you can use to recover files after Disk Cleanup and other disk cleaning utilities.

Method 1: Restore from File History Backup

Step 1: Find the folder path where you lost the files on your Windows 10/8/7 PC. You can click on “This PC” and check the folders from where the files got lost using the disk cleanup tool: Desktop, Downloads, Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, or Libraries, etc.

Step 2. Type File History in the search box, and then click or tap Restore your files with File History.

Step 3: Click on the “History” button to display all backup folders.

Step 4: Select the files you want to restore and choose the correct version. Then, click on the “Restore” button to retrieve your lost files from File History. If there's already a file or folder with the same name in the destination location on your PC, choose to “Replace the file in the destination”.

Undo disk cleanup with File History

If there's a file conflict, you can choose to Skip this file or Compare the information in both files. After you restore missing files from File History, exit File History. Try opening, checking, and continuing to use the restored files.

Method 2: Restore from a File Recovery Program

If you don't have file history backups or system restore points, your best bet for retrieving deleted files is to use professional file recovery software. We recommend using the Data Recovery Wizard tool to thoroughly recover all lost files. It's safe and residue-free, utilizing advanced scanning algorithms to deeply scan your disk partitions.

Moreover, Tool Recovery Software is considered to be a simple, super easy-to-use yet powerful DIY data recovery software. The entire recovery process is divided into three steps.

Step 1: Choose a location and start scanning

Launch the Data Recovery Wizard, and hover the mouse over the partition/disk where the deleted files were stored. Click “Scan” to look for the lost files.

Step 2: Choose the files you want to recover

Once the scan is complete, select the deleted files you wish to recover. You can click on the Filter to display only the file types you want. If you remember the name of the file, you can also search for it in the “Search for files or folders” box – this is the quickest way to locate your target file.

Step 3: Preview and recover the deleted files

Preview the recoverable files, select the ones you want to restore, and click “Recover” to save them to a new location instead of the disk where you lost the data.