How To Recover Lost Files After Windows 10 Upgrade?

“Hi, I upgraded my Windows system from 8.1 to Windows 10. Everything was fine until I restarted the system. Once the system rebooted what I noticed was that almost half of the data from C drive was missing. The lost data includes some very important documents related to my office work, vacation photos, and many more. I somehow need to get back the files lost after my system upgrade. Does anyone know how to recover lost files after Windows 10 upgrade? Any suggestion would be appreciated.”

This kind of situations could drive you restless. One cannot afford to lose precious data due to any such data loss disasters. Therefore, it is always recommended to take a complete data backup before proceeding with Windows 10 upgrade. Well, you don't have to worry about losing the data if you do not have a backup of the files that are lost after Windows 10 upgrade. You still have a set of ways to deal with data loss issues with the Windows upgrade process.

Method 1: Try to reboot the system after sometimes. Eventually, most of the times after rebooting, you will get rid of such an issue. Well, it is possible that your local profile become corrupted and you need to create a new administrator account. To create a new admin account, first of all, log out your current temporary profile or session.  Now, log in with a new administrator which you have created. To achieve this, you need to go to C Drive: /Users /{corrupted profile} and start taking the files to your new user profile. This type of process will take much time and there is no 100% assurance that all the files will be recovered. So if this method fails to recover your lost files then try another method that is with Windows.old process. The Windows.old is a hidden folder which can recover files from old Windows. To access that lost folder, first of all, you need to change the settings in the Windows Explorer. The procedure is mentioned below:

• Click on “Start” and then type Hidden.
• Now click on “Show hidden files and folders”.
• Click on the View tab and then select “Advanced setting” which locate the hidden files and folders.
• Now click on “Show Hidden files and folders”.
• Click on the “Apply” option and then click on the “Ok” button.

Method 2: Well, method 1 will help you to recover a few of your files and folders from old Windows. However, if you want to retrieve complete files then it is suggested to rely on trustworthy software like Folder Recovery.

Features of the Folder Recovery tool:

• Restores the entire data that is deleted or missing after Windows 10 upgrade
• Along with system drive, it also recovers files from a portable hard drive, iPod, FireWire drive, USB drive, etc. on Windows operating system such as Windows 7, Windows 8.x, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, etc.
• The tool scans the complete hard drive and displays the recovered files under “File Type View” and “Data Type View”.
• Using the “Preview” option, you can review each of the retrieved files and save those files into a preferred location.
• It is also capable to retrieve files that are emptied or bypasses from Windows recycle bin. Read more about steps to recover deleted files and folders from Recycle Bin on Windows 8 here.

How to Recover Lost Files After Windows 10 Upgrade?

Step 1: Run the Folder Recovery software on your Windows computer. The main screen avails three different options. Among them, select "Recover Files" option.

Step 2: Now select the drive partition from where the files are lost. Press on the Scan button.

Figure 1: Recover Partitions/Drives

Step 3: The tool starts to search for the lost folders from the drive you specified.

Figure 2: Scanning for Folders

Step 4: Check for the files in File Type View and Data View.

Figure 3: Recovered Folders

Step 5: Right-click on the file item to preview. Then continue to mark the files and folders for saving.

Figure 4: Preview Window

Step 6: Choose a suitable drive location to save the files retrieved from this Windows 10 drive.

Figure 5: Save Recovered Folders