How to Recover Lost Cut Files on Windows or Mac

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Copy, Cut, Delete, and Paste

In your day-to-day file handling, you often use copy, cut, delete, and paste operations. It's important to understand the difference between them and how they work.

The difference between "Cut" and "Delete" is that "Cut" removes the text or other content from the document and saves it to the clipboard, whereas "Delete" directly and permanently removes the text or other content from the document.

What to Do When You Lose Files After Cutting and Pasting

Losing data is a common scenario that everyone encounters daily. You might lose your files due to the following reasons:

• Unfinished cut-paste operations. For example, if you cut a file and forget to paste it, the file might be lost.
• Deletion or formatting. For instance, you paste a file to another drive or device and then delete the file from that drive or device, or format the drive or device without a backup.
• Lost devices. When you cut files from your computer and paste them to a storage device like a USB drive, which is later lost.

Losing files after a cut and paste operation is usually a tough situation for regular users to recover from. What should you do when this happens? Firstly, avoid writing any new data to the original location to prevent overwriting the lost files. Secondly, utilize professional software like the tools Data Recovery Wizard to retrieve your files. This tool can help you recover files lost due to cut and paste actions. Lastly, don't shut down your computer – once it's turned off, the data may be gone forever.

Method 1: How to Recover Lost Files after Cutting in Windows 10/11

Data Recovery Wizard is the best data recovery software for any situation involving data loss, whether you need to recover an .xlsx file, undelete a Word document, or recover files from a formatted hard drive. It's very useful and can help you get your data back. You don't have to worry about losing your files anymore. If you want to know how to recover lost files from a cut and paste operation on a Mac, see Method 4. You can download the Windows or Mac version below:

If your file disappeared while moving it, you can follow this guide to recover it: Recover Lost Files While Moving.

Step 1: Run Disk Drill and choose the location from where you cut the files before they got lost. If you're not sure, scan the entire D: or C: drive.

Step 2. Click on “Path” or “Type” to quickly locate the lost cut files. If you lost photos, simply choose “Type” > “Pictures”.

Step 3: If you're unsure which file it is, click “Preview” to confirm. After selecting all the lost files, click “Recover,” and choose a new location to save them.

Feel free to share this page on social media to let more users know how to recover cut files in Windows.

Method 2: How to Recover Cut and Paste Files from Your PC Without Software

Windows has several built-in utilities to prevent accidental data loss, and File History can help you recover files lost due to cut and paste. It's very easy to restore cut and pasted files with Windows File History. You will need to have an external hard drive connected to enable File History, otherwise the service will be disabled.

Step 1: Use the Windows search bar to look for “File History,” and then select “File History” from the best match.

Step 2: In the File History window, click Restore my files on the left.

Step 3: Preview and select the lost files after cutting, then click the green Recover button to retrieve them.

Method 3: Restore the lost cut files from the latest backup

If you have previously created a backup on a USB flash drive or external hard disk, connect the external backup disk to your computer and restore the files that were lost due to the cut operation. Recovering files that were lost due to a cut operation using a backup involves a few simple steps:

Step 1: Open File Explorer in Windows and locate the backup drive under Devices and Drives.

Step 2: Double-click to view all backup files/folders on the backup disk. Locate the lost file among these files and folders.

Step 3: You can then use the copy-and-paste shortcut you learned in Part One to move the lost files from the backup disk to your local computer. Alternatively, you can right-click on a file and select the Copy icon to copy it.

Now that you've learned three effective ways to perform file cut recovery in Windows 10/11, share these handy methods with more Windows users!

Method 4: How to Recover a Cut and Pasted File on a Mac

If you've lost files by cutting and pasting on your Mac, avoid writing new data to the drive where the files were lost until you've successfully recovered them. If you have a backup, you can easily restore your Mac from Time Machine. Learn how here. If you don't have a backup, turn to the Data Recovery Wizard for Mac. It allows you to easily recover deleted or lost files from your MacBook, iMac, hard drives, USBs, cameras, memory cards, SD cards, and other storage devices. Get the macOS version (supporting the latest macOS Sonoma) by clicking the Download button on the right. The software is free to download.

The following video will give you a more detailed look at the Mac Data Recovery Wizard. After watching this video, you'll learn how to use this data recovery tool on your Mac.

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:33 Launching the Mac Data Recovery Wizard
• 02:00 Searching for Lost Files on a Storage Device
• 02:28 Selecting a New Location to Save the Files

If you prefer a step-by-step guide, here's what to do:

Step 1. Choose the location where your missing files were and click "Start Searching Lost Files".

Step 2. Choose “Type” or “Patch” to select the file path or type. This filter option helps you locate the missing cut files quickly.

Step 3: Select all the files that you have lost due to Cut operation and then hit the “Recover” button.

The Mac version has a unique backup tool, so you can first back up Mac to prevent further data loss. Don't forget to recommend the data recovery software to more users!

⭐Extra Tip: Effective Data Protection Solutions

Prevention is always better than cure. Here are three practical steps to protect your data:

• Regularly back up your files. ?️The ideal solution for data protection and security is to back up your data on a regular basis. If you lose your files, having a backup will put you in a much better position. You should back up your data on multiple storage devices, such as external hard drives, portable storage devices, or the cloud.
• Use reliable data recovery software. ?‍?Data recovery software can be very helpful in case of severe data loss. With professional data recovery software, you can recover your data from almost any situation.
• Use "Copy and Paste" instead of "Cut and Paste." ?️

The bottom line?

Recovering lost or deleted data after a failed cut and paste operation can be challenging but not impossible. With the help of data recovery software tools, you can efficiently restore missing data from both Windows and Mac after a failed cut and paste attempt. Furthermore, in today's digital world, data protection is essential. Regular backups are always beneficial.

Frequently Asked Questions on How to Recover Deleted Files

How do I recover cut and paste files in Windows 10?

You can recover lost files on Windows by following these steps:

• Download and run the Free Data Recovery Software
• Select the drive, then click on the Scan button
• Preview files, choose the ones you need, and then click Recover

How can I recover deleted photos from an Android phone to a computer?

Follow the steps below to learn how to recover cut photos from Android:

• Stop all operations on the SD memory card, USB or external hard drive. • If you're using Windows, try pressing Ctrl+Z to undo the cut and potentially recover the lost files from the USB or SD card.

Where did my clipboard go?

If the cut-and-paste process was interrupted accidentally, the file might have been deleted. If you can't find the missing file in its original folder, check the Recycle Bin of your Windows 10.