How To Recover Files Lost During Cut And Paste?

Lost important files during the cut and paste while trying to move them to a different folder or device? Worry not. This article has everything you need to know to retrieve cut files and perform cut & paste file recovery easily.
Remo File Recovery is an easy-to-use tool that is proven to recover files cut but not pasted on all versions of Windows.
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Written by John Harris / Updated on August 22, 2023

Cut and Paste is an extremely easy way of moving files from one folder or location to another location. Whether you want to move one single file or a Gigabyte of data, copying and pasting files is always a go-to solution for almost all users. However, it is one of the most common ways of losing data.

Many users have complained that they have lost their important files and other folders after unsuccessful completion of the cut & paste process.

If you are one of those, then this article is something you will find helpful. We will discuss everything you need about the Copy and paste file recovery process. Starting with all the possible ways to recover files that were cut but never pasted, we have also provided reasons behind the incomplete copy paste task and explained to you what happens to those files.

So without wasting any more time, let’s start recovering files lost after failed cut and paste.

Table of Contents:

  1. How To Recover Files Cut but not Pasted on any version of Windows?
  2. Why Do You Lose Files During the Cut and Paste?
  3. What Happens to the Lost Files After Incomplete Copy and Paste Task?
  4. Conclusion
  5. Frequently Asked Questions

How To Recover Cut And Paste Files From A Computer?

Here are three proven ways of recovering cut but not pasted files from any computer system running on any version of Windows. If you have a backup, i recommend you try using the File History option or if you have enabled system restore you can try the third solution. But if File History and System Restore solutions didn't work out well for you, then you can try Remo Recover a specialized data recovery tool.

  1. Recover Files Lost in Cut and Paste From All Versions of Windows Using Remo
  2. Recover Cut and Paste Files Using File History
  3. Recover Lost Files After Unsuccessful Cut and Paste by Restoring Your System

Method 1: Recover Files Lost In Cut And Paste Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, and other older versions

Recovering files that were lost during the cut-and-paste process is easier when you utilize Remo File Recovery Software, Remo has been rigorously tested under 1000+ data loss scenarios to recover any type of data. The deep scan algorithms have been meticulously designed to find the data which is inaccessible to the users. The Advanced Filter option lets you sort and filter files so that you recover only what’s important.
Moreover, the tool is compatible with all the newer versions as well as older versions of Windows.
Download the tool now and recover lost data during cut and paste.

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Steps To Recover Files Lost In Cut And Paste On Windows 11, 10, and other versions:

Download and install Remo Recover for Windows on your Computer and follow the below mentioned steps:

  • Step 1: Launch Remo Recover software and Select the disk that contains lost files. Example Local Drive – E: and hit Scan. Now the software scans and displays all lost files from the selected drive in Windows 10 computer.
  • launch the tool to recover files lost after cut and paste

  • Step 2: When the Quick Scan process is complete, the software will automatically enter Deep Scan mode, where the sector level scan will be performed to fetch the files lost during cut and paste.
  • Step 3: List of recovered files will be displayed in Dynamic Recovery View. You can save the files recovered even if the scan is still running.
  • see a list of recovered cut-paste files by clicking on dynamic recovery view

  • Step 4: You can also use Advanced Filter option to locate files that were lost during cut & paste operation, just by adding file type, file signature or the date modified.
  • click on advanced filter and just add file type, file signature or modified data

  • Step 5: Use the Preview option to verify the recovered lost files before saving them.
  • select the required file and preview by double-clicking on the file

  • Step 6: Finally, select the files you want and click on Recover button to recover files that were lost due to cut & paste on your computer.
  • save the recovered cut paste file on a storage drive by browsing the storage location and clicking on recover

Note: Remo File Recovery Software not only helps you in recover lost files from Windows during the cut and paste operation but also comes in handy recovering shift deleted files from your computer. Refer to the link for more info.

Method 2: Recover Cut And Paste Files Using File History

Windows comes with built-in tools that can assist you with file recovery. If you have enabled the File History then you can easily restore the files from the current backup.

  • Open the Settings application on Windows and navigate to the Update and Security > then Backup > and select the option Restore files from a current backup.
  • Now you can see the files and folders that were lost during cut and paste.
  • Select the files and folders which you want to restore and click on the Restore button.
  • Click on the Browse option and mention the location where you want to restore the files and finally click on Restore.

Method 3: Recover Lost Files after Unsuccessful Cut and Paste by Restoring your System

Restoring your system to previous point prior to losing data due to incomplete pasting is one of the simplest ways of recovering files. But the catch is you need to enable System Restore option on your Windows computer.

  • Search for Restore Point in the search bar and click on the System Restore option and click on the Next button.
  • Select any appropriate restore point and click on the Next button, followed by clicking on the Finish option.

The system restoration process will start; you just need to wait until completion. Once done, you will find the files gone after the incomplete cut and paste process restored to their original location.

Now that you have recovered the lost cut and paste files, if you are curious to know why files get lost during a cut and paste task or what happens to those files. Keep reading to know the answer.

Why Do You Lose Files During a Cut and Paste Task?

There are a few reasons why files may be lost during cut and paste. Some of them include.

  • Unexpected computer or laptop shutdown: If there is a sudden power cut or you accidentally shut down your system during the file copying and pasting process, the result will be an incomplete file pasting, which leads to permanent data loss.
  • Abrupt removal of external storage devices: Your data can also get lost forever, when you remove the connected drive during cut and paste operation.
  • Failure of hardware: If the storage hardware fails during a copy-and-paste operation, there will be data loss.
  • Interrupting cut and paste process: Files are also lost due to abruptly canceling in the middle of the transfer process.
  • Other Reasons: Some other reasons are hardware failure, software corruption, virus infection, or accidental deletion during cut and paste.

Now you know why files and folders get lost after an incomplete cut and paste task. Let's find out what happens to those files.

What Happens To The Files During an Unsuccessful Copy and Paste Operation?

Even if you can't see the files that were accidentally deleted during a cut-and-paste operation, that doesn't imply they're gone forever. The files are still on your storage device, but they may be designated for overwriting since your operating system believes they were successfully pasted. It is recommended to always take a backup of your important files.

You can recover Cut Folder by checking the clipboard history, If you don’t find the file there try to recover it with File History, system restore, etc. but you need to ensure that you do not use the same device until you recover files lost after unsuccessful cutting and pasting process. Because overwriting of data reduces the possibility of safely restoring files that are permanently deleted.

Conclusion:

Here we end our long article on lost files recovery after an incomplete cut and paste operation. We have discussed in depth the possible reasons why you might lose your files and folders, what happens to the lost cut and paste files, and we have explained all the possible ways to recover the missing files. I am sure you have now found the answers regarding the Cut and Paste file recovery process on Windows.

Frequently Asked Questions

You can retrieve your files if you act promptly. After a failed cut-and-paste operation, your files might not be visible to the human eye, but they will still be on your drive until new data replaces them. but because your operating system considers that the process must have succeeded, it removes them from their folder and marks them the space ready for overwriting. To prevent the lost files from being overwritten and permanently unrecoverable, we suggest you not copy or save any new data to the storage device from which you will retrieve the files.

A clipboard is a tool that saves all recently copied items, including images and texts. If you forgot to paste the copied texts, you can use Clipboard to recover copied texts. You can view Clipboard by pressing the Windows key + V key simultaneously.

As mentioned, the recently copied texts and images are saved on the clipboard. Follow the steps to recover clipboard history or retrieve cut and paste history:

  1. Go to Clipboard by pressing the Windows key + V key.
  2. A list of all recently copied items will appear on your screen.
  3. Select the item that you want to retrieve.
  4. Just paste it on any location or document of your choice.

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