Nearly everyone who uses a computer or digital device is familiar with YouTube. It’s a huge repository of videos uploaded by individuals from all over the world that covers just about any subject. You can find videos on just about any topic that interests you and can upload or download many instructive and entertaining videos for later viewing.
You may have a collection of videos that you downloaded so you can watch them again at a later time. If you upload a lot of videos to YouTube, perhaps you had a folder or directory on your computer where you kept all of these video clips.
One morning you open up your computer and discover that somehow your YouTube videos have been deleted.
There are several methods you can use to try and recover deleted YouTube videos.
We will assume for the purposes of this discussion that the videos are not in your Trash or Recycle Bin, although you should always take a peek there when searching for deleted files.
Method 1: Download deleted YouTube videos from archive.org
The first method we will discuss involves using the Internet WayBackMachine located at archive.org. It offers a way to see deleted YouTube videos that you have previously uploaded.
Here is the procedure to follow:
- Log in to your YouTube email or channel account and look for emails you received that may contain information about your uploaded videos.
- Copy the deleted YouTube video’s URLto your clipboard. You cannot play it directly from the link at this point.
- Navigate to archive.org and paste the link in the WayBackMachine’s search window.
- Click on the search button. You will be presented with information about the lost or deleted YouTube video and may be able to download it again.
To download your video:
- Put the video code at the end of that URL: https://web.archive.org/web/2oe_/http://wayback-fakeurl.archive.org/yt/Yourvideocode
- Right-click on your deleted Youtube video and choose “Save Video as…” in the browser menu.
Yourvideocode
If this method doesn’t work then it’s time to try data recovery tools in an attempt to recover deleted YouTube videos.
Method 2: Undelete YouTube Videos Using Data Recovery Software
The second method that you can use to recover deleted YouTube videos is to use data recovery software such as Disk Drill to undelete the videos from your computer’s hard drive. We are going to give you a step-by-step procedure to use with either a Mac or Windows computer that will scan your hard drive and find your deleted YouTube videos.
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Whichever operating system you use, take these precautions as soon as you realize you have lost some videos and are going to try and undelete them. These steps will increase the possibility of a successful recovery. Using the drive that the videos were on increases the chance that they will be inadvertently overwritten by the operating system.
- Stop using the drive.
- If possible, download and install the program in a different partition or drive from the one that held the deleted videos.
Follow these steps to recover deleted YouTube videos on Windows:
Step 1. Download Disk Drill for Windows and install it on your machine.
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Step 2. Select the drive or partition that contained the YouTube videos that have been deleted, then click Search for lost data to initiate the scanning procedure and let Disk Drill search for your videos.
Step 3. Click Review found items to be taken to a full list of the files that Disk Drill discovered.
Step 4. Select the YouTube videos that you want to recover and take note of the Recovery chances column which indicates the chances of recovery for each file. When ready, click Recover.
Step 5. Choose where you want your recovered files restored. Stay away from their original location to avoid file corruption. To finalize recovery, click OK.
That’s how to retrieve deleted YouTube videos from your Windows machine using the Disk Drill data recovery application.
Follow these steps to recover deleted YouTube videos on a Mac:
Step 1. Download and install Disk Drill for the Mac on your computer.
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Step 2. Select the drive or partition where YouTube videos were last seen before being deleted.
Step 3. Click the “Recover” button to start scanning your disk. Disk Drill searches for your videos and you can narrow the search by filtering on the file types you are interested in recovering. The application will return a list of the files that can be recovered.
Step 4. Select the YouTube videos that you want to recover from the list. Provide a recovery location that is different from their original location to avoid file corruption.
Step 5. Click the “Recover” button again and the files selected in the previous step will be restored to your recovery destination.
This simple procedure will let you watch deleted YouTube videos on your Mac again thanks to the power of Disk Drill data recovery software.
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Method 3: Recover Deleted YouTube Videos from a Backup
When faced with a deleted YouTube video, or any lost file for that matter, having a good backup of your system can be instrumental in enabling you to quickly get it back.
Regularly backing up your computer is a task that all users should follow, though many computer owners do not take this protective action. You might never actually need your backup, but when you do, it’s usually a critical situation.
Depending on the operating system and backup solution that you use, the specific steps to find deleted YouTube videos in your backups will differ. If you have been consistent with your backups you should be able to recover YouTube videos that were on your computer at the time of your last backup.
More recently downloaded videos will not be on any of your backup media. In that case, you will have to resort to other methods in order to watch deleted YouTube videos.
Conclusion
Thankfully, even after deletion, you still have a chance at getting your YouTube videos back. By using the solutions outlined in this article, you can easily scan your drive and recover those YouTube videos back to a folder of your choice.
FAQ
If you don’t have a local backup of the YouTube video, you can try searching for the video on Internet Archive using the Wayback Machine. Internet Archive is a non-profit project that archives content on the internet for the purposes of keeping a record of as many web pages as it can.
It is possible to find YouTube videos using this, but finding the video may be difficult unless you have the direct URL. Moreover, the snapshot of the page must also include a snapshot of the video. Use the below steps to find a video using the Wayback Machine:
- Copy the URL of the deleted video and go to Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. You may be able to find the URL in your emails from YouTube or your channel account.
- Paste the URL in the URL box and press Enter.
- Select a snapshot from a date and time where the video was available.
- Right-click the video and select Save video as to download it.
Once you select a snapshot, an archived snapshot will load of the page from when it was taken. If the video was included with the snapshot, you should be able to view it like normal.
Unless the video or channel goes against the YouTube Community Guidelines or receives a copyright infringement notice, YouTube does not delete old videos. In fact, the first video on YouTube which was uploaded on 24 April 2005 is still up and viewable.
If you had a backup of a YouTube video that you deleted, you can try recovering it using data recovery software. Disk Drill is a data recovery tool that can scan and recover lost or deleted files on your computer. For the best chance of success, you need to refrain from using the drive that once contained the file after it was deleted. Follow these steps to recover a deleted YouTube video using Disk Drill:
- Download and install Disk Drill to a separate physical drive. Open it.
- Select the drive that contains the deleted file and click Search for lost data.
- Once the scan is complete, click Review found data.
- Find the YouTube video and mark it for recovery by checking the tickbox.
- Click Recover.
- Select where you want to restore the YouTube video. Make sure you’re not putting it on the same drive you’re recovering from. Press OK.
Once recovery is complete, the deleted YouTube video will be available in the folder you specified for output.
When a YouTube video is deleted, the video will no longer be viewable by any means. Search results and playlists will no longer contain the video and direct links will state that the video was removed by the uploader.
Bear in mind that YouTube will keep data that was associated with the video, such as watch time, for reporting purposes. This data, however, will not be attached to the video and will not include any of your information.
Luckily, you can find and recover a deleted YouTube video even if you don’t have its link. To do it, you’ll need to use the Google Search Operators technique.
Here’s how to restore a deleted video from YouTube without a link:
- Head to Google.com.
- Type site: www.youtube.com+ the name of the video that you’re looking for and hit Enter (if you know that the video was shared across a different site, use its URL instead of YouTube).
- Look through the Google search results to find the needed video.
- Once you’ve found the video, head to archive.org, copy and paste its URL in the search bar, and click the search button.
- Put the video code at the end of this URL: https://web.archive.org/web/2oe_/http://wayback-fakeurl.archive.org/yt/
- Right-click the video and select Save Video as.
Follow these steps to recover deleted YouTube videos on Android:
- Connect your Android phone to your computer.
- Download Disk Drill on your computer (Android recovery supported by macOS only) and follow the onscreen instructions to install it.
- Open Disk Drill and choose your Android phone from the list of devices.
- Click Search for lost data to scan your device.
- Click Review found items.
- Look through the files and select the YouTube video you wish to recover.
- Click Recover and choose a location for the retrieved video.
The easiest and quickest way to recover a deleted YouTube video from an iPad is with the help of a third-party data recovery software. Here’s how to do it:
- Connect your iPad to your computer.
- Download and install Disk Drill (iOS recovery supported by macOS only).
- Launch the app.
- From the list of devices, select your iPad.
- Click Search for lost data to start the scan.
- Click Review found items.
- Look through the files to find the deleted YouTube video. Click it to select.
- Click the Recover button and choose where you want to save the video.
To recover a deleted YouTube video from your iPhone, you need a computer and a specialized data recovery tool. Follow these steps to restore a deleted video from your iPhone:
- Connect your iPhone to your computer (either a Mac or Windows-based one).
- Download Disk Drill on your computer and finish the installation process.
- Click Disk Drill to open it.
- Look through the list of connected devices and click your iPhone to select it.
- Click the Search for lost data button to scan your iPhone.
- Click Review found items.
- Choose the video that you wish to recover and click Recover. Select the location to which you want to save the restored video.
Jordan Jamieson-Mane
Jordan Jamieson-Mane is a freelance content writer with a passionate interest in technology. Starting from a young age, this interest gradually turned into a career, with Jordan studying in the field of IT and moving into...
Read full bio
Jordan Jamieson-Mane is a freelance content writer with a passionate interest in technology. Starting from a young age, this interest gradually turned into a career, with Jordan studying in the field of IT and moving into...
Read full bio
Approved by
Brett Johnson
This article has been approved by Brett Johnson, Data Recovery Engineer at ACE Data Recovery. Brett has a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Systems and Network, 12 years of experience.
This article has been approved by Brett Johnson, Data Recovery Engineer at ACE Data Recovery. Brett has a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Systems and Network, 12 years of experience.