@whatsurdesti Generally speaking, if your files have been deleted and the recycle bin emptied, there's no way to get them back. Even file recovery services usually don't recover enough data to restore a Sims 4 save to working order, so that would be a waste of money.
I'm not sure what the error about your drive not being installed is about, but if you do sometimes use an external storage device (hard drive, USB stick, whatever), is it possible you copied some Sims 4 data to that device at some point? If so, just plug it back in and take a look.
Otherwise, check OneDrive to see whether any Sims 4 data landed there. If it did, you can download the files to your computer, and they should work.
In either case, the game will read the files once they're back in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4.
I was able to recover a quarter (barely) of my files that were deleted and some how I have the gallery data from my favorite household saved there but none of the mods. I tried to use sims 4 tray importer to see what all the mods etc. are and recover that family at least, but I am stuck because when I click on the file to search google for the mod it doesn't let me press to actually search google. Is there something more I can do to recover the family? Thank you so much for your help.
I am soo upset I can not begin to explain my anger. I would feel a bit better if I could restore them at least.
@whatsurdesti For the mods, can you not simply open a browser window and search for the name of each mod? That's likely going to be easier than trying to figure out why the other method isn't working right now.
The status of your sim household is independent of your mods. If you haven't found a working save, you can try searching your computer for any stray saves; maybe you'll get lucky. Open a File Explorer window, click This PC in the left panel, and enter Slot_ in the search bar in the upper right corner. If you find a save, click on it and select "Open file location," and you'll land wherever the file is. If this save file is intact, you can move it back to Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > saves, and the game should read it.
Other than that, you're unfortunately out of luck as far as your save is concerned. If you have a copy of the household saved, either as a Tray item or in the Gallery, then you'll be able to place it in a new save and go from there.
Going forward, it's a good idea to make backups of any content you don't want to lose. Even without someone else deleting your files, things can happen, up to and including your computer crashing and losing all its data. Having a backup means you can always restore a recent version of any data that's been damaged or deleted.
