C4D File Recovery: How to Recover Deleted Cinema 4D Model Files

Have you accidentally shift-deleted your .C4D file? Or maybe Cinema 4D crashed, and now you don’t know what to do after all those hours of hard work seem lost? You’ve come to the right place. Our internal statistics show that more than 100 people have used this guide to recover their Cinema 4D files, and we continuously update and improve it to make the process of C4D file recovery even easier.

Common Scenarios of C4D File Loss

Most data loss scenarios are quite trivial—accidental deletions or simple mistakes happen to everyone. But we’ve worked to gather a broad range of possible scenarios and solutions for each one. Let’s break it down into a quick-reference table that covers what might have happened and what you can do to recover your C4D files.

How to Recover Deleted C4D Files

Accidental deletions or problems with storage devices like USB drives with corrupted file systems—or even quickly formatted drives—don’t necessarily mean you’ve lost your C4D files for good. In most cases, the data still exists on the drive, but the chances of successful C4D file recovery depend on whether the drive was actively used after the data loss.

If your deleted files haven’t been overwritten, tools like Disk Drill and Recuva can help recover them. Let’s go over how to use these tools step by step.

Option #1: Disk Drill

Here’s what Disk Drill can do:

You can download a free version of Disk Drill to check if it’s possible to recover your C4D files. The free version allows you to scan your drive, preview recoverable files, and even recover up to 500 MB of data at no cost. This means you might be able to restore your Cinema 4D project for free if the file size doesn’t exceed this limit. There’s also a limitless PRO version.

Let’s take a look at how to use it to recover your lost C4D files.

1. Download Disk Drill from the official website. Once the download is complete, install and launch the application.
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   It’s best to install DiskDrill on a disk/partition where the data loss did not take place to avoid overwriting.

2. You’ll see all your drives on the home screen. From the list, choose the drive or partition where the C4D file was located.
3. Click on Seach for lost data to continue.
4. Disk Drill will scan the selected drive for any lost data. You don’t need to wait for the scan to be complete to see the recovered files. You can let the scan run in the background and click on Review found items to access the list of found items.
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   Scanning through thousands of files to find the one you are looking for can be like finding a needle in a haystack. To make this job very simple, Disk Drill comes packed with a bunch of features that can sort through files and filer them on the basis of type, size, and date of deletion, and you can even directly search for the file by name.

5. In the next window, you can sort all the files Disk Drill has found based on file type. Since C4D files are not recognized as a common file type, they will be listed in the Others tab.
6. You can also use the search bar to filter files by name to find them easily. Simply enter the name of the file you are looking for or enter “.C4D” to only list all the Cinema 4D model files.
7. You’ll see a recovery chances indicator next to your files, labeled High, Average, or Low. Recently deleted files usually show High chances, as long as the drive hasn’t been heavily used since the file was deleted.
8. Find and select the C4D file you want to recover and click on Recover.
9. Now, select a landing destination for your files and click on OK.
10. The recovered files will now appear at your selected location.

Option #2: Recuva

Here’s what Recuva can do:

Here’s how to recover deleted c4d file with Recuva:

1. Download the Recuva installer. Once you’ve installed the application, launch it to start the recovery process.
2. You will encounter the Recuva Wizard.
3. Select All Files and click on Next.
4. Select the last known location of your C4D files and click on Next.
5. Enable Deep Scan for an in-depth search for your lost files and click on Start to continue.
6. Once the scan is complete, all your lost files will be visible in a list format.
7. If you do not see any C4D files in your scan results, click on Options.
8. Navigate to the Actions tab and enable all the scanning preferences.
9. Then head back to the Recuva home screen and scan your drive again.
10. This time, you should see all your files. To narrow down your search, you can also search for files ending with “.c4d” extensions in the search bar.
11. Now select all the C4D files you want to recover using the checkboxes left to them and click on Recover.
12. Select a destination to save your recovered files and click OK. All your C4D files should be recovered and saved to the chosen destination folder.

How to Recover Lost C4D Files

In cases where Cinema 4D crashes on you—and, frankly, it’s not unusual for software of this complexity—you might get lucky with Cinema 4D’s built-in tools like autosave and crash recovery, which are designed to help restore lost work. These features can often save hours of effort, especially if you know where to find and use them effectively.

Cinema 4D Autosave File Location

If you had autosave enabled in Cinema 4D, your project might still be recoverable. Autosave creates backup copies of your file at regular intervals and stores them in a dedicated folder.

Here’s how to find your autosave folder:

1. Launch Cinema 4D and click on Edit, then select Preferences to open the settings.
2. In the Preferences window, look for the Files section. This is where you’ll find the path to the autosave folder, if autosave was turned on.
3. Use File Explorer to open the autosave folder. Look for files with names like “ProjectName_####.c4d,” (the numbers represent incremental saves).

If autosave was active, you should find a recent version of your project in this folder. Open the latest file in Cinema 4D and pick up where you left off.

Additional Ways to Recover Your Lost C4D Files

If you haven’t activated Cinema 4D’s built-in autosave, and crash recovery didn’t help, it’s worth checking if you have other backup tools in place. Windows features like File History or cloud solutions like Google Drive or OneDrive could save the day. Let’s take a look at these options.

File History or Previous Versions

File History and Previous Versions are built-in Windows features that let you recover older versions of files or folders. File History automatically backs up specific folders to an external drive or network location, while Previous Versions works with File History or System Restore to restore earlier file states directly from the right-click menu.

By default, File History backs up common user folders like Documents and Desktop. Since Cinema 4D projects are typically stored in the Documents folder (C:\Users\[YourUsername]\Documents\MAXON\Cinema 4D), File History should include these files.

How to use File History or Previous Versions to restore lost c4d files:

1. Open the Start menu and type File History in the search bar.
2. Select File History from the results.
3. In the File History control panel, click on Restore personal files in the left-hand pane.
4. Navigate through the available backups to locate your Documents folder. You can also use the search bar to type .c4d to make it quick.
5. Locate you files and click the green Restore button to return the files to their original location.
6. If you prefer a different restore location, right-click the files and choose Restore to, then select a destination folder.

Or you can right-click the folder where the Cinema 4D project was saved and choose Restore previous versions from the menu. A list of available backups will appear. Select the version you need from a date before the file was lost, then click Restore.

Cloud Backup Services

Similarly, if you had a cloud backup service running on your machine, you can check if your Cinema 4D model files are still stored there. Popular services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive (preinstalled on Windows 10 and 11) typically sync the Documents folder by default. This means your project files might still be recoverable from a deleted location, often named Trash, Recycle Bin, or Deleted Files.

Usually steps to recover deleted files from a cloud backup are simple and  look like this:

1. Use the app or go to the website for your cloud storage service, like Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive.
2. Log in with the account linked to your cloud backup.
3. Look for a section labeled Trash, Recycle Bin, or Deleted Files. Most cloud services keep deleted files for about 30 days, but the exact time depends on the service and account type.
4. Search for your Cinema 4D file by name or look for files with the .c4d extension.
5. Select the file or folder and click Restore/Recover. This will move it back to its original folder in your cloud storage, where you can access or download it.

Data Recovery Services

Finally, if your storage drive has sustained physical damage or is not readable even by data recovery software, only a data recovery service would be able to help you.

Sometimes, it’s not the critical parts of the drive itself but the fragile connecting ports that get easily damaged and prevent the storage drive from being readable. If that’s the case, then there’s a good chance that a good data recovery service will be able to recover your lost C4D files.

You can also turn to data recovery services even if your drive is fine but you’d rather not handle the data recovery yourself. Just keep in mind, it’s not cheap—these services often charge hundreds of dollars depending on the complexity of the case.

As we mentioned earlier, if your C4D files were overwritten, even professionals won’t be able to recover them. Once new data replaces the deleted files on your drive, the original data is permanently lost. It’s important to understand this upfront so you know what to expect from the recovery process.

To Wrap Up

In our experience, deleted Cinema 4D files can be recovered at home with the tools and methods we’ve outlined in this article. We tried to cover as many scenarios as possible—not just deleted project files but also files lost due to Cinema 4D crashes, corrupted drives, and other common issues.

Cinema 4D has been around for over 30 years, and its community is incredibly knowledgeable about all kinds of problems and creative fixes. If you need more help or advice we recommend checking out these: r/Cinema4D on Reddit and Core4D (formerly C4D Cafe).

If you’re stuck, don’t hesitate to ask for help—someone has likely dealt with a similar issue and can offer advice. To get the best guidance in cases of crashes, you can share a bug report. This report contains detailed information about the crash, like system specs, error logs, and other data that help experts understand what went wrong.

How to Find the Cinema 4D Crash File Location

As we said, crashes are a common problem with tools as complex as Cinema 4D, and the developers acknowledge this. To make things easier for users, Cinema 4D has a system called Bug Reports, which often includes crash recovery files. These reports are automatically generated when the program crashes and can help you figure out what went wrong. Here’s how to find them on Windows:

1. Typical Cinema 4D crash file location is this: C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\MAXON\Maxon Cinema 4D 2024_XXXXXXXX\_bugreports
2. If the AppData folder isn’t visible, enable hidden items. In File Explorer click View in the menu bar. Check the box for Hidden Items to reveal hidden folders.
3. Inside the _bugreports folder, look for _BugReport.txt files. These files contain detailed technical reports that provide info on system or application issues. You can share these files with Cinema 4D’s technical support team or online community to help diagnose and resolve the problem.

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