When you delete photos from your device or cloud storage, you may think they are gone forever. However, with the right tools and some effort, it is sometimes possible to recover photos even after they have been “permanently” deleted. In this article, we will examine whether and how you can retrieve photos after deletion, the risks of photo recovery, and tips for more secure deletion.
Quick overview: Is photo recovery possible?
In short, maybe. If you have deleted photos from a device or cloud storage and no special deletion or overwrite procedures were performed, then recovery is likely possible using data recovery software or services. However, the more time passes since deletion, the lower the chance of recovery. On the other hand, if special disk cleaning or overwrite procedures were performed after deletion, then recovery becomes much less likely or impossible.
What happens when you permanently delete photos?
When you send a photo to the recycle bin/trash or use your device or cloud storage provider’s permanent deletion feature, the reference to that photo’s data on your storage drive is removed. However, the actual photo data still exists on the drive until it is overwritten by new data. This is because deleting a file does not actually erase the data – it just marks the space that data occupies as available for new data storage.
For example, let’s say you have a paper document (the photo data) stored in a file folder (the file reference). When you delete the file, you are essentially removing the paper’s listing from the folder’s table of contents. However, the paper still sits in the folder until a new document is stored in the same spot.
Why can permanently deleted photos potentially be recovered?
Since the photo data still resides on the storage drive after deletion, it has the potential to be recovered using specialized data recovery software or hardware equipment. This software scans the drive and looks for file signatures that indicate the remnants of past photo files. When found, this raw data can then be reconstructed back into its original photo file format and sometimes even the original file name.
What types of storage allow photo recovery?
Photo recovery is potentially possible on any persistent storage device that the deleted photos were stored on, such as:
- Hard disk drives (HDDs) in computers, phones, cameras, USB sticks, etc.
- Solid state drives (SSDs) in newer computers, phones, USB sticks, etc.
- External HDDs and SSDs
- Cloud storage like iCloud, Google Photos, Dropbox, etc.
- Removable media like SD cards, CompactFlash, etc.
So essentially any device or service with persistent file storage may allow recovery of deleted photos until the storage areas containing those photos are overwritten. Generally, cloud storage providers overwrite deleted data fairly quickly, while data on home computers and external storage can persist for a long time.
What are the risks of trying to recover permanently deleted photos?
While photo recovery from your own devices carries minimal risk, a few factors should be kept in mind:
- Recovered photos may be fragmented or corrupted if parts of the files were overwritten.
- Recovery software can falsely detect random data as photo signatures, recovering garbage files.
- You may accidentally recover other deleted files you did not intend to.
Perhaps of greater concern is if you send your device to an untrustworthy data recovery service. In that case, your entire drive contents are exposed to the service, introducing privacy and security risks of personal data theft or device tampering. Only use reputable recovery services that contractually guarantee data protection and confidentiality.
Will erased cloud storage photos be recovered?
If you rely on a cloud service like Google Photos or iCloud for your photo storage, can you recover deleted cloud-based pictures? The answer is usually no for a few reasons:
- Cloud storage is shared across users, so deleted space gets rapidly overwritten by new uploads. This leaves little time for recovery.
- Cloud storage providers strictly control API access to prevent unauthorized data recovery.
- Cloud storage encryption renders deleted data unrecoverable without the encryption keys.
For these reasons, while limited cloud photo recovery is sometimes possible right after deletion before space is overwritten, it is very rare. However, there are a few cases where cloud photo recovery could work:
- If you have automatic cloud backup of your mobile device photos, you may be able to restore deleted cloud-synced photos by recovering them from the mobile device’s local storage.
- Some cloud services keep file versions after edits, allowing you to restore an older photo version.
- Paid cloud account holders that contact customer service within days of deletion can sometimes have their deleted photos restored from cloud provider backups.
Can you recover permanently deleted photos from a computer?
Photos deleted from a computer’s local hard drive are often excellent candidates for recovery. This is because computers rarely automatically overwrite deleted file space quickly. Even if you empty the Recycle Bin/Trash, the photo data still resides intact on the hard drive and may persist for months or years until actively overwritten.
To recover deleted photos from a Windows or Mac computer hard drive:
- Download and install a data recovery app like Recuva, Disk Drill, or Stellar Data Recovery.
- Scan the drive the photos were stored on.
- Browse found photos and select those to recover.
- Save the photos to another drive (not the one you are recovering from).
Recovery effectiveness depends on drive type. Recovery from modern SSDs is harder than traditional mechanical HDDs. Also, the longer since deletion, the more likely critical photo data has been overwritten by new files and programs.
Recovery from external drives and SD cards
The recovery process is essentially the same for external hard drives, SSDs, USB flash drives, SD cards, and other removable media. Just attach the external device to your computer, run data recovery software, and scan that external drive instead of an internal one.
Can you recover permanently deleted photos from a phone?
Yes, the same principle applies to phones as computers. After file deletion, data still resides on the phone’s internal NAND flash storage chips until overwritten. This allows specialized mobile data recovery software to scan the phone’s storage and recover recently deleted image and video files.
For iPhones, you can recover deleted photos directly on the device using a mobile app like iMazing, Dr. Fone, or PhoneRescue.
For Android phones, you can sometimes recover deleted photos directly on the device using DiskDigger Photo Recovery or other apps. But for best results, you should root your Android device first to enable deeper file system access. Alternatively, you can recover Android photos by:
- Connecting the Android device to a computer.
- Scanning the phone storage as external media from the computer.
- Running data recovery software on the computer to recover deleted Android photos.
Can you recover permanently deleted photos from a camera?
Digital cameras also offer excellent photo recovery potential thanks to removable SD card storage. As long as you have not overwritten the storage card since deletion, you can recover deleted photos by:
- Removing the memory card from the camera.
- Using a card reader to connect the card to a computer.
- Scanning the card like external media with recovery software.
- Saving recovered photos to your computer drive.
Many cameras also have limited internal storage that you may be able to connect to a computer and scan using recovery software. However, recovering internally stored photos requires the camera model provide a USB mass storage or removable disk mode.
Can you increase chances of successful recovery?
If you have just realized important photos have been deleted, you can maximize their chances of successful recovery by acting quickly before they are overwritten. Ideally:
- Avoid capturing any new photos, videos, or data to the device, as this could overwrite deleted files.
- Stop using the device immediately to prevent the operating system from writing new temporary files.
- Recover the photos to another storage device, not the one you are recovering from.
This preserves the best possibility of intact photo data still residing intact right where it was left after deletion.
Can you prevent photo recovery with secure deletion?
If you want to delete sensitive photos so securely they cannot be recovered later, overwriting their storage space is necessary. Special secure erasure software overwrites photo file locations, often using multiple rewrite passes.
On Windows PCs, built-in utilities like SDelete or third-party erasers like Eraser work well for sanitizing individual photo files. To securely erase entire drives, utilities like DBAN, KillDisk, or Parted Magic are more appropriate.
On Macs, you can permanently delete photos using the srm terminal command or a tool like Permanent Eraser.
For mobile device storage, secure deletion apps are available, but should be used very cautiously as they can render devices inoperable if improperly applied to critical system files. You also need rooted Android access for most to work properly.
Can damaged photos be repaired after recovery?
It depends on the type of damage. Light JPEG corruption or partial file fragmentation can often be repaired by data recovery tools. However, heavy corruption from multiple overwritten blocks cannot be fixed. Photorec and other free recovery tools excel at reconstructing lightly corrupted image files.
It helps to have copies of damaged photos made at recovery time in case later repair fails – you can start over with another copy. Multipass scans can also help dredge up different aspects of corrupted photos across passes.
Conclusion
While permanently deleted photos are never guaranteed to be recoverable, more often than not at least some deleted data still resides intact on storage media until it gets overwritten weeks, months, or years later. By quickly leveraging the right recovery tools before that precious photo data is lost forever, you stand an excellent chance of salvaging erroneously deleted images and movies from hard drives, removable media, phones, cameras, and potentially even the cloud.