Losing photos that hold precious memories or important information can be devastating. With digital photography, it’s easier than ever to accidentally delete an image that can’t be replaced. Fortunately, there are several methods you can try to recover deleted photos, depending on the device and circumstances of the deletion.
Can You Recover Deleted Photos from Your Computer?
If you deleted photos from your computer, the first thing to do is stop using the computer immediately. Any activity on the hard drive, like saving new files, could overwrite your deleted photos. Here are some recovery methods to try:
- Restore from Recycle Bin – If you deleted the photos on a Windows PC, they may still be in the Recycle Bin. Open it up and restore your photos.
- Use data recovery software – Install a data recovery program like Stellar Photo Recovery that can scan your hard drive and find any recoverable image files.
- Restore from backup – If you regularly back up your computer, you may be able to recover deleted photos from an external hard drive or cloud storage.
As long as you act quickly and don’t overwrite the storage space, you have a good chance of getting back deleted computer photos.
Can You Recover Deleted Photos from a Smartphone or Tablet?
Smart devices like phones and tablets also save deleted photos in a “recycle bin” folder, but they are permanently erased after 30 days or whenever the space is needed for new data. Here’s what to do:
- Restore recently deleted photos – Open up the Photos app and look for a “Recently Deleted” folder where you can revive photos. This works for up to 30 days on iPhone and Android.
- Use data recovery software – Install recovery software like Fonelab on your device and scan for deleted photos that can still be retrieved.
- Connect to a computer – Use a program like iSkysoft Toolbox to connect your phone to a computer and scan it for recoverable deleted photos.
The sooner you act, the better chance you have of getting back deleted photos from mobile devices. Cloud backups can also save deleted images.
Can You Recover Deleted Photos from a Camera?
When you delete photos from a digital camera, they are removed from the memory card, not just the camera photo gallery. Here is what you can do:
- Use data recovery software – Install recovery software on your computer and connect the memory card to scan and restore deleted photos.
- Try file recovery services – If DIY software can’t find the photos, a professional service may be able to recover them from the card.
- Check cloud backups – If you had your camera set up to automatically back up photos to the cloud, deleted images may be preserved there.
The key is not taking any more photos or formatting the memory card after deletion, which overwrites photo data. A quick recovery attempt can rescue deleted camera photos.
Can You Recover Deleted Photos from the Cloud?
If your photos are stored on cloud platforms like Google Photos, iCloud, Amazon Photos or Dropbox, you have a very good chance of recovering deleted photos:
- Look in the trash folder – Cloud services use trash folders to store deleted files for a certain number of days, check there first.
- Contact customer support – The cloud company may be able to restore deleted photos from their archives even if not in the trash folder.
- Use data recovery services – For Dropbox, specialized software like Disk Drill can scan and recover deleted files.
- Restore from backup – If you have another cloud backup, deleted photos may exist in another location.
Since your photos aren’t instantly deleted from cloud servers, providers can often recover them as long as the account is still active.
Can You Recover Deleted Photos from Social Media?
If you deleted photos from a social media platform like Facebook, Instagram or Google Photos, can you get them back? It depends:
- Check the trash folder – Facebook and Instagram use trash folders to store deleted photos for a limited time, check there first.
- Use data recovery services – Software like Disk Drill isn’t able to scan social media sites directly, but can recover photos synced to your hard drive.
- Ask for human review – For Facebook, you can submit a form asking for a human to review and restore deleted photos.
- Check cloud backups – If you had your phone set to automatically back up to the cloud, deleted social media photos may be preserved there.
While photos deleted from social media platforms can be difficult to recover, it’s sometimes possible by using trash folders, recovery services and backups.
Best Practices for Recovering Deleted Photos
While there are no guarantees, you can maximize your chances of recovering deleted photos by following these best practices:
- Act quickly – The sooner you try to recover deleted photos, the better, before storage space is overwritten with new data.
- Avoid overwriting data – Don’t save anything new to the device or take more photos on the memory card.
- Use read-only recovery tools – Choose data recovery software that won’t alter the existing data on the storage device.
- Have robust backups – Regularly back up your photos to external hard drives and cloud platforms in case deletion occurs.
Combining quick action, the right software tools and backups gives you the best chance of recovering lost digital photos and preserving your memories.
When is Photo Recovery Impossible?
While deleted photos can often be recovered, there are some cases where it simply isn’t possible:
- Overwritten data – If new data fills up the space where deleted photos existed, they may be gone for good.
- Severely damaged devices – Major physical damage can make data recovery impossible.
- Inaccessible cloud data – If a cloud account is closed, the photos will no longer be accessible.
- No backups – Without any backups, there are limited options to retrieve deleted photos.
To protect against permanent loss, the best thing you can do is routinely back up your photos in multiple locations so they can be restored if accidentally deleted.
Third Party Photo Recovery Services
When DIY software fails to recover deleted photos, you may need to turn to a professional data recovery service. Here are some top options:
| Service | Details |
|---|---|
| Kroll Ontrack | Offers photo recovery from hard drives, cameras, memory cards, mobile devices, and various types of permanent deletion. |
| DigiLab | Specializes in recovery from all camera brands, mobile devices, memory cards, and hard drives. |
| 556 Digital | Will attempt to recover photos from any type of digital device including phones, tablets, and storage media. |
| Secure Data Recovery | Recovers lost camera photos from hard drives, external drives, memory cards, and all types of mobile devices. |
These services use specialized tools in a controlled lab environment to retrieve lost photo data without any alteration or damage to the storage device. The price varies based on the device and number of photos. While expensive, they offer the best chance of getting back irreplaceable photos that are otherwise unrecoverable through consumer-level methods.
Can You Recover Deleted Photos Without Software?
In some cases, it may be possible to restore deleted photos without using data recovery software:
- Restore from recycle bin – On computers and mobile devices, the recycle bin or “recently deleted” folder can retrieve photos deleted in the past 30 days.
- Plug into computer – Connecting your phone or camera to a computer may show image files marked for deletion that can be restored.
- Recover from backups – If you have a backup on an external drive or cloud service, deleted photos may be retrievable from these sources.
- Contact customer service – For some cloud platforms, the company may be able to recover deleted photos for you manually.
While software offers more options for scanning and restoring all types of deleted files, built-in restore functions and backups can sometimes bring photos back without needing an advanced utility.
Getting Back Photos Deleted Without Permission
Having someone intentionally delete important photos without your permission can be frustrating and upsetting. Here are some ways to get back photos and prevent it from happening again:
- Use recovery methods – The techniques in this article can retrieve photos deleted without permission, unless storage has been overwritten.
- Check the trash – Photos deleted on a computer or device may still be in the recycle bin.
- Restore from backup – Backups serve as protection in case of intentional or accidental deletion.
- Enable permissions – Set up individual user accounts with limited permissions for shared computers or devices to prevent improper access.
- Limit app access – Be selective in allowing apps access to cloud storage or social media accounts where they could delete images.
While recovering photos someone else deleted can be difficult, there are ways to mitigate the damage using backups and improved security settings to prevent a reoccurrence.
Can You Recover Deleted Photos Without the Device?
Is it possible to recover deleted photos if you no longer have the device where they were located? There are a few options to try:
- Cloud backups – If photos were backed up to cloud storage, you can retrieve them by signing into that account.
- External drive backups – Backups on an external hard drive or memory card can be restored even without the original device.
- Data recovery services – Some advanced services may be able to extract photos from a discarded device, depending on its condition.
- Friends and services – If photos were shared online or sent to others, you can sometimes get copies of the lost images.
Relying on robust backup systems is the best way to guard against losing photos due to a damaged, stolen or discarded device. Without backups, your options are limited if the device is unavailable.
Preventing Accidental Photo Deletion
Recovering deleted photos takes effort, so it’s also important to focus on prevention. Some tips include:
- Back up regularly – Maintain backups on external drives and cloud services in case you need to restore photos.
- Confirm before deleting – Enable delete confirmation messages to avoid unintentional deletion.
- Review storage alerts – Pay attention to notifications about storage space so you don’t have to mass delete photos.
- Add favorites – Mark your most important photos as favorites so they don’t get easily deleted.
- Utilize trash folders – Use trash folders as a safety net before permanent deletion.
Staying vigilant to avoid accidental deletion and having strong backup systems in place are the best ways to protect photos against permanent loss.
Key Takeaways
- Recovering deleted photos is often possible with the right tools and quick action, as long as the storage space wasn’t overwritten.
- Options like restoration from the recycle bin, data recovery software and cloud backups can retrieve recently deleted pictures.
- Preventing deletion in the first place via backups and deletion protections is advised to avoid losing irreplaceable memories.
- While recovering deleted photos takes some effort, dedicating time to restoration and prevention can give peace of mind that your images are safe.
Conclusion
Accidentally deleting meaningful photos can be a disastrous life event, but fortunately recovery is possible in many cases. By quickly using restore functions, recovery software and backups, you can often get back deleted photos as long as storage hasn’t been overwritten. Pairing rescue efforts with preventative measures like routine backups and deletion confirmations will help you safeguard precious memories for good.