Having photos become corrupted or deleted can be extremely frustrating. Photos often hold sentimental value and are considered priceless to many people. The good news is that with the right software and techniques, it is often possible to restore photos that have been lost or damaged.
How are photos corrupted or deleted in the first place?
There are a few common ways photos can become corrupted or deleted:
- Storage device failure – If your hard drive crashes or USB drive fails, the photos stored on them can become inaccessible.
- Accidental deletion – Photos may be deleted by mistake, without having a backup available.
- File corruption – Issues during transfer or editing of image files can cause errors that make photos unviewable.
- Software bugs – Bugs in photo editing or management apps could lead to unwanted changes or loss of photos.
- Viruses or malware – Malicious software can sometimes corrupt or delete files, including photos.
The specific cause will determine the best approach for restoring the photos. But the good news is that even if you don’t know the exact reason for the photo loss, there are strategies that may be able to recover them.
Can you restore photos after emptying the recycle bin?
Yes, it is often possible to restore deleted photos even after emptying the Windows Recycle Bin or Mac Trash. When you delete files, including photos, the operating system does not immediately overwrite the data on your storage device. So until it gets overwritten by new data, recovery software can scan the device and restore previously deleted files.
However, it is important not to save anything new to the device you want to recover photos from, as this increases the risk of the deleted data being overwritten. The sooner you use data recovery software after deletion, the better your chances.
What software is best for restoring lost or deleted photos?
Some of the top software tools for recovering lost and deleted photos include:
| Software | Platform | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Stellar Photo Recovery | Windows, Mac | Recovers photos from hard drives, memory cards, drones, and other sources. Works even after formatting drive. |
| Disk Drill | Windows, Mac | Scans storage device sector-by-sector to find recoverable image data. Has free and paid versions. |
| Photorec | Windows, Mac, Linux | Open source recovery tool, suitable for all file types. Command line interface only. |
| Remo Photo Recovery | Windows, Mac | Advanced deep scanning modes for intensive recovery operations. 300+ supported file types. |
The best software for you depends on your operating system, device types, budget, and how tech-savvy you are. Online reviews can help identify the right solution for your needs.
Can you restore photos from a damaged SD card?
Damaged SD cards are a common cause of photo loss. But there are very good chances of restoring photos from even badly damaged SD cards, such as those that have been bent, snapped, water-damaged, or suffering from corrupted sectors.
The key is to avoid further modifying the SD card once you discover the damage. Instead, use recovery software designed for SD cards like Photorec or Remo Recova to scan the card and extract recoverable photo data. This works because many corruption issues only affect the SD card’s file system while leaving the actual photo data intact.
However, SD cards that are physically broken into pieces or melted/burned are less likely to have recoverable data. But otherwise, most damaged SD cards have decent restore prospects with the right recovery approach.
Can you restore photos after a system restore?
System restore operations like restoring a computer to factory settings or an earlier restore point will generally delete all user files, including photos. So you typically cannot directly restore photos after this type of system restore.
However, just like any other accidental deletion, there is still hope for photo recovery. As long as the storage drive has not been extensively rewritten after the system restore, data recovery software should be able to extract previously stored photo files. It becomes a standard deleted file recovery operation.
The quicker you run the recovery after the system restore, the better. So if you know in advance you will be doing a restore, back up your photos first. Otherwise, recovery software is your best bet for getting back photos after a system restore deletes them.
Can professionals like Best Buy restore photos for you?
Retail electronics and computer repair stores like Best Buy offer data recovery services that can restore lost or deleted photos. This involves shipping your storage device to a professional lab, where data recovery engineers use specialized tools to extract recoverable data.
The pros of using professional recovery services include:
- High recovery success rate – Labs have access to advanced techniques not available in consumer software.
- Recover photos even from hardware issues – Physical device failures can often be repaired enough to extract data.
- Experts handle the process – Convenient to have professionals do all the work for you.
The cons are:
- More expensive – Professional fees start around $100 for basic recovery, but can cost $1000+ for complex jobs.
- Takes longer – You must wait 1-2 weeks or longer to get your device back.
- Not guaranteed – Labs won’t charge if unsuccessful, but not all photos can be recovered.
Overall, Best Buy and professional recovery are good options for valuable photos, especially if DIY software is unable to restore them.
What are the chances of restoring photos from a reformatted hard drive?
Reformatting a hard drive erases all data on it by recreating the file system from scratch. This makes photo recovery trickier than normal deletion. However, reformatting does not touch the underlying data stored on the drive plates initially.
With the right recovery software, there is a decent chance of restoring at least some photos from a reformatted hard drive. Recovery success depends on factors like:
- Time elapsed since reformatting – The less usage of the drive since, the more recoverable data.
- Use of secure erase – Methods like degaussing make recovery very difficult.
- Cause of reformat – Due to corruption vs intentional clears data reliability.
- Drive capacity – More data makes finding specific photo fragments challenging.
Overall, expect at least a 25-30% chance of significant recovery from a reformatted drive. The more effort taken to completely erase the drive, the lower your chances. But it’s often still worth trying.
Can you restore photos from Time Machine or other backups?
Backups created by Apple’s Time Machine software on Mac or other backup tools like File History on Windows are designed to protect against data loss. So they can absolutely be used to restore deleted or lost photos.
To restore from Time Machine or another backup:
- Connect the backup drive to your computer.
- Enter the recovery interface (Time Machine or File History respectively).
- Navigate to the folder containing your photo backups.
- Select the photos you want to restore.
- Choose to restore the photos to your main hard drive or another location.
The specific steps vary between tools, but the overall process is similar. Having a backup avoids more complex data recovery operations. Just make sure to keep backups up-to-date and store them safely.
Can you recover photos after a factory reset?
Resetting your phone or camera to factory default settings will wipe all data, including photos. Professional recovery services may be able to restore some deleted photos after a factory reset, but it can be challenging.
Your best bet is to back up photos before doing a factory reset. Cloud services like Google Photos and iCloud automatically sync photos and keep 30 day backups after deletion. So enabling them before a reset provides a way to get photos back.
You can also back up phone photos manually to a computer. With cameras, be sure to transfer all photos to your computer for backup prior to a factory reset.
While not guaranteed, taking these steps means you won’t have to rely on trying to recover deleted photos from the reset device itself.
Can files be restored after reformatting or repartitioning a drive?
Reformatting or repartitioning a storage drive erases existing files and creates a new blank file system. However, the underlying photo data is not immediately destroyed. So recovery is possible, at least right after reformatting.
The challenges come from the operating system writing new files scattered across the drive, gradually overwriting the old data. Quick action with recovery software gives the best results after reformatting or repartitioning.
Good recovery tools can isolate and extract recoverable photo file fragments based on header signatures rather than relying on intact file system metadata. The more writing to the drive, the lower your chances of restoring pre-existing photos though.
Does recovery software work if your hard drive won’t turn on?
When a hard drive has serious physical damage that prevents it from even powering on, this precludes running data recovery software directly on it. However, specialized disk repair professionals have techniques to restore data even from non-functional drives.
Methods like swapping circuit boards or chip-off forensics can allow access to the raw storage media inside a damaged drive for scanning and data extraction. The photos may then be recoverable even without the drive turning on normally.
So while DIY software tools need a powered-on drive to work, professional recovery labs can sometimes work around physical damage and recover photos without powering on the failed drive.
Can you recover permanently deleted photos?
When photos are permanently deleted, such as by secure erase methods like data shredding, the photo contents and metadata are deliberately overwritten to prevent standard data recovery.
However, true permanent deletion is difficult to fully achieve on modern storage drives. There is often still hope for recovering at least fragments of permanently deleted files. Extensive scans by advanced recovery tools can pick up on partial file header patterns and carve out semi-corrupted versions of once permanently deleted photos.
The chances depend heavily on the method used to permanently delete. A basic file shredder leaves more recoverable data than using the secure erase function built into a drive, for example. But overall there are often still possibilities of restoring even deliberately deleted photos.
Can you recover photos after a DSLR memory card error?
DSLR cameras use memory cards like SD cards, CompactFlash or XQD cards to store photos. Error messages about memory card corruption, formatting errors, or being unable to access photos are unfortunately common.
But there is almost always hope for recovering photos from a DSLR memory card with errors. The key is avoiding anything that writes to the card to avoid overwriting data. Instead, use photography-focused recovery software to extract as much photo data as possible.
Errors confined to the file system like needing to reformat often have high recovery success rates. Even physically damaged cards can retain recoverable data if handled carefully during recovery. So don’t give up hope if your DSLR card runs into problems.
Conclusion
Restoring lost, deleted, or corrupted photos is often possible with the right tools and techniques. The most important factor is avoiding anything that overwrites photo data, like continuing to shoot pictures or reformatting cards and drives. Then use specialized recovery software to scan storage devices and rebuild photos based on residual data.
In some cases like mechanical drive failure or very intensive deletion methods, professional recovery services offer the best prospects for recovery. But overall, with caution and the right software, there are good chances of getting back photos you feared were gone forever.