Photos hold precious memories that we don’t want to lose. However, as technology changes and devices/services come and go, you may find yourself separated from some of your older photos. The good news is that with a bit of effort, you can likely recover those old photos. Here are some tips on how to get your old pictures back.
Check your old devices and storage media
One of the best places to look for old photos is on your old phones, cameras, computers, and storage devices. Photos you may have thought were lost could still be sitting on an old device or disk somewhere. Here are some things to check:
– Old phones: Sync or plug in your old phones to your computer to access the photos stored on them. Don’t forget to remove the SD card and check that too.
– Old digital cameras: Connect your old cameras to your computer and see if you can import the photos. Also check the memory card.
– Old laptops and PCs: Boot up your old computers and look in the Pictures folder for photo archives.
– USB drives, CDs, DVDs, and external hard drives: Dig through your collection of disks and drives to unearth lost photo collections.
– Cloud storage: Log into old cloud storage accounts to see if photos were backed up there.
With a little digging, you may rediscover photos you thought were gone forever stored on one of your old devices.
Check with photo printing services
If you ordered printed photos from services like Walgreens, Shutterfly, or others over the years, the company may still have digital copies of those photos stored in your account. Log into your old accounts with photo printing services and see if your photo archives are still there waiting for you.
Look through old social media accounts
Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Google Photos are common places people have backed up their photos over the years. Log into your old accounts and browse for photos you may have posted or uploaded. On some services like Facebook, you can even download your entire photo archive.
Search your emails for photo attachments
Many of us have emailed photos to ourselves or others as attachments over the years. Do a search through your email account for attachments with file extensions like JPG, PNG, GIF, etc. You may uncover photos in your inbox that you thought were long gone.
Recovering from Cloud Storage Services
If you used cloud storage services like Google Photos, Apple iCloud, Dropbox, etc. in the past, there still may be hope for recovering deleted photos. Here are some tips for getting your photos back from the cloud:
Check the trash or recently deleted folders
Most cloud services have a trash or “recently deleted” folder where files are kept for a certain number of days before being permanently deleted. Look in these folders for any of your recently trashed photos.
Contact customer support
Depending on the service, you may be able to contact customer support and request help recovering deleted files. Be prepared to provide information like when the files were deleted and any other relevant details.
Use data recovery software
For certain cloud storage services, specialized data recovery software exists that can help restore deleted files by scanning the servers for traces of your data. Do some research to see if such software is available for the service you need.
| Cloud Service | Data Recovery Software |
|---|---|
| Google Photos | Google Photo Rescue |
| iCloud | iMyFone iBypasser |
| Dropbox | Recoverit Data Recovery |
Restore from backup
If you previously downloaded a backup of your photos from the cloud service to your computer or external drive, you may be able to restore your photos from this local copy. Check any backups you have for those missing cloud photos.
Recovering from Social Media
Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and others are popular places for people to store and share photos. Here are some tips for resuscitating your photos from social media sites if they’ve been lost or deleted.
Check your profile and posts
Even if photos are deleted from social media sites, they may still be visible on your profile or in posts you were tagged in. Do a thorough sweep of your profile page, posts, and tags to uncover photos you can’t find elsewhere.
Review your archived posts
On sites like Facebook and Instagram, you may be able to access archived versions of your posts containing deleted photos. On Facebook, for example, you can go to Settings -> Your Facebook Information -> Download your Information and request an archive.
Use data recovery tools
For some social networks, third-party data recovery tools exist that can scour the servers and recover deleted photos. Do some Googling to find tools capable of restoring lost images from your social platform of choice.
Contact customer support
As a last resort, you can try reaching out to the social network’s customer support team and seeing if they can help you recover deleted photos. Provide as many details as possible like dates and circumstances of the deletion.
Recovering from Lost or Damaged Devices
If you lost an old phone, camera, or computer that had your photos stored on it, or the device became corrupted or damaged, there are still some things you can try to get those photos back.
Try data recovery software
For damaged or corrupted storage devices, specialized data recovery software may be able to scan the drives and reconstruct lost photo files. Some reputable apps include Disk Drill, Stellar Photo Recovery, and EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard.
Send device to data recovery pros
For more serious recovery cases, you can enlist the help of professional data recovery services that have access to specialized tools to reconstruct lost data. Prices vary widely based on the complexity of the recovery.
Check iCloud or Google Photos backups
If you used iCloud Photo Library or Google Photos to back up your lost device, you may be able to restore your photos from the cloud backup. Log into these services and see if your photos are still stored there.
Ask photo printing services
As mentioned earlier, photo printing vendors may still have digital copies of photos you printed through them. Provide them with any relevant order numbers or time frames and see if they can locate the photos.
Preventing Photo Loss in the Future
After going through the headache of trying to recover lost photos, you’ll likely want to take steps to prevent a repeat occurrence! Here are some tips for making sure you never lose your precious photos again:
Leverage the cloud
Back up your photos to cloud storage services like Google Photos, iCloud, Amazon Photos, etc. Cloud backups provide protection in case of device loss, theft or damage.
Use external storage
Keep secondary copies of your photos on external hard drives or USB flash drives. Store these drives in a separate physical location from your main devices for redundancy.
Enable photo sync
Use solutions like Google Photos or iCloud Photo Library to automatically sync your photos across devices. This provides real-time offsite backups and easier access to your photos.
Be careful when deleting
When deleting photos, double check that copies exist elsewhere before permanently erasing. Also be very cautious when deleting photos from cloud services or social media.
Print your favorites
For your most cherished photos, print physical copies and perhaps store digitally on DVDs or flash drives for long-term preservation. Spread the storage out over different locations.
Conclusion
While recovering lost photos can be a pain, in most cases it just takes some perseverance and creativity to resurrect your memories. Check your old devices, chat with customer service, leverage data recovery tools, and don’t give up hope. And going forward, make sure you are diligently backing up new photos so you never have to endure this ordeal again! With the right systems in place, you can rest assured your photos are safe and sound.