It’s easy to accidentally delete photos on your Samsung phone, whether by swiping to delete a photo you thought was unimportant or by clearing your camera roll to free up space. Unfortunately, once photos are deleted from the main gallery, they are sent to the ‘recently deleted’ folder where they are only kept for a limited time before being permanently erased.
The good news is that with the right steps, you can often recover deleted photos from the ‘recently deleted’ folder on your Samsung device, as long as you act quickly enough. The goal of this guide is to provide clear instructions on how to restore photos that were recently deleted from your Samsung phone’s gallery.
Check the ‘Recently Deleted’ Folder
Samsung devices have a built-in ‘Recently Deleted’ folder that stores photos, videos, and other files deleted within the past 30 days. This folder acts as a recycle bin, giving you a chance to recover media that was accidentally or intentionally deleted.
To access the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder on your Samsung Galaxy device:
- Open the Gallery app.
- Tap on the three horizontal lines in the top left corner to open the menu.
- Scroll down and tap on ‘Trash’.
This will open the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder containing your recently deleted photos, videos, and other files. You can tap and hold to permanently delete files or tap ‘Restore’ to recover and move them back to your camera roll.
Recover Deleted Photos
Photos that are temporarily stored in your phone’s ‘Recently Deleted’ folder can often be easily recovered. The ‘Recently Deleted’ folder stores photos for up to 30 days after they are deleted from your Gallery before being permanently erased.
To recover deleted photos from the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder on your Samsung device:
- Open the Gallery app and tap on the three dot menu icon in the top right corner.
- Select ‘Recycle Bin’ or ‘Trash’ from the menu options.
- This will open the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder containing your deleted photos.
- Tap and hold on the photos you want to recover.
- Tap ‘Restore’ to move the selected photos back to your main Gallery.
Following these steps allows you to quickly restore recently deleted photos as long as they are still being stored in the Recycle Bin folder. Just be sure to recover them within 30 days before they are permanently deleted.
Use a File Recovery App
If your deleted photos are no longer in the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder, a file recovery app can help retrieve them. Apps like DiskDigger are designed to scan your phone’s internal memory and external SD card to find deleted files that can still be recovered.
These apps work by looking for traces of deleted data that haven’t yet been overwritten by new data. Even if you can’t see the photos anymore, parts of the image data may still be present and recoverable.
DiskDigger has free and paid versions and can recover lost or deleted photos, videos, documents, and other files. After scanning your phone, it allows you to preview found files before recovering them.
The best recovery results happen soon after deletion, before too much new data is written that could overwrite the deleted files. So use a recovery app as soon as possible after losing photos.
Restore from Backup
If you had recently backed up your photos to Samsung Cloud or external storage, you may be able to restore the deleted photos from your backup.
To restore photos from a Samsung Cloud backup:
- Open the Settings app and tap on Accounts and backup > Samsung Cloud.
- Tap on Restore data, select Gallery app, choose which backup to restore from, and tap Restore.
- Your deleted photos will be restored from the Samsung Cloud backup.
To restore from an external SD card or USB drive backup:
- Connect the external storage device that contains your backup.
- Launch Smart Switch and tap on Restore.
- Select the backup to restore from and tap Next.
- Choose Gallery and any other data you want to restore.
- Tap Restore and confirm to start restoring your photos.
However, keep in mind that restoring from a backup may overwrite your existing photos and data on your device. Backups also only contain data from up to a certain point, so you may not be able to restore deleted photos if the backups are too old.
Connect to a Computer
Another option to try recovering deleted photos is to connect your Samsung phone directly to a computer via a USB cable. This will allow you to access the phone’s internal storage from your computer and attempt data recovery using specialized software.
Follow these steps to connect your phone to a computer:
- Use the charging cable that came with your Samsung phone to connect it to your computer.
- On your phone, swipe down from the top and tap the “USB for file transfer” notification.
- Open the file explorer on your computer. Your Samsung phone storage should appear as a connected drive.
- Do not save or move any new files to the phone storage yet, as this could overwrite your deleted photos.
You can now attempt to recover deleted photos using free software like Recuva. Recuva scans your phone drive and allows you to restore previously deleted files.
Just be sure not to save any new data to your phone’s internal storage until you’ve recovered your deleted photos, as this could overwrite them entirely.
Avoid Future Data Loss
The best way to avoid permanently losing photos in the future is to frequently back them up. Relying solely on the storage on your Samsung device is risky, as deletion can happen easily. Consider enabling the built-in Samsung Cloud auto-backup feature, which will automatically save copies of your photos to the cloud. You can also manually back up your photos to an external SD card, external hard drive, or cloud storage service like Google Photos or Dropbox. This gives you the peace of mind that even if photos are accidentally deleted from your device, you’ll still have copies stored safely elsewhere.
Ideally, you should be backing up your photos on at least a weekly basis. The more frequently you back up, the less data you’ll lose if permanent deletion does occur. Storage is relatively inexpensive these days, so take advantage of it. Having redundant copies of your irreplaceable photos is well worth the small investment.
Following these backup best practices will minimize the chance of catastrophic photo loss. Then if deletion does happen, you’ll have options to recover your photos from a recent backup. Storing your photos across multiple locations is the key to keeping them safe and avoiding heartache down the road.
[1]
Recover from the Cloud
If you had your photos synced to a cloud storage service like iCloud, Google Photos, or Dropbox before they were deleted, you may be able to restore them from the cloud. Most cloud services keep deleted files for a certain period of time in case you need to recover them.
To restore deleted photos from iCloud:
- Go to icloud.com and sign in
- Open the Photos app
- Go to the Recently Deleted folder
- Select the photos you want to recover
- Click Recover
Keep in mind that iCloud only retains deleted photos for 30 days before permanently deleting them (https://support.apple.com/guide/icloud/delete-and-recover-photos-and-videos-mm08b49040b5/icloud). So act quickly if you need to restore photos from iCloud.
For other cloud services like Google Photos or Dropbox, check their help documentation on how to recover deleted files. But most only keep files for 30-60 days typically.
To avoid losing photos permanently, it’s best to backup your photos to multiple cloud sources as well as external drives. That way if they are deleted in one spot, you still have backups in other places.
Use Phone Data Recovery Services
As a last resort, you may want to turn to professional phone data recovery services if you absolutely need to recover deleted photos. Reputable services like Geek Squad and 300 Dollar Data Recovery can retrieve truly deleted photos, but it comes at a steep price. Expect to pay at least $300 or more for phone data recovery.
To find a reliable service, look for companies with strong online reviews and testimonials. Be wary of businesses with no physical location or address listed. Reputable data recovery takes specialized tools and expertise, so don’t just go with the cheapest option.
Keep in mind phone data recovery involves physically sending in your device and waiting days or weeks to get it back. The service will also need access to your phone and account to attempt recovery. Consider it a last ditch effort for irreplaceable photos only.
Prevention is Ideal
The best way to recover deleted photos is to avoid deleting them in the first place. Implementing regular backup habits for your photos is crucial. As the saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
There are several key ways to backup your photos to avoid accidental deletion:
- Enable automatic photo syncing to cloud services like Google Photos or iCloud. This provides an ongoing backup of your latest photos. (https://www.waka.com/2022/03/24/what-the-tech-how-to-keep-from-accidentally-deleting-photos-from-your-smartphone/)
- Manually transfer photos from your phone to a computer or external hard drive on a regular basis. This creates local backups you control.
- Use a comprehensive backup app that backs up your entire phone, including photos, to the cloud.
By implementing regular backups using one or more of these methods, you can rest assured your photos are safe even if accidentally deleted from your phone’s storage. Don’t wait until it’s too late!
In conclusion, preventing photo deletion through diligent backup habits is the best practice. But if you do find yourself needing to recover deleted photos, use the techniques outlined in this guide. Stay vigilant about backing up your irreplaceable photos to avoid having to recover them.
