Deleted or missing photos from a computer or external drives is quite common. Since photos maybe your personal memories or work-related, you can’t afford to lose them. Here we will share simple tips and solutions to retrieve deleted photos. So whether you have accidentally deleted your pictures, formatted the storage drive or lost photos due to other reasons, you can recover your valuable pictures in all situations.
How to recover lost or deleted photos on Windows PC
Restoring deleted photos from computer and other devices is easy. Most of the time, recently deleted photos are restored from Recycle Bin. While the photos permanently deleted from Recycle Bin, lost due to drive formatting or corruption, can be recovered from backup drive, if you have created one. If these solutions are not useful, then a photo recovery software is the best way out.
- Retrieve photos from Recycle Bin
Begin by checking the Recycle Bin folder of your computer. Normally, deleted photos on a Windows computer stay in Recycle Bin. But the files remain in it for a limited period of 30 days or until you have emptied the folder.
In order to retrieve the deleted pictures from Recycle Bin, open it. Search for your deleted pictures. Right-click on the required image file and select ‘Restore’ option. This will put back the picture to its previous location on your computer.
- Retrieve lost photos from backup
Backups always save you from catastrophic photo loss situations. If you have the habit of regularly taking backups, you are in safe heaven. Quickly look into your backup folders and retrieve the deleted or missing photos.
You may have created backup on your PC hard drive, SSD, SD card, pen drive, or cloud service like Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. Simply copy and paste the photos from there to your device from which you lost or deleted them.
- Recover photos from Windows File History
Windows 10 File History feature can automatically back up files to a removable drive or a network drive location. If you have enabled Windows File History feature, recover missing, deleted, or damaged pictures from there.
To restore pictures from File History, ensure your backup drive is connected to your PC. Now, navigate to Windows Settings > Update & Security > Backup. Select More from the options and click Restore files from a current backup. All the backup folders created by File History will appear. Find the required backup image file and retrieve it to the original location by clicking on the green button at the bottom.
- Retrieve pictures with Windows File Recovery app on Windows 10
Microsoft offers the free Windows File Recovery app to recover lost files, including photos from computer, external drives, and USB devices. The app only supports Windows 10 version 19041.0 or higher. You can download the app from Microsoft Store. The software is a command-line program in which you have to enter the commands to recover the deleted file.
For example, a command-line to recover photos in JPEG and PNG format from ‘Pictures’ folder and save them in F: drive would be:
Winfr C: F: /extensive /n\Users\<username>\Pictures\*.JPEG /n\Users\<username>\Pictures\*.PNG
Microsoft will automatically create a folder named Recovery_<date and time> in the location drive (here the F drive).
Tip to maximize photo recovery from drive
Stop or reduce using your computer or storage drive from which you have lost pictures until the files are recovered. Remember, using the storage drive can overwrite the space from which the files are deleted, which lowers the photo recovery chances.
- Use a professional photo recovery software
Accidentally deleted photos? Don’t have photos backup? Emptied your Recycle Bin? Wiped your storage drive? Or photos gone missing from hard drive, USB, SD card, flash drive, CD/DVD, etc.? For all such situations and more, you can rely on a professional photo recovery tool.
Software like Stellar Photo Recovery is capable to recover deleted and lost photos due to virus infection, formatting, drive corruption, OS crash, etc. The software supports recovery of almost all image file types, including the unique camera RAW photo file formats. Besides, Stellar Photo Recovery can get your disk health using SMART technology. This helps to gauge the HDD failure signs and take a timely backup of the drive photos.
Usually photo recovery software are fast and user-friendly. However, it is best to first take the free demo of the software to judge the efficiency of its recovery algorithms. Make sure you get the recovery tool on your Windows or Mac system from a secure site to shun any virus or malware attack.
Tips to protect photos from loss
- Maintain and regularly update photos backup.
- Install antivirus on your computer.
- Monitor disk health using SMART technology at least once a month to predict drive failure and avoid photo loss.
- Do not use camera SD card on multiple devices.
- Always keep your device fully charged while transferring photos.
- Carefully insert and eject removable media from your PC.
Conclusion
The simplest and quickest way to recover deleted and lost pictures on Windows computer is with the help of a secure photo recovery software. A recovery software is an assured solution when your deleted photos are not in Recycle Bin and neither there’s a backup to rely on. Further, always follow the best practices shared in this post to protect your digital photos from loss.
