6 Effective Methods for Recovering Deleted Photos from SD Card

Avatar for Mia
By  
recover photos in sd card

SD cards help boost device storage. It holds many photos and movies. You can always access a big image collection by replacing the card. You can save and keep your favorite memories. If the images are accidentally erased, don’t worry. Fortunately, various free methods can recover SD card-erased images. Make sure that your valuable moments are still safe and recyclable.

Why should I consider image recovery for SD card?

Using digital cameras, phones and other devices along with cameras increases the likelihood of having to recover photos from an SD card at some points. Various situations may require SD card image recovery, including accidental deletion or unintentional clicks. Also, your SD card may be unintentionally formatted or damaged, which makes your photos inaccessible. These situations can be stressful, especially if the removed photos are of great importance to you.

6 ways to recover deleted photos from SD card

Depending on the operating system and device you are using, there are several ways to recover deleted photos from an SD card by offering many options. We try to provide the best solution that fits your needs. Here are the most effective methods:

Method 1: Recover images using WinfrGUI

WinfrGUI searches your SD card without difficult commands or arguments if you don’t want to delete valuable photographs. Winfr GUI, based on Windows File Recovery, is an easy photo recovery tool for anyone. Best part? Absolutely free!

To recover photos removed from your SD card using WinfrGUI, follow the following step instructions:

  • Download and install WinfrGUI: Start by downloading and installing Winfr GUI on your Windows computer. Since it’s free, you can start right away without any financial responsibility.
Download WinfrGUI Free
  • Connect your SD Card: Enter your SD card into your computer using an SD Card adapter or built-in SD Card slot.
  • Enable WinfrGUI: Once Winfr GUI is installed on your system. Open the application. An easy-to-use interface will take you through the recovery process.
  • Choose your SD card: From the list of available disks, select your SD Card. WinfrGUI will scan the card to see recoverable photos.
  • Start recovery process: Click on the option to find lost data. WinfrGUI will start scanning your SD card to see deleted photos.
  • Recoverable photos: After the scan is complete. Try looking at the images WinfrGUI has found. Take advantage of the sample function to make sure you’re recovering correctly.
  • Recover Your Image: Select the image you want for recovery and click on the appropriate button to start the recovery process.
  • Select Recovery Target: Choose where to save recovered photos. A separate storage device is recommended to avoid writing existing data.

With its easy-to-use interface and excellent recovery features, WinfrGUI can help you save your important memories by recovering deleted SD card photos.

Method 2: Recover Image from Backup

Creating a photo after deleting photos without a backup is suggested. Photo backup is needed for SD cards used for long-term image storage or as extra capacity on a photo device. 

Received from Windows Backup:

In Windows 10 and 11, you can use the basic backup of File History to swap your personal file information, which includes information on an external storage device such as an SD card. If you activate historical file backup, images on your SD card will be copied to the designated drive. The history lets you recover deleted photos quickly.

Steps to retrieve Windows backup images:

  • Search “File History” in Startup. Use File History.
  • Click “Recover Private Files”
  • Select the refund image from the backed-up image.
  • Right-click the green “Restore” button and choose “Restaur” or “Reset to” to specify a custom target.

If you duplicated or moved SD card files to your computer, a file scanner can still find images. If you can’t remember the image or folder’s name, search for it or fetch all files by kind. 

Recover from backup on Mac:

For macOS Time Machine is the main backup feature. Time Machine automatically backs up personal data, making file recovery easy.

Time Machine can recover deleted images from an SD card if you have connected it to Mac at least once and set it to backup data from external devices.

If an SD card is lost or stolen, backup may be the only way to restore images. Backing up your data immediately is advised.

How to restore deleted images from backups depends on the security option you select, such as cloud or external storage. Peace of mind from knowing you can recover all your valuable memories at any time is vital.

Method 3: Get photos from backup in the cloud.

Android users have the advantage of storing images not only on a removable SD card, but also backing up to cloud storage services such as OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Photos.

If you have a backup of your photos to a cloud storage service, the recovery process is easy. All you have to do is download deleted photos from your cloud store account. This way you can recover images from anywhere using any device, even if your original device is lost or stolen.

Check out the official manuals provided by each cloud storage service to learn how to download files from them. If you are using different cloud backups and need help with downloading deleted photos, we recommend consulting Google or looking for a suitable guide.

Method 4: Take photos from your device’s internal memory or storage.

Do not forget to check your device’s internal memory or temporary storage space, both Mac and Windows PC. When photos are deleted from your device, it will be removed for reasons. And its storage area will be marked as existing so that it may be overwritten by new data. However, images will not be immediately removed from your SD card.

To increase the chances of a successful recovery, stop using your device as soon as you realize that the image has been deleted and wants to be recovered.

You can also recover deleted photos from apps that store their copies, such as photos in macOS, by importing images from your SD card to the image profile app. Copying images will be saved to your Mac’s storage disk. If these images are removed inside the app, you can quickly recover them from the “Last Deleted” folder.

Please note that this method only applies if the SD card is connected to your Mac and the photos were previously imported. The photos in the “Last Deleted” folder will be stored for 30 days.

Android devices have similar functionality through various photo galleries apps. Using these apps, you can effectively recover deleted photos.

Method 5: Recover Image from Recycle Tank

Before files are permanently deleted on Windows or macOS, they are temporarily stored in a recycling can or trash can in order. This is a chance to recover delete files before they can be permanently removed.

In Windows:

Except if the file is permanently deleted or too large to be stored in its repository, it will be sent to it when it is liked. However, files removed from external storage devices will not appear in the repositories.

To recover files from recycle boxes in Windows 10 and 11, follow these steps:

  • Open the recycling tank on your desktop.
  • Select the information you want to return and click “Restore selected lists”.

This will bring the item back to their original location. If you want to get it back to a different location, just drag and drop it from the recycling tank to another folder.

On Mac:

Data recovery process similar to macOS

  • Use the Finder to open the garbage.
  • Drag and drop files to a secure location

In older versions of macOS, when files are deleted from external storage devices, folder “.The hidden “TRASHES” was created on the device. To access it, please go to the root directory of your storage device and press CMD + SHIFT + “.” To reveal hidden files. Then you can recover deleted photos from the junk folder. However, this feature is no longer available on current macOS version.

Conclusion

As proven, there are several options for recovering deleted photos from SD cards on both Mac and Windows PCs. The complexity of the procedure may vary depending on factors such as the time passed since deletion and the availability of the backup. However, by using the right method and taking immediate action, you can increase your chances of successfully retrieving your valuable memories.

Also Read: How to Retrieve Data from Formatted Hard Drive