“I accidentally deleted photos from my digital camera memory card. Is there any way to get my deleted pictures back?”
I will warn you up front that there is no guaranteed method of recovering deleted files. When you delete anything, there’s always a chance you won’t get it back. There are solutions for recovering files and in many cases you can recover deleted pictures from your camera’s memory card.
For years, I recommended an app called Zero Assumption Image Recovery. This wonder app was discontinued. Thankfully, the creator has a new app that picks up where ZAR left off. The app is called Klennet Carver, which doesn’t sound like it would does anything for images, but it’s very likely the solution you need. File carving is a known method for recovering deleted images, which is where Klennet Carver gets its name.
Important: Before attempting any photo recovery, stop using the memory card or hard drive with the missing files (until you recover the deleted photos or videos). Every new photo you take increases the chance you will overwrite the portion of your memory card where that deleted picture was stored, making recovery almost impossible.
After installing the software on your computer, use a memory card reader to connect your digital camera’s memory card to your computer. The primary reason I suggest this is some data recovery takes longer than others and you don’t want your camera battery to die mid recovery and have something worse happen to your deleted photos.
After you have the memory card in a reader connected to your PC, launch Klennet Carver and have it search your memory card for deleted files. The software detects all common image file formats, so no matter who makes your digital camera it should work.
If there are any deleted files to be found, Klennet Carver will let you preview them. It’s worth noting the software is not free, but you can see what is recoverable before paying, so you have a chance to determine whether the deleted files are worth paying for or not.
If you do decide to recover photos or videos, be sure to copy them off of the drive or memory card they were deleteed from. You don’t want to recover the photos to the same place theey were deleted, because you could end up with corrupt files or a failed recovery.
