Photos removed by deleting are seldom completely destroyed. Removing a photo simply removes it from the directory and leaves the picture on the memory card in place. Whether or not you recover your deleted photographs depends upon three variables: what you stop doing immediately; which method you use (i.e., recovery software) to access the lost images; and whether or not the memory card is physically operational.
Pictures that were deleted continue to reside on a portion of the memory card which has been designated “available” for reuse. Continue to shoot new pictures on this same memory card or use the same hard disk drive, and the digital camera will continue to write over the exact pictures you are attempting to recover.
When files are deleted from a computer they temporarily remain in a “recycle bin.” Files deleted from a memory card, however, disappear instantaneously from view. As such, the process of deletion seems much more permanent than when using a computer. However, the fact remains that the memory card merely does what is easiest: deletes the filename from the card’s directory listing and designates the space formerly occupied by the photograph as available for reuse. The actual megabyte(s) containing the photographs themselves have not changed and therefore remain intact. Programs designed to recover deleted files read directly into this newly designated ‘available’ space and identify the recognisable fingerprint patterns associated with JPEGs, RAW files and videos (an operation known as carving), which is why some programs can restore photographs previously deleted but no longer admitted by the memory card to actually exist.
Both of these “rules” are based upon the same logic. First: stop using the card or drive immediately after the error occurs. Remove it from the camera; do not format it; do not ‘just get last weekend’s photos now’. Secondly: if you do have to run a recovery, be sure to save everything to a different drive. Never put a recovered photo back into the card that was used in the recovery process.
A good card, bad delete: this procedure usually recovers the vast majority of the photos.
Use a reader instead of the camera’s USB cable: readers are much quicker and expose the card correctly to the recovery software. Run PhotoRec (free download from the maker of TestDisk), point it at the card and tell it where you want to place the recovered files. Let it find the files. You will probably end up with a messy bunch of photos: they won’t be named as they were originally and many of the thumbnails may show up with some of the usable photos. It is still better to sort through a thousand photos than have none. Windows users who prefer something a little easier to use for their recently deleted photos may wish to try Recuva first. When you are satisfied that Recuva has failed to retrieve your photos you can go further with the free tool above.
Be honest about what you see before either getting excited or giving up hope: start by opening the biggest files first. There should be no difference in recovering RAW files from modern cameras as there is in recovering JPEG files.
The card that’s also faulty. If you’re attempting to recover the card, and you see an error message asking to format it, seeing it as blank, disappearing randomly or simply cannot find it, then your problems aren’t due to removal of data; they’re probably caused by either a failure of the card’s electronic circuitry or corruption of the card’s file system. When you continuously scan a damaged card, there is a high likelihood of destroying the remaining good data. This type of damage falls under the category of memory card recovery; this process involves reading the data off the card using the individual chips on the card if necessary. The phone-camera case. If photos were removed from a telephone’s built-in memory, these photos will be very difficult to recover with DIY methods. Prior to performing anything else, check the cloud backup (Google Photos and iCloud have a history of deleted items for up to 30–60 days). The photos that matter too much to gamble. Instead of taking multiple attempts at recovery yourself, consider hiring a professional who has the time, equipment and expertise to perform a single attempt at recovering photographs that are irreplaceable such as a wedding album or a complete collection of family pictures throughout your life. Our photo recovery services create a duplicate image of the original media before we remove the data so you never risk the data twice.
Shooting RAW offers photographers one advantage and one disadvantage. One advantage: RAW images are large and distinctive which make them ideal targets for carving; PhotoRec identifies files based on structure regardless of whether or not it has access to a file system (it supports formats including CR2 / CR3, NEF, ARW, ORF and DNG plus their respective families). One disadvantage: Many digital cameras capture each photo in RAW + JPEG format. When you run a recovery program to “harvest” recovered images, it often brings back both types of images together, therefore it is common to have “double” counts of recovered images instead of being able to say you’ve found some hidden gems. Before counting your recoveries sort through the list by extension; this way you’ll know how many actual RAW images you’ve recovered. To confirm the integrity of your recovered RAW images, test each in software that actually does decode the file: even a properly formed thumbnail can mislead you. And if some of your recovered RAW images appear half-grey when their corresponding JPEG images remain full colour, this indicates partial overwrite which tends to target larger files first.
Yes, often: “permanent” usually means less than it seems. Deleting in-camera or emptying a recycle bin will remove an item from the index list. But the actual picture file remains intact on the memory device until new files overwrite it. Only two examples where the real removal occurs include: photos stored on an internal SSD once TRIM has completed, and memory cards with large amounts of reuse time after deletion.
PhotoRec. There is no other tool nearly this capable. The program is open-source and completely free, there are no limitations, and its design specifically allows users to extract photographs and videos directly from raw data, bypassing damaged indexes. The user interface consists solely of a text screen, something many find intimidating. Keep trying: PhotoRec produces better results than many more attractive commercial recovery programs. Recuva is a good alternative to PhotoRec when recovering deleted items recently on a Windows based computer.
Time erases nothing. Writing erases. The amount of time that has passed between when an item was deleted and when a card has been accessed does not matter. What matters is how much of the card has been overwritten by new data. This will determine if recovery can be performed, regardless of how long ago the item was removed.
We offer complimentary diagnostics at our Belfast laboratory and will advise whether a card should use software or be sent into our laboratory for further bench testing prior to scanning.