Accidental deletions are the bane of our digital existence. We've all been there, whether due to careless editing or being too quick to format a memory card.
The good news is, deleted files can usually be recovered with a fairly high success rate -- that doesn't mean it'll always work, though. (It helps if you're using the right SD card.) There are two specific programs, for Windows and OS X, that you'll want to pay attention to.
To begin with, if you accidentally delete photos, STOP IMMEDIATELY. Don't continue working and don't put the card back in the camera. Instead, put the card into an onboard (or external) card reader.
Afterwards, follow these steps:
- Install either Recuva (Windows) or PhotoRec (OS X).
- Point the program to your memory card and run it, which should locate deleted photos. Recuva has a simple graphic user interface while PhotoRec is mainly text, but otherwise they work in the same way. Note: For deleted files, search the "Free" space on the memory card. For a corrupt card, search the "Whole" drive.
- For PhotoRec, follow the on-screen prompts to select a recovery location. Once restoration is complete, the files will be at that location.
- For Recuva, run the scan and you'll be prompted to selected which images you want to restore. Once selected, you can designate where the files go.
From there, just check the recovery folder and see what you were able to save. In the future, try sending your photos to the cloud for safe keeping before attempting to edit and delete them from the card.
Have you ever had to use a photo recovery program? Which one and why? Tell us your worst file deletion or data loss story in the comments below.
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