Believe that many people have such miserable experiences as losing their photos on different storage media, like computer hard disks, phones, SD cards for the camera, or any other storage device. Imagine your photos with your beloved one, or photos of an exotic trip, or a picture with your grandparent. How to recover permanently deleted photos?  If your photos have been permanently deleted by mistake or rotted by a broken piece of memory card, see how bad it could be.

No worries. Even if you’ve lost your photo for a long time and permanently deleted it from the recycle bin, there are still approaches to recovering a permanently deleted photo – But not all approaches are easy and 100% recovery guarantee – it very depends on the method you’ve taken, and which tool you use. Let’s check how to recover permanently deleted photos in different ways.

Before answering the question of that is there any way to recover permanently deleted photos, we better know the mechanic of file deletion on your computer.

Imagine your PC is a vivid person. When you lost your memory of certain things, like your childhood memories, you will say “I forgot something.” How does your computer forget? To move your files to recycle bin is only a beginning, when you move your file to recycle, it is the only means to move your file from one directory to another in case you accidentally delete some important files. On that step, your computer still keeps your file and “remembers” where your files are, and your files are not yet deleted.

Once you clean up the recycle bin, the system warns you: “that operation will permanently delete this file from your computer” As we know that the hard drive contains millions of subdivisions (sectors) on a track, your files are stored on your hard drive tracks discretely or jointly. Instead of your photos being “deleted”, it is marked as “empty” on your disk managing system. This means if the new data needs space to be stored somewhere, the files “home” will become available real estate for newcomers. Once a new resident moves in, the old owner moves out, and that “home” will be marked as “occupied”, that example basically explained the mechanic of computer deletion and also implied the way how to recover permanently deleted photos.

Imagine there is a data sheet. The data managing will be looks like:

All data labeled as “YES” are open for rewriting by the computer with other contents. On your computer, it will be shown as “freed space” on your disk. Thus, your photos & data will be marked “deleted.” After the content in the block has been rewritten, and replaced by other content, this piece of data would be considered “permanently deleted”. That’s the reason why people always asked about how to recover permanently deleted photos – once it labeled as “writable”.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos

Clever as you might already figure out the way how to recover permanently deleted photos on your computer: if my photo hasn’t yet been re-write with other data yet, I will still stand a chance to change the “if it rewritable “label to “NO”, so my files can be recovered. Or if there is a technical way to reverse the whole process so that those over-written photos can be recovered. 

Indeed, but there are several tips needed to be kept in mind

• If the data block has already been re-written by other data, your data will be considered lost due to the nature of the computer data management strategy. For example, you’ve permanently deleted your photo for about a year, so there will be a higher chance that your photo will be rewritten.

• If the data is too big and the list of the data is too long (imagine your photo has been organized like the table posted above), or a huge bulk of pictures and photos have been deleted in a batch. So reasonably there will be a huge possibility that part of the data will be lost.

Anyway, if is there any way to recover permanently deleted photos, there will be software assisted. There is different software solution to help you to recover permanently deleted photos.

Windows has offered a very useful tool to recover your permanently deleted files, the Windows File History is a handy tool to recover your permanently deleted photos.

Steps to use the Windows File History feature to recover permanently deleted photos.

Step 1. You can find File History in Windows 10 by simply entering “file history” in the Windows search bar, press enter and the File History will pop up. Or, you can access the File History by clicking on “Settings” ->” Update & Security” -> “Back Up”.

Step 2. By clicking the “Add a drive” button, you can select external storage to back up your files. Thus, external storage with ample empty space is strongly suggested in order to keep all personal files backed up on the disk.

After you select & set up the backup disk, the File History will tell you the function has turned on.

Unfortunately, the file history can’t recover permanently deleted photos immediately. The way File History works are it will detect changes on your disk and record them like if you create, write, and delete files and bytes on your PC. The File History will record every change on your disk, your photos surely included. That means, if you need a quick & immediate recovery, you need to choose a different way of how to recover permanently deleted photos.

Return to File History’s screen and then click on “Restore personal files” from the menu on the left. File History will list all files which recently modified/moved. At the bottom of the window. Back and forward buttons on the bottom allow you to move between snapshots, you can choose the photos you need to recover from permanent deletion.

There are some problems while using file history to recover permanently deleted photos.

1. The File History does not automatically back all your photos on your computer. The default folders File History will back up are limited to your libraries, desktop, contacts, and favorites. If you save your photos in folders other than these, make sure you add that folder by clicking on “More Options” -> “Backup Options”, then click “Add a folder” to add your photo folders.

2. If you need to recover a permanently deleted photo, especially one deleted a long time ago. Then the File history won’t work. As we explained above, it could possibly be re-written already. You will need a better photo & data recovery software immediately.

As we explained before, there are restrictions on recovering permanently deleted photos with Windows File History – not an immediate quick recovery, can’t recover photos on phone… etc.

Is there an easy, quick, click-to-recover photo recovery software? Yes, there is.

The iTop Data Recovery can be a one-click solution to assist you to recover your permanently deleted photos. It can do an immediate recovery by reading & analyzing your disk and reviving your data – of course, your photos are included. Neither you don’t need to back up before you need to recover your photo, just click & go.

       

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Key Features of iTop Data Recovery

• Recover 1000+ file types like images, music, documents, video, etc
• Get back deleted & lost files from different storage devices
• Provides instant data recovery for any emergency data lost reasons
• Free preview files before recovery.

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For Windows 11/10/8/7

Due to advanced data recovery tech adapted, the iTop Data Recovery can recover your photos which deleted pretty long ago – because iTop Data Recovery achieves a better success rate by deeper analyzing your data structure, like the Main File Table, which is the principle of the NTFS file system and manages all files on your computer. Also, the iTop Data Recovery will try to reverse the process of overwriting to recover your permanently deleted photos.  With advanced data recovery techniques, the iTop Data Recovery can recover more permanently deleted photos with a significantly higher success rate.

One tremendous advantage that iTop Data Recovery has is, not only permanently deleted photos on your computer, but permanently deleted photos on all your devices – if they can be connected to your PC and recognized as a storage device, then you can use iTop Data Recovery to read, load and recover your permanently deleted photos.

Quick check list of iTop Data Recovery features

• High-success rate of recovery, high reliability

• Recover all kinds of files & formats (video, documents, photo…)

• Fast recovery speed

• Compatible with all storage device

• Easy-to-use, click, check & go

To use iTop Data Recovery is fairly easy. It requires nothing of your computer knowledge.

Step 1. Once you download, install and get a premium service, you can have a quick recovery of your permanently deleted photo.

Step 2. Then click the “Scan” button, the iTop Data Recovery will start to scan your computer and all deleted (and move) files will be fully listed. Make sure you’ve chosen the “Photos” file type to recover all your permanently deleted photos.

Step 3. Find the file you need to undelete, click “Recovery” then you can undelete the files in Windows 10. (Need to upgrade to a premium version)

Is there any way to recover permanently deleted photos? Yes, there is. Using the iTop Data Recovery can be the best solution of how to recover permanently deleted photos. If you have such a need, have a try to iTop Data Recovery!