How To Recover Deleted Photos from an SD Card

How to Recover Deleted Images from Your SD Card

Have you ever accidentally erased your memory card before you were able to transfer your images to your computer?  Or, have you ever had a memory card hiccup for no obvious reason, making it impossible for you to access your images there?

If so, you are not alone.  I, along with plenty of other photographers, have experienced the tremendous emotional upset of losing important images (and, if this has happened to you, you know I’m not exaggerating here)!

You may think it will never happen to you, but if it does, you should know there are ways you can POSSIBLY recover the data on your card.

First, let me add a disclaimer - I'm not a computer expert.  There are many, many data recovery software programs on the market, but I am going to show you how to use the software that I have.

The type of software you use will depend on your computer’s specs, as well as whether you are using a Mac or a PC.  The sites I have seen were very specific about system requirements for their products, so you shouldn’t have any trouble checking to see if the software will work on your own particular computer. 

Keep in mind that some files just cannot be recovered, especially if the card is damaged, or has been re-formatted since the deletion.  Even if it has, its still worth a try!

IMPORTANT NOTE: As soon as you realize you have files on your memory card that need to be recovered, DO NOT USE IT!  Put the card in a safe spot, and do not shoot any more images on it.  Time is of the essence with data recovery.

The main thing that I noticed while looking for file recovery software is NOT free, at least in my experience.  It may appear free, but, most likely, you will have to pay a fee.  The software I used was around $50, and I decided that recovering my images was well worth the cost, and having the software handy in case this ever happened again was totally worth the investment!

Using File Recovery Software:

After doing some research, I decided to try Data Recovery Pro from Pareto Logic.

When using data recovery software, you will be able to scan your card to see if the files you want to recover are still embedded somewhere, deep down in the depths of your memory card.  This is great, because you can see if you can recover your files before you pay the fee.

Open Data Recovery Pro.  Under the Scan tab, select Guided Scan.  This allows you to select the device/memory card with the deleted files.  Next, press Start Scan.

Note: Originally, I plugged in my camera into my hard drive, but Recovery Pro was not recognizing my camera as an external device.  So, I put my memory card in a card reader, and it worked just fine.

Select “I want to recover items on an external device.”  Next, locate the memory card in your drives – in my case, the drive I selected was drive (I:).  Then press Start Scan

At this point, the program will scan your entire memory card for files that can be recovered.

Once its finished scanning, the program will show you a list of files that can be recovered.  You can hover your mouse over each file to see a preview.  Select the squares next to the files you would like to recover, then press “Recover.”

At this point, you will be prompted to register and pay for the software.  Once you have made your payment, you will receive a product key to enter and register the program.  After you have entered the key, you will then be able to recover your files, as well as select the location where you would like the files to be saved on your computer.

This is the exact process I used to recover my deleted images.  As I said, there are many programs like this on the market, so feel free to look around to find the program that is best suited for your computer (and your price range).

Additional Recovery Resources:

You can also download this Free Data Recovery PDF that one of our amazing Facebook Group members put together that can help walk you through recovering data or erased images.  Just click the link or the image below to download this helpful guide:

GOOD LUCK!

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