Photo Recovery

Deleting a photo does not always immediately destroy its data. On an HDD, SD/microSD card or USB flash drive, a file may remain recoverable until new data uses its space. The most important thing is therefore to stop using the device from which the photos disappeared. Do not save new files to it, format it or run file system repair tools.

When discussing digital photos, we are very often talking about JPG/JPEGfiles. This is one of the most popular formats used by digital cameras, phones and other imaging devices. Another important group is RAW photos from cameras. The file format itself is not always the most important factor in recovery, because much information can be reconstructed from the file system. However, additional analysis of the format and its signatures can be crucial when information about names, folders or allocation is damaged.

StrongRecovery recovers data using both file system information and additional file format analysis, including JPG. This guide shows how to use these mechanisms after deletion, quick formatting or file system damage. It also covers important exceptions, particularly SSDs with TRIM and phones’ internal storage, because software recovery does not offer the same possibilities in every situation.

Before Recovering Photos: the 5 Most Important Rules

1. Stop writing to the device immediately. New writes may overwrite deleted photos and permanently reduce the chance of recovery.
2. Do not format the device or run CHKDSK or automatic repairs. If Windows offers to format the card or drive, cancel.
3. Do not install the program on the drive you are recovering from. This is particularly important when photos were lost from the Desktop, Documents or another location on the system drive C:. Simply running the operating system and applications causes many indirect writes, so consider another computer, another drive or the portable version.
4. Save recovered photos to another device. After recovery, open the most important files and check that they are intact. Only then return to normal use of the source device.
5. Stop software recovery attempts if there are signs of physical failure. Knocking noises, a disappearing or undetected drive, or water damage may require a data recovery laboratory.

Can Photos Be Recovered? Common Scenarios

If the problem primarily concerns a camera or memory card, see the detailed guide to recovering data and photos from an SD/microSD card. This page is a general photo recovery guide; that article covers scenarios specific to memory cards.

Phone Photos: Check the Trash and Cloud First

If photos disappeared from the internal storage of an iPhone or Android phone, start with the phone’s own features and cloud services. On an iPhone, photos may remain in ‘Recently Deleted’ for 30 days. In Google Photos, items may stay in the trash for a period that depends on backup status and account settings. Check the trash, backups and synchronisation before considering further steps.

StrongRecovery is a Windows program and should not be presented as a direct scanning tool for typical iPhone or Android internal storage. It applies when photos are stored on a device Windows can read as a drive, such as a microSD card removed from a phone and connected through a reader.

Official help: Apple — recovering deleted photos · Google Photos — restoring from the trash.

How Does StrongRecovery Find Photos, and Which Formats Can It Recover?

In practice, I use two complementary approaches. The first uses information retained in the file system , such as MFT or FAT structures, allowing the program to reconstruct names, folders and other file information where it is still available. The second analyses the device’s contents and looks for characteristic format signatures. This is particularly important when the file system is damaged or information about a file’s name, date, attributes or location is lost.

StrongRecovery supports popular image formats including JPG/JPEG, PNG and HEIC, as well as many camera RAW formats such as Canon CR2/CR3, Nikon NEF, Sony ARW, Adobe DNG, Olympus ORF, Fujifilm RAF and Panasonic RW2. The current list of supported formats is in the StrongRecovery technical specifications.

It helps to distinguish two meanings of ‘RAW’. A RAW photo is a camera format such as CR3, NEF or ARW. By contrast, RAW analysis / signature-based recovery means searching for files independently of any surviving directory structure. Camera RAW photo recovery is covered in a separate guide: RAW photo recovery.

How to Recover Photos with StrongRecovery — Step by Step

StrongRecovery lets you recover photos in a few simple steps. The following steps illustrate the recovery process. StrongRecovery processes file system information, including MFT/FAT, and can search for file signatures in parallel. It analyses the source device, while recovered data is saved to your chosen destination. Before starting, prepare a second drive or another storage device.

The illustrations below show an earlier version of StrongRecovery with a Polish interface; labels and appearance may differ in your version.

A warning when recovering from drive C: do not download or install the program on C: if that is where the photos disappeared. Every write can overwrite lost data. See the separate guide to data recovery from drive C.

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Step 1. Select the Device Containing the Photos

Launch StrongRecovery and select the drive, memory card or USB flash drive from which you want to recover photos. If it is connected through a USB reader, make sure Windows detects its physical capacity.

Step 2. Browse the Folders and Thumbnails Found

After processing drive header information and analysing the MFT/FAT structures, the program displays its file browser. Browse the folders of interest and use the View menu to switch the list to photo thumbnails. This is useful when many files are present: before recovering anything, you can see whether the program has found the right photos, even if some names or folders are lost.

Step 3. Recover the Photos to Another Drive

Select the folders or files you need and choose ‘Recover’. Set the destination to a different device from the source. When finished, open the recovered photos and check them before using the source device again.

Step 4. Check Files Found by Their Signatures

StrongRecovery also scans for files independently of the file system. These results appear under ‘Files to recover +’. The program recognises files by characteristic header information and format signatures. Even when allocation data, names, dates, attributes or directory structure are lost, it may still find the photo’s contents. Remember, however, that original filenames and locations cannot always be reconstructed in this mode.

Additional Features That Help with Photo Recovery

Thumbnail recovery. If the main JPG data is partly damaged, some files may contain an embedded thumbnail or preview. In the professional version, you can choose ‘Recover photo thumbnail (Ctrl+Alt+M)’. The image is usually lower resolution than the original, but in difficult cases it can save at least a preview.

Manually adjusting the file size. In certain cases, StrongRecovery lets you virtually change the size of a file to be recovered: right-click the file → edit size. This does not change data on the device; it tells the program which range to read. For example, if a photo should be about 5 MB, but the detected entry reports too small a size, you can try setting 6 MB and recover the data with a small margin. This does not repair an overwritten photo, but can help with unusual or damaged entries.

Finding all JPGs. Sometimes photos appear in different analysis results and are not where you expect. In that case, enter *.JPGin the top-right search field to collect JPG results from the available analyses into one view. Search also accepts parts of file or folder names and the wildcards * and ?.

Recovering Photos from SSDs and TRIM

SSDs require a separate qualification. Windows supports NTFS deletion notifications known as TRIMby default. After deleting a file, the system can tell the SSD that certain blocks are no longer needed. In practice, the chance of recovering deleted photos from an SSD may be much lower than from a conventional HDD or memory card. A recent deletion alone is not a reliable basis for promising recovery.

If photos disappeared from an SSD, limit computer use and diagnose the problem promptly. If the loss concerns the system drive C:, it is particularly important not to download installers or other new data to it.

When Might Software Photo Recovery Be Impossible?

• when the sectors containing the photo have been overwritten with new data,
• when the SSD has performed operations associated with TRIM and the data is no longer readable,
• after secure erasure, zeroing or complete overwriting of the device,
• in the event of serious physical failure, when the device cannot reliably read sectors.

Recovery software can read existing data and reconstruct file information, but cannot recreate bytes physically replaced by other contents.

Practical tip: before buying a licence, check the scan results and photo previews. Do not assume every file can be restored: the actual condition of the data determines the outcome.

Frequently Asked Questions about Photo Recovery

How do I recover accidentally deleted photos?

Stop using the device, run a read-only scan and save recovered files to another drive. The less new data written after deletion, the greater the chance that the file contents have not been overwritten.

Can photos be recovered after a quick format?

Often yes, especially from HDDs, SD cards and USB flash drives, but there is no guarantee. A quick format removes file system organisational information without a conventional sector-by-sector scan of the entire device. Subsequent writes, device type and mechanisms such as TRIM can change the situation.

My SD card asks to be formatted. Should I click ‘Format’ ?

No, if you need the data. Cancel the prompt and first recover to another device. Formatting changes the source and may make matters worse.

Can StrongRecovery recover photos from a phone?

From a microSD card removed from the phone, yes, if Windows sees it as a storage device. Typical iPhone or Android internal storage should not be treated as an ordinary drive in StrongRecovery. Start with the gallery trash, Google Photos, iCloud and available backups.

Can photos be recovered from an SSD?

You can try, but the chances after ordinary deletion may be lower than on an HDD because of TRIM. Results depend on the SSD model, file system, TRIM state, time since deletion and subsequent drive use.

Can I try StrongRecovery without buying a licence?

Yes. The free version lets you test recovery and restore up to 50 files and 5 GB of data. Photo previews let you assess the scan results first. See StrongRecovery FREEfor details.