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An SD card is a type of removable memory card that is primarily used to expand the storage of devices like smartphones, digital cameras, laptops, tablets, etc. They come in various sizes ranging from 4 GB to 256 GB.
However, sometimes users lose their precious photos due to accidental deletion, corruption or formatting of the SD card. This situation can become stressful for users considering SD cards store valuable media files and documents. Fortunately, there are some ways by which users can recover their important media files. Read ahead to know more about the ways to recover deleted photos from SD card.
Possible reasons behind lost SD card photos
We’ve listed below some of the most common reasons why users lose their photos from SD card:
- Accidentally or intentionally deleted files from SD card:
- Compatibility issues of SD card:
- SD card got corrupted or became inaccessible:
- Virus infection:
- Power failure/system crash:
Sometimes users accidentally delete important files, or don’t realize that they’ve formatted the wrong drive/external storage media containing all the important stuff In certain cases, people intentionally wipe the whole media out so that you no longer have access to the photos and other media files.
SD cards used in Android devices aren’t compatible with Windows devices that can lead to corruption in the SD card and may lead to loss of important media files. When you use the SD Card on Android, the device (Android) prefers the media storage to be formatted according to its partition format, so that it is compatible with it to offer faster read/write speeds and instant access. But, when you use the same SD Card in Windows, it may lead to data loss, like loss of photos.
Corruption in SD card can surface anytime with no prior warnings and can give rise to several frustrating situations. SD cards generally get corrupt due to incompatible format, improper ejection, media file issues, etc.
Virus/Malware attacks are one of the most common reasons behind corruption in SD cards. Importing data from a suspicious source to your SD card exposes it to the risk of virus attacks.
Sudden power failure or system crash gives rise to corruption in SD cards and can cause loss of photos.
How to recover deleted photos from SD card?
Users can easily recover their lost/deleted media files from an inaccessible or corrupt SD card if they immediately take action to restore it. When a file is deleted from the SD card, it stays there till the new data takes its place. This means your media files can be recovered till the new data is added to the memory card. We’ve discussed below some efficient methods to recover deleted photos from the SD card.
Method 1: Look in Trash/Recycle Bin
First and foremost, look for the deleted photos in your device’s Trash folder/Recycle Bin to see if they’re present there or not. If the required deleted photos are present there, you can easily restore them to their original location. Follow the steps listed below to restore your deleted photos:
For windows:
- Connect the affected SD card to your system.
- Locate the Recycle Bin on the desktop and open it.
- Right click on the desired image and click on Restore to recover them back to their original location.
For Android smartphone/tablets:
- Open your phone’s gallery and navigate to Albums.
- Scroll down till the very end and click on the Recently Deleted folder.
- Choose the image you want to recover and click on Restore to recover it back to its original location.
Method 2: Perform chkdsk
Users can take the help of the command prompt to recover your deleted photos from the SD card. With the help of the chkdsk command, there’s a chance users can recover their lost/deleted photos from SD card. Follow the steps below to know how to perform this command:
- Connect the SD card to your device and launch CMD.exe. Choose Run as administrator.
- Type chkdsk X: /f as the command and press Enter. Type in the letter of the SD card drive in the place of X.
- Wait for the scan to complete successfully and check if you can see your deleted images or not.
Method 3: Use Built-in recovery tools
Certain devices like cameras, tablets etc., have built-in recovery tools which can facilitate the recovery of lost/deleted photos from SD card. Look for options like Recover or Restore in your devices and follow the instructions to restore your media files.
Method 4: Recover deleted photos from SD card by a professional tool
The workarounds discussed above are helpful to some extent in recovering media files from SD card, but if the photos are permanently deleted or the SD card is severely corrupted then attempting these methods can make the situation even worse. Users are advised to use a professional photo recovery tool to restore their images without worrying about data loss. Kernel Photo Recovery is a highly recommended software for recovering deleted photos from SD card. It supports a wide range of file formats and can even restore permanently deleted photos to their original format. Some of its most notable features are:
- Supports recovery of permanently deleted photos from several storage devices like SD cards, memory cards, etc.
- Recovers photos in various formats like JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, etc.
- Users can preview photos to be recovered.
- Users can recover selective photos.
- Supports Windows and MacOS operating systems.
Conclusion
Losing precious photos can be quite frustrating for the users especially if the photos weren’t backed up at a safe location. Fortunately, the photos can be recovered with the help of the methods highlighted in this blog. For an instant solution, try using Kernel Photo Recovery to recover deleted photos from SD card without worrying about data loss. Users can restore their photos from multiple devices ranging from SD cards to memory cards and more. Additionally, this innovative tool can even fix inaccessible photos efficiently.