How to Recover Deleted Photos from an SD Card or Memory Card (2026)
Accidentally deleted pictures from your camera, or hit Format instead of Delete? You can often recover deleted photos from SD card and memory cards for free, as long as you stop using the card straight away. This 2008 guide originally recommended PC Inspector Smart Recovery, which is no longer maintained. Here are the tools and steps that work in 2026.
Quick answer: Stop taking photos on the card immediately. Put it in a card reader, run a free recovery tool such as PhotoRec (Windows, Mac, Linux) or Recuva (Windows), scan the card, and save recovered files to your computer’s drive, never back to the same card. Deleted and quick-formatted cards usually recover well; physically damaged cards may need a professional service.
Table of Contents
Why deleted photos can be recovered
When you delete a photo or quick-format a card, the camera only marks the space as free. The image data stays there until new files overwrite it. That’s why taking more pictures after a deletion lowers your chances.
Steps to recover deleted photos from an SD card
- Remove the card from the camera or phone and don’t write anything to it.
- Connect it to your computer with a USB card reader.
- If Windows asks to format the card, click Cancel.
- Install a recovery tool on your computer (not on the card).
- Scan the card, preview the files found, and save them to a different drive.
- Once your photos are safe, format the card in the camera before reusing it.
Free photo recovery tools
- PhotoRec (external site): free and open source for Windows, Mac and Linux. It recovers JPEG, RAW (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, ORF) and video files even from formatted cards. The interface is basic but it’s very reliable.
- Recuva (external site): easy free recovery for Windows with a deep scan mode.
- Disk Drill (external site): polished app for Mac and Windows; the free tier on Windows recovers a limited amount of data.
- Card makers’ tools: SanDisk and Lexar have offered recovery software with some cards.
For a wider comparison of free and paid tools, see our best data recovery software guide.
When recovery fails
- Overwritten data: photos taken after the deletion may have replaced the old ones.
- Full format: a full or secure format wipes the data, unlike a quick format.
- Corrupted card: if the card isn’t detected or shows as RAW, try another reader first, then PhotoRec.
- Physical damage: cracked or water-damaged cards need a professional data recovery lab.
Prevent photo loss next time
- Back up regularly to your computer or cloud (Google Photos, iCloud, OneDrive).
- Use cameras with dual card slots set to mirror.
- Format cards in the camera, not on the computer, and replace old cards.
Originally written by guest author Aseem (Online-Tech-Tips.com). Updated for 2026 by QuickOnlineTips.
FAQ
Can I recover photos after formatting an SD card?
Yes, after a quick format, if you haven’t saved new files. Tools like PhotoRec scan for image data directly.
Can I recover deleted photos from an SD card without software?
Generally no. Deleted files don’t go to a recycle bin on memory cards, so you need recovery software. Phones work differently: an iPhone keeps deleted pictures in its Recently Deleted album for 30 days, as our guide to recovering deleted photos on iPhone explains.
Is it safe to use free photo recovery software?
Yes, from official sites. Avoid unknown “free recovery” downloads bundled with adware.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, QuickOnlineTips earns from qualifying purchases.
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Did you accidentally delete photos from your cameras memory card? If so, then make use of Remo Recover tool to undelete photos from memory cards like SD, CF and MMC cards.
Photo recovery software work in the efficient way to recover the lost or deleted photos and other media files from the memory card. There are some good recovery software available on the internet. Article is quite interesting and useful.
Yes, a recover software also able to recover lost photos, videos and audio files from your memory card
Does it only recover pictures?
How about mp3 files?
hai my 8GB memory card can i recover my data from when i bought my memory card through pc inspector. pls give me reply.
I am very thankful to this software ………i don’t have words to write …Thank you very much………Dear……..(PK Digital Photo Studio)
The problem is i have taken two pictures after that.as a test run, to see if i can see the pictures or sumthing and i didnt know dat new pics cudnt be taken.s it still possible.bcz der a few particular pcs dat i need to retrieve.dey hold a lot of memorie and i dint save dem nywehere else yet.
can i as well recover deleted files from my hard dics if yes can u pls send me tips on how to do this.
You saved the memories of one of my best days ever!!! thx a LOT
hi friends..
I recovered my deleted video files with same memory but it’s not opening in any player I tried a lot but it is not opening can any one help me..
I had lost my all data from my memory card some days ago. I found this link:
[http://uploading.com/files/fcd68m9m/Data%2BRecovery%2Bfrom%2BMemory%2BCard%252C%2BPen%2BDrive%2Band%2BPc.exe/]
I downloaded it and try and i rescued my important files. You can try it too. Its free.
how i repair pendrive
Tried the PC Inspector file recovery software. It did bring back some of my pictures but not the ones I was looking for. It brought back pictures after and before these particular photos were taken. does anyone have any other ideas on how to get them back?
i have a problem i connect my camera with the pc but i can find it to scan the files.pls help cause i deleted my pictures when i propose to my girlfrend
this is a excellent software ,.. recovered a most important file from ma corrupted memory card… thanks alot pupil!! cheers!!
Thank u verymuch…. Using this tool i recover my family function photos which i have lost in digital Cameras memory card.
Did you guys pay or its free to restore?
I was IN TEARS thinking that I had lost all of my vacation photos. I googled “recover item deleted from memory card” and saw the options that cost money. I saw this one as well and thought it had to be some kind of scam because of all the positive comments; an “if it seems too good to be true…” kind of deal. But it REALLY DOES WORK! It recovered items that I had deleted even while I was on vacation and when I had snapped more pics after. I couldn’t be happier!
Everyone has his own hometown . I’m sure that everyone is proud of his hometown . I specially love my hometown . I think my hometown is the most beautiful place in the world . I’m pleasant to introduce my hometown to you .
i am really thankfull to you . i accidentally deleted my family pics of childhood and i was in great tension to what to do,but you provided a very useful information.thanks a lot!
I want to get rid of ALL my pictures on my PC. Please help! I’m desperate! Help
me! Thank you! Please respond ASAP!
Thanks for sharing information about such a useful tool in clear and simple way. It helped me in recovering the valualbe and memorable photos that my wife has deleted by mistake.
Saying just Thanks would be really very small for your favour and help.
i sense a lot of the above comments are actually advertising by the 2 main recovery companies in disguise–in other words , fake stories–my childs first steps, my childs first turd , yeah yeah i believe you
Plz help me…
after installing the software,, when i try to open it “say’s” gif89.dll file or one of its component is not registered properly
what to do..???
thanx dear! dis software z really amazing!!i hv recovered 200 snaps dat i accidently formatted frm ma memory card.thanx to u.
Dear Bootcat,
i faced the same problem and asked many it ppl and photographers and tried to recover the info but didnt work,, pls tell me if you were able to recover it after doing a low level format as i did.
regards,
Alssi
Bootcat & Alssi,
Were you ever able to recover your photos? I had the same thing happen to my memory card and am looking for anyone who has has success in data recovery.
Does anyone have any advice?
Nothing is deleted in computer science, till overwritten. By mistake i deleted Photos of very close friend. Thanks to Developers of PC Inspector Smart Recovery, i recovered all using it
Thanks Again & Cheers,
Pankaj Sisodiya
A friend of mine just came in so upset because she her memory card is blank and all of her Christmas pictures with her family was on that card. I followed these directions and I saved her Christmas (pictures that is)! So yes, it works, very well. I put them back on the memory stick and made her a CD as well. She’s thrilled. Good luck to you!
does it really works? because my computer just got reformat being attacked by a virus and i lost all my pictures on my birthday and with my boyfriend i am so devastated! :( So i google-ed and found this! :)
Pls help me to recover photos, I take photographs in my Nikon camera…..In mistake I delete it but I neeed the photograph…how to get the photograph……..?
Pls any can HELP ME PLSSSSSS.
pls tel me where can i download for nokia memory stick software to recover my photo?emergency…i need to pass up thise photo,but accidentaly deleted…
wat is this…? I thought that this is a free software but they are asking me money in the name of REGISTER WITH US. I’m totally disappointed.
thank buddy. by your software, i got mine child 1st day photos… Thank a lot
gud luck
please please help me!!i need your guys help!ive deleted some of my important video footage,ive retrieved them using recuva,but when i try to open them it cant be open,its corrupt or something?i try to convert them into mp4,but even the video converter cant read them!please please i need help! ty in advance
I am on holidays in France and accidentally deleted 300 of my photos! After it happened, I was devastated. I took one more photo but quickly deleted it. I don’t have my USB with me so when I get home, will I still be able to recover my photos?
Thanks
You can easily recovery your lost picture.. download the software from here http://www.photosrecovery.org/
Note: do not take any pictures from your till you recover all your pictures…
this program is amazing!! I just recovered 150 pictures that I accidently deleted from a friends camera, now I don’t have to face the wrath!!!
does this help, i accidentally corrupted my friend’s photo and i tried to find it, but it says no…
Can i face wrath at my young age?
Hello Ronald,
I haven’t stoped laughing after reading your comment. What has wrath got to do with age? Infact, I really admire your sence of humour. Just try recovering it again. I hope you are successful in oder not toface any wrath at your young age. SO DO YOU EXPECT ONLY THE AGED TO FACE WRATH?????????? LOL
Nice, report. i really enjoyed throughout the article. This is very useful software (it seems to be). I have also used a photo picture recovery software 4 months ago to recover my marriage photo. Accidentally my brother in law deleted all the file while trying to move from Memory card. Thnks to god, my friend was there at that time and he suggested me a software for recovery. Now i have all my special memorable moments of marriage life.
Thank you so much for this info! I accidentally deleted about 20 pictures and 2 videos of my son walking. I was crushed. So far this has worked and I’m hoping it will come across the videos. THANK YOU!!!
Many, many thanks for this info. After our HDD crashed and died……I just ran PC Inspector and found all my deleted photos from a recent trip to Amsterdam. What a great tool……thanks again for the tip !!!
wow! i thought i was going to lost the pictures in my digicam. thanks for this. i was able to retrieve the important pictures. thank you!
God Bless!
I am not able to find the right drive to point to my memory card on my camera. It i’ve downloaded 2 programs now including this pc inspector one and one that I paid for and each one asks to select the correct drive but my camera comes up without a drive letter,or number, just a picture of the camera??? what do I do now?
I’m not sure if you ever got help, but maybe instead of plugging your camera into the computer try putting your memory card into a card reader. That is what I used, and my card reader was $12 and works great (never any problems). The drive depends on which USB port you plug it in to, you could just check to see which ones are free.
Hope that helps!
This was such an awesome tool..I was so hopeless and frustrated then when i lost my daughters memorable pictures,I got a memory card error and tried different things just to recover the pix but no luck in doing so..I tried browsing for software on how to recover pix but it only allowed me to view files,i cant save unless i’ll buy it online.And im not really use to in buying online so tried searching for another luckily i found this PC inspector file recovery,i followed the steps and I almost cried when i saw my daughters precious pictures..Thank you so much for everyone in CONVAR..VERY HELPFUL :)
My friend was devastated after taking more than 1600 photos from china. She came back to states and ask my help. I ran the PC Inspector and it work Great!. Got all those missing photos….Now I’m sure i will get a free dinner out of this when i give her a memory stick of all her photos.
Wouldn’t run on Vista 64 bit. missing gifxx.dll
hey its working dear. but there is a problem, when i recovered my images some of my images were corrupted. Then I tried Recuva. It really worked for me. its a freeware. If pc inspector does not work. do try recuva. you can get it from here :
http://84productions.blogspot.com/2009/02/recover-deleted-files-easily-with.html
Thank you very much!. I was able to recover all of my pictures on a Sony camera. very useful program.
err…
what if I accidentally over-write the memory card by taking more pictures afterward. Can I still save my deleted photos? I’ve already tried this software, and I found a lot of files there, but most of them are corrupted and I can’t open them. Can somebody tell me what to do?
thank you :)
hello. the same thing happened to mw. I was wondering if you ever mananged to recover your photo’s in the end? I am desperate! Thanks so much!
I did the same thing :(, I made mistakes deleting some important pics, and I was taking more pictures, before I run the PC Inspector. Currently, I’m trying to recover them. But, can it be successful, because I was taking pics after the deletion?! I’m desperate :(
There are some OK free file recovery tools, I have found however that they will not work in some scenarios, e.g, to get deleted photos back from formatted camera cards. The best photo recovery program is File Restore Professional. It is a commercial product… but then what value do you put on your memories. You can download File Restore Professional here: http://www.photo-recovery.com
You can find a cheaper alternative at http://advancedmediarecovery.com/ only $20 does the same job and has a free trial
I accidentally deleted pictures of my daughter’s first day of school while trying to move them to another drive. My wife and I were devastated! I did a search and found a few other products that claim to recover files….at a cost. I gave PC INSPECTOR Smart Recovery a try, and it worked. I thank you so very much for recommending this software and helping me to recover such important memories.
PC Inspector Smart Recovery is indeed one of the most helpful free programs I’ve ever had. I’ve been using it for a year or two now and it really doesn’t disappoint me. Use it, too!