How to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos in Windows 10  

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos in Windows 10

Updated on Jun 08, 2024 | by Edwards

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Pictures hold precious memories, such as vacations and parties, that we want to keep in our memory. However, accidents can happen, and we might delete these moments from our Windows PC. Losing these photos can be a frustrating experience, especially when they're gone forever. Fortunately, there is a solution to recover permanently deleted photos in Windows 10.

You can recover deleted pictures from your Windows 10 PC using various methods, with or without additional software. There are various ways that you can use to find these deleted pictures from your Windows 10 PC with and without the use of additional software.

Method 1. The Quickest Way to Restore Permanently Deleted Photos in Windows

Data recovery software is the quickest and most effective way to recover deleted photos. It works by reconstructing files from their previous location before deletion, utilizing the file structure that existed before the deletion occurred. This allows for a higher chance of recovering the pictures, making it the best method for retrieving lost photos.

To recover deleted pictures, it is crucial not to alter the original location of the deleted files. Install the data recovery software on a separate hard drive or external drive to avoid modifying the deleted file structures, which could render recovery impossible.

1. Download the Best Photo Recovery Software – Deep Data Recovery

The best photo recovery software to get back your pictures is Deep Data Recovery, a professional data recovery software that can easily and efficiently retrieve permanently deleted photos from Windows 10. It can recover deleted pictures from internal hard disks, external hard drives, SD cards, or cameras, and also supports various data loss scenarios such as formatting, system errors, factory reset, and virus attacks.

The picture recovery tool is free to trial and will display all recoverable photos deleted from a Windows 10 PC. It can be downloaded to try it out.

2. How to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos in Windows 10 with Software

  1. Once the software is installed, it will automatically launch the app. If it doesn't, you can manually launch it by double-clicking on the desktop shortcut.
  2. When the photo recovery software for Windows 10 opens, select the location where the lost photos were stored and click the "Scan" button to begin the recovery process.
  3. photo recovery software
  4. The software for recovering deleted files in Windows 10 will start searching for the lost files and display the different file folders found in the chosen location on the left of the window.
  5. To recover photos, click on the folder where the photos were found, preview the photos, and then click on "Recover" to save them.
  6. recover permanently deleted photos windows 10

Method 2. Get Permanently Deleted Photos Back from Previous Version

If you're unable to recover deleted photos, another method is to restore them from previous versions. This requires remembering the location where the pictures were stored before they were deleted. To do this, you can check the previous versions of the device or storage where the photos were kept, and see if the deleted photos are still available in a previous backup or version. This method can be useful if you've previously backed up your photos or have a cloud storage service that automatically saves previous versions of your files.

  1. Go to the folder that contains the photos.
  2. To restore a previous version of a folder, right-click on it and select "Restore Previous Version" from the context menu. Alternatively, go to the properties of the folder, click on the "Restore Previous Version" tab, and follow the prompts to revert to an earlier state.
  3. Restore Previous Version
  4. To recover deleted photos, select a version of the folder that existed before the photos were deleted from the folder, and double click on it to open it. This will allow you to view the photos that were deleted.
  5. To restore the previous version of a folder, click on the "Restore" button, which will replace the present version of the folder. If the restore button is not available, pull the photos from the previous version to a new location on your computer, effectively saving them.

To ensure that you can find previous versions of your files, please make sure that versioning was enabled before the incident occurred. This will allow you to access and restore previous versions of your files.

Method 3. Retrieve Permanently Deleted Photos from File History

File History, when enabled, automatically creates backups of your files, excluding apps and programs, which can be reinstalled. The number of backups depends on the duration you have File History turned on, and it can help recover accidentally deleted photos and other important files.

To view your updates and recover permanently deleted pictures on Windows 10 using File History, simply access the feature through the Control Panel or Settings app, and you'll be able to see a list of your available updates. From there, you can recover any pictures you've permanently deleted, giving you peace of mind and a safety net for your digital memories.

  1. To access File Explorer, click on the "Start" button in the toolbar, then click on the search button and type "File Explorer" to find it, or simply click on it directly if it's already visible.
  2. Open the folder that contained the deleted photos.
  3. To view your backed up folders, click on the home tab and then click on the "History" button. This will allow you to see your backed up files.
  4. History
  5. If you can't find the folder containing your pictures, go to the "This PC" or "Computer" section. Look for the drive where your pictures were stored. If you can't find it, click on the "View" tab and select "Hidden items" to see if they are listed. If you still can't find it, try searching for the file name or the name of the folder.
  6. To navigate through the different backup versions, use the left and right arrows to move between them. For newer versions, click the right arrow, and for previous ones, click the left arrow. Open the folders to check if the backup contains the desired photos.
  7. Once you see the photos or the folder containing the photos in one of the backups, click on "Restore" to restore them to their original position. If a file or folder with the same name still exists in that location, you'll need to manually resolve the conflict.
  8. restore deleted photos by file history
    • Replace the file in the destination; in a case where you need only the old file and confirm the older version is the better version.
    • Skip the file; if you don't want to restore that particular file or folder.
    • Compare info for both of the files; This puts you in a better position to choose which file you prefer better and in the best of cases you can keep both files in which case Windows will only change the name of the incoming file or folder by adding a number to its name. This is the recommended choice.

Once you're done, you can close the file history and your photos will be recovered.

To recover deleted photos, you can use one of three methods, with the first method using Deep Data Recovery guaranteeing a safe process if followed correctly. The second and third methods, which involve restoring photos from previous versions and file history backups, will only work if these features were enabled. If they weren't, these methods won't be effective. However, if you used the first method, you'll be almost guaranteed to get your photos back.

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