So you deleted your photos from your memory card, huh? This can be a real pain, particularly considering the importance of good photographs in this digital age.  Don’t worry – there are several things you can do to recover deleted photos from a memory card.

First, though, it would be good to understand exactly what is happening when your photos get deleted.

Your photos are not erased from your memory card when you delete them. When you delete photos, that space on your memory card is marked as “free,” and can be overwritten by new information.

If you can work on the memory card and save those files before they are overwritten, then you can recover your photos. Once those files have been overwritten by new data, then your photos are truly lost.

In this blog post, we’ve compiled several different strategies to recovering your photos from your memory card, including DIY options, paid software, and video tutorials.

DIY Guides / Free Software

The cheapest option is obviously learning to recover photos for yourself. There are several companies which offer free software available for download to help you recover your photos from your memory card.

This guide provides free software that you can download to recover deleted photos from a memory card for Mac and PC users (may not work if the memory card has been tampered with since photos were deleted). This guide is a quick, basic, easy guide for no specific processors. This works for both Macs and Windows computers. There is a wizard style interference with the download.

Starting from Scratch (How To’s)

Depending on the type of damage your memory card has received, the pictures may be easier or harder to recover.

• Deleted Images
  These are easy to recover, provided you do not continue to use your memory card after you delete your photos. As long as the photos haven’t been overwritten by new data, then there is a high chance of recovery.
• Data Failure
  If your memory card shows an error and refuses to write the data, then recovery is dicey. If some data was written on the card, it can be salvaged, but that is not always the case. Sometimes data hasn’t been written, and those photos will be lost.
• Physical Damage
  The chances of recovery from a physically damaged memory card (water damage, cracked, etc.) are very low. If the drive cannot even recognize the memory card, then it would be in your best interest to contact a professional data recovery service who can attempt to recover your data in a lab.

Fortunately, there are guides all over the internet on how to recover photos from a memory card. This How-To walks you through the process of recovering lost photos from your memory card (or phone) with an easy to follow step-by-step guide, with images included.

Video Tutorials

Video tutorials are so much easier for some people to follow, so we’ve included a list of three videos to help you recover your photos.

This video takes you through the process of downloading software (free) and recovering your photos from a memory card.
This is another video that walks you through the process of downloading a free recovery software and shows you how to recover your photos from a memory card.

Earlier in the post, Wondershare was suggested as a software to help you recover your lost or deleted photos: we are revisiting them here, but in video form, if that is more your style!

Conclusion

Thankfully, for most memory card failures, there is a way to recover your photos. If the DIY tutorials and the software methods are confusing, or your data is sensitive enough that you don’t want to even take a chance at losing it, then don’t hesitate to call a professional data recovery service. ProData Management would love to help!