How to recover photos from memory card or hard drive

If you have accidentally deleted your photos from your camera or phones digital memory card or even your ipod or the HDD on your computer, there is still a reasonable chance of recovering them.

A full recovery is not guaranteed, but depending on the type of format that was used and particularly if it was a simple deletion of photographs it is quite often the case that photos can be recovered if the correct steps are taken.

First off - do not take any more photographs using the memory card in question.

The reason is, that should you overwrite the card with new photographs, some of the previous photograph information will be damaged and this will hamper the recovery operation.

If the photos have been lost from your memory card, you will need to have a card reader on your computer. If you have not got one of these, you can purchase a cheap multi-card usb reader that will do the job from the likes of Amazon or any hardware/computer store.
See this example.

Next, you will need to download and install a photo recovery program to your computer. There are several of these available to download for free from the net but for this purpose I am going to stick to one called Recuva which I have found to be easy to use and extremely comprehensive in its options. Recuva comes from a highly respected software company called Piriform and can confidently be recommended as free from Spyware, Adware or Viruses.

Best of all it is totally free to use and has no nags. You can download Recuva for free from this link.

Recuva is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000. Including both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

You may choose to search for an alternative recovery program on the Net if your operating system is not supported.

Download the program from the link provided above and then run the install wizard by clicking on the downloaded file. Follow the instructions to install the program on your computer. This program bundles Yahoo Tool Bar so please ensure to uncheck this option if you do not want this add on.

Insert your card into the card reader on your computer.

One distinct advantage to this program, is that it runs a wizard when you open it which walks you through the recovery process. Follow the instructions on the wizard and select the look for photographs option. Next select the "On my media card or Ipod option" to have it examine your card with the deleted photos.

If you want to scan your computers hard drive for deleted photos select that option instead.

Important: Click 'Enable Deep Scan' to have the best possible result from the scan. The program will automatically scan for recoverable files on the memory card in your card reader or hard drive as selected.

Be aware that this program is extremely thorough - and depending on the size of your card or drive, it may take some time to complete. Be patient as it completes its task. The program will then display the recovered photographs and give a comment beside each one to say if it has been damaged or is recoverable. Save the recovered photos onto a new file on your computer.

Once you have recovered and saved your photos - make sure to use your camera or device to format your memory card before using it again to capture photos.

A format will erase all data permanently from the card including corrupted data and so reduce the potential for future corruption of the card. This will help to avoid problems of this nature occuring again.

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