In this digital world, images play a very important role in our lives. We prefer capturing memorable photos on various devices, including External hard drives. But sometimes, you may encounter situations when these precious memories get deleted from your External hard drives all of a sudden. Accidental deletion of photos can be a distressful experience, but the good news is that there are several tools and techniques available that you can use to recover deleted photos.
This article describes 3 ways to recover deleted image files from an External hard drive. Just go with these methods one by one to retrieve those lost memories.
Is Recycle Bin Recovery Possible For Photos Deleted From External Hard Drives?
Yes, in many cases, it is possible to photo recovery from an External hard drive via Recycle Bin. However, the availability to recover deleted files depends on the operating system you are using. Windows users can use Recycle Bin to restore such temporary deleted files while Mac users can use the Trash folder.
However, it is important to note that such recovery is possible only if your file is not permanently deleted. If you have deleted photos using the Shift + Del (Windows) and Command + Del (Mac) keys, then image files will get permanently deleted. In such cases, you need to apply advanced photo recovery methods to restore them.
What Causes Deletion of Photos on External Drives?
Before you learn how to recover deleted pictures from any device, it is important to find the exact reasons for such data loss issues. Here are some common reasons why image files are deleted from an External hard drive:
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Accidental Deletion: Unintentional clicks or key presses while performing other tasks on files stored on your External hard drives lead to the accidental deletion of photos.
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File System Corruption: Damage to the file system structure can result in the loss of image files stored on external drives.
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Virus or Malware Attacks: Malicious software can corrupt files or cause sudden deletion of photos and other files from external drives.
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Formatting Errors: When you format the external drive without any backup, it erases all data, including photos.
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Incomplete Transfers: Interrupted or incomplete file transfers can corrupt your photos or may lead to their deletion.
How to Recover Deleted Pictures on an External Hard Drive?
Whatever is the cause for the deletion of photos from an External hard drive, it is always possible to restore those lost memories. In this part of the blog, we will outline several photo recovery methods that you can apply to recover deleted photos:
Method 01: Recover Deleted Photos from the Recycle Bin or Trash
Every file deleted from Windows or Mac devices goes to the Recycle Bin or Trash folder, respectively, before being permanently deleted. Before you apply any other recovery methods to restore your lost moments, it’s essential to check these folders. To recover deleted photos on Windows using the Recycle Bin folder, you need to:
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Double-click on the Recycle Bin icon to open it.
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Locate and select the photos within the Recycle Bin that you need to restore.
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Once you find the required deleted photos, select them and choose the “Restore” option. This will save the selected files to their original location on the external hard drive.
Method 02: Restore Deleted Photos Using Backups
If your deleted pictures are not available in the Recycle Bin folder, then they might be permanently removed from your device. In such cases, you can use previously created backups of those image files or use a third-party photo recovery software. Windows OS is provided with an in-built File History backup utility while Mac users can use the Time Machine backup option.
To recover deleted image files from an External hard drive on Windows device using File History backups, you need to:
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Go to the folder where your deleted image file was stored before deletion.
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Right-click anywhere inside the folder and select Properties.
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Now, navigate to the Previous Versions tab and select the version you want to recover.
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Tab the Restore button to save the selected files to their original location or a new destination.
Method 03: Recover Deleted Images from an External Hard Drive Using Stellar Photo Recovery
Instances may occur when the above-mentioned methods may fail to recover deleted photos on your device. If you ever experienced such a situation, don’t worry! You can use a professional photo recovery software to recover deleted image files from an external hard drive. Here we recommend using the Stellar Photo Recovery tool, which is an all-in-one photo recovery tool to restore files deleted due to any reasons including accidental deletion, formatting, virus or malware attacks, etc. in no time.
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Not only photos, but you can also use the Stellar Photo Recovery tool to recover deleted audio and video files of multiple file formats.
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The software supports recovery of files deleted from multiple internal and external storage devices, including memory cards, SSDs, Hard drives, etc.
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It allows you to preview the recoverable files, so you can select and save only the required files back to your external hard drive, thus saving the storage space.
Here’s how to recover deleted pictures from External hard drives using the Stellar Photo Recovery tool:
Step 01: Download and install the Stellar Photo Recovery tool on your Windows and Mac devices. Connect your external hard drive to your system.
Step 02: Launch the software and from the homepage, select the storage location from where you need to restore your lost image files and click Scan.
Step 03: After completion of the scanning process, preview the recoverable files. If you don’t get the desired result, turn on the Deep Scan toggle switch.
Step 04: Select the photos you need to restore and click the Recover button to save them at the desired location.
Conclusion
Losing image files from any device can be distressing. Hope, the above 3 ways to recover deleted image files from an External hard drive help you restore your lost memories. Start by checking the Recycle Bin or Trash folder, restoring from backups, and then use professional photo recovery software like Stellar Photo Recovery. Remember the key is to act promptly, as the chance of file recovery reduces if deleted files have been overwritten by new data. Additionally, create regular backups of important image files on multiple devices to minimize the impact of accidental deletions.
For more information, visit ApzoMedia