4 Ways to Recover Lost or Deleted Photos on PC (2024)

How to restore lost pictures on computer?

If you find your photos lost on PC, please don’t worry because powerful data recovery software can help general users to recover permanently deleted photos from Windows 10 regardless of data loss scenarios.

Naturally, if there’s a valuable backup that includes your needed photos, you can restore deleted photos from this backup. So how to recover lost photos on PC? Please read on.

How to recover lost or deleted photos on PC

If you want to recover lost or deleted photos on PC, you can pay attention to the following 4 recovery methods, including Windows built-in features and a professional recovery tool.

Way 1. Recover recently deleted photos from the Recycle Bin

How to recover lost photoson PC? If Win10 users accidentally deleted photos from your PC, you can execute the “Undo Delete” command immediately to get these deleted image files back to the original location.

You can directly press the “Ctrl + Z” keys, as shown in the above image.

Besides, the Recycle Bin is a good storage tool to store the recently deleted files from the computer. Without emptying it or pressing the “Shift + Delete” keys, it helps you recover deleted pictures from your Recycle Bin.

Step 1. Open the Recycle Bin program on your PC and locate your needed photos in it.

Step 2. Right-click on it and “Restore” it to the original location.

Way 2. Recover lost or deleted photos via photo recovery software

Generally, the most efficient way is to utilize the best photo recovery software for Windows to recover lost or deleted photos in Windows 10/11.

If you’re unsure how to choose reliable photo recovery software on the market, please consider MyRecover after learning its highlights. No matter what situation you encounter on PC, MyRecover will help you get back your photos without backup.

MyRecover

Powerful Data Recovery Software

• Run Quick Scan and Deep Scan automatically to find all the deleted files and other lost files on your computer.
• Deal with deletion, disk formatting, and other data loss scenarios.
• You’re allowed to recover deleted/lost files from HDD, SSD, USB, SD cards, and other storage devices.
• Support a wide range of photos, such as jpg, png, tif, bmp, psd, etc.
• Get the original path, filename, quality, and format for the recovered photos.
• Support NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS file systems.
• Be compatible with Windows 7, 8, 10, 11, and Windows Server.

Download Software
Win 11/10/8.1/8/7 & server

100% Secure

If you want to judge the content based on the original filename rather than open photos, don’t hesitate to download MyRecover now!

Step 1. Install and run it on your PC. Hover the mouse over the drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan.

Step 2. The window will show all the deleted files and other missing files of the selected partition/disk after running Quick Scan and Deep Scan.

To find your lost or deleted photos quickly, you can use some advanced features in MyRecover:

• Search: If you remember the file name or extension, you can use it to locate lost photos quickly.
• Filter: Set the file type (e.g.: image), date modified, and size to narrow down the search range. 
• Preview: Preview multiple file formats, such as jpg, png,bmp, jpeg, tif, svg, gif, ico, etc.

Step 3. Go to Deleted files/Recycle Bin/Other Missing Files, and select pictures. Then click the “Recover x files” button. Please store these files in your specified saved path.

Way 3. Recover permanently deleted photos from Backup and Restore

Backup and Restore could be the most compatible feature because Microsoft released it in the Windows 7 OS. As the name suggests, a usable backup is a necessity to recover permanently deleted photos Windows 10/11.

This Windows feature is a pretty good way to backup files and folders. For instance, you can use it to recover folders while organizing files you accidentally deleted. These steps describe how to restore lost photos on PC using it.

Step 1. Open “Control Panel” by entering it in the search box. Then click “System Security” and select the “Backup and Restore (Windows 7)” option.

Step 2. Click the “Restore my files” button.

Step 3. Select the “Browse for files” option to find your lost pictures.

You can store these retrieved image files in the original location or in your designated saved path.

Way 4. Recover permanently deleted photos from Previous Versions 

For photographers, they might be more inclined to recover permanently deleted photos Windows 10/11 from previous versions because this feature can restore deleted photos during the editing process.

However, this solution is useless for Win8 and later users who have not turned on File History by clicking System and Security > File History. After activating it, you’ll get a history of files over time. If you’ve turned on the System Restore Point, this solution also can work for you.

Before the restoration process, you can browse and select your lost files among different versions. Even if the original documents were deleted/lost, or damaged, this feature can help you out. Let’s perform how to restore lost pictures on computers via it.

Step 1. Start Windows File Explorer on your PC by pressing the “Win + E” keys. Then locate the folder that contains your needed photos before data loss.

Step 2. Right-click on it and select the “Properties” option.

Step 3. After clicking the “Previous Versions” button, “Restore” your selected version.

Tips for preventing photo data loss

Though there are some useful recovery methods for photo recovery, it is advisable for you to take action to prevent photo data loss. Here are some common and effective ways:

• Make regular backups for your photos.
• Do not defragment the drive that keeps your photos.
• Do not add any new file to the location that includes your lost photos.

FAQs

Wrapping up

How to recover lost photos on PC? Please refer to the above solutions to recover lost photos. Moreover, you’d better use some Windows features like Previous Versions to make backups to prevent losing files or folders.

Likewise, this free data loss prevention software - AOMEI Backupper also can help you backup files and folders. Moreover, “File Backup”,  "File Sync", “Schedule Backup”, or “Incremental Backup” is supported by it.