To recover photos from external hard drive, you can use data recovery software like MyRecover, restore from the CMD, or restore a previous version of the file. Let's check this out.
Photos hold numerous memories from people's daily lives, thus they are willing to keep them on an external hard drive as a backup, as well as for data security and to free up storage space on a PC.
However, data loss on external hard drives is an issue that cannot be avoided. Many people continue to complain about photo loss and seek help to recover files from external hard drives.
Need help in photo recovery from external hard drive
I lost considerable pictures on my external hard drive. I was about to copy them to my laptop, I thought the transferring was finished so I deleted them all and ended up with only a few photos on my laptop. They are not in the recycle bin.
- Question from DPReview
In this specific case given above, this user has deleted his pictures but could not restore deleted files from the Recycle Bin.
This isn’t a bug or error, but just the design – when you delete items on an external hard drive, the deleted files won’t be moved to the Recycle Bin of C: drive on your desktop, but directly removed.
That is to say, you will have permanently deleted files from hard drives in this way.
Then how to restore photos from external hard drives?
As long as no physical damage and overwriting occurred, it is feasible to get them back. If so, please turn to a data recovery service near you ASAP.
This article will walk you through a bunch of methods to find deleted image files from external hard drives.
When files are permanently wiped, it won’t be an easy mission to get them back on your own. But luckily, you could rely on a well-developed external hard drive data recovery tool – MyRecover.
This tool is specially designed for Windows OS from Windows 7 SP1, 8, 10, to Windows 11. Equipped with advanced and efficient scanning methods, it can scan hard disks for deleted and missing files within several seconds to minutes.
Recover pictures from external hard drives easily.
Similar to SD card recovery, as long as you stop using the affected external drive right away, photos can be recovered with a high success rate.
Now follow the detailed instructions to start photo recovery from external hard drives.
Step 1. Install and run the software > connect your external storage device to the PC > hover the mouse over the external hard disk > click Scan.
Step 2. It will automatically find deleted pictures on external hard drives with Quick Scan & Deep Scan.
Step 3. Go to Deleted files to select the deleted pictures or go to Other missing files and select the Images you want > click Recover x files.
Using this powerful tool, you could also easily restore deleted photos from USB after formatting.
Methods to recover deleted image files from external hard drive without software are also available here.
But they will be pretty difficult because of commands and no graphical user interface.
Windows has offered a tool named Command Prompt for users to manage their machines. It parses and executes the commands that users have input. To restore deleted files, the command “Recover” can be utilized.
β Only readable info can be scanned and recovered.
β It requires the exact filename and path. No wildcard “*” is supported.
β It can only restore one file each time.
Step 1. Start Command Prompt > choose Run as administrator > input diskpart.
Step 2. Input list disk > select disk 0 > list volume. 0 refers to the affected external hard drive.
Step 3. Then input select volume x > recover [drive:][filename].
Please input the affected partition (if it has) and the specific file path and name.
For example, input recover f: \pictures\travel03.jpg
Thus, you could retrieve one picture named “travel03” on F: drive. It can also help you restore flash drive files using cmd.
If your photos are lost due to a virus attack, they might be maliciously hidden by the viruses. Thus, the “attrib” command could be used. It can modify the attribution of files, in this way, unhide your photos.
But this method can be quite difficult, please be careful to use it.
Step 1. Connect your external hard drive to your PC > run Command Prompt > select Run as administrator.
Step 2. Input chkdsk F: /f > input Y > input F > press Enter.
Step 3. Then input F: >attrib –h –r –s /s /d *.*. Thus you could fix the possible problem and unhide the pictures.
Previous Versions were either copies of files and folders created by Windows Backup or copies of files and folders automatically saved by Windows File History as part of a restore point. You can use previous versions to restore files or folders that have been accidentally modified, deleted, or damaged on an external disk.
Step 1. Connect the external drive to your computer. Locate the folder where the lost files are stored.
Step 2. Right-click the folder and select “Properties”.
Step 3. Click on the Previous Versions.
Step 4. Select the version you need to recover.
Note: The prerequisite for using this solution is that you must back up your data in advance.
Photo loss won’t happen because of no reason. In general, multiple triggers can be concluded.
No matter how you have lost your precious photos, they can be retrieved as long as no overwriting happens. Moreover, it can be prevented with some precautions.
When data loss occurs, remedies will be limited. But we could form a good habit of preparing for data loss risk.
AOMEI Backupper, a good Windows data backup software can be your helper with “Disk Backup”, “File Backup”, “Partition Backup”, etc.
In this article, now all methods to recover photos from external hard drives have been introduced. To free you from difficult commands and further damage to the data, you might as well try MyRecover – a professional Windows data rescue tool.