Where Are My Google Photos? How to Find Them if Lost?

Where did my Google Photos go on PC?

Google Photos allows users to manage their photos and videos more easily. As a cloud photo sharing and storage service, it will enable users to access their wanted pictures on multiple devices at any time.

With the help of its stable cloud storage server, users upload photos from iPhone to Google Photos. Thus their photos will be kept in a safe place. However, it doesn’t mean users can always sit back and relax.

It seems that some users meet a series of Google Photos issues: some users said that they could not locate their target files in Google Photos. For instance, some ask, “Where are my videos on Google Photos”.

What’s worse, many users are bothered by photo loss issues from Google Photos. Some asked, “Where are my Google Photos” and were eager to figure out how to get back their lost or deleted photos.

To find the missing Google Photos more efficiently, it is necessary for us to make it clear why your Google Photos get lost.

Why have my Google Photos disappeared?

Similar to the “Google Drive files missing” issue, this problem won’t come without reasons.

• You have logged into the wrong account that doesn’t contain the target photos you want.
• You have removed the photos, emptied the trash bin, or deleted the photos 60 days ago.
• You have archived the photos, so they are not shown in your library.
• Google Photos meets system problems or bugs and affect the user end.
• Your Google account has been inactive for 2 years, and Google removed the content.

See if any reasons fit your situation and take the following measures to recover lost or deleted Google Photos.

Where are my Google Photos? What to do when they are lost?

You may wonder, “How do I find my photos on Google?”. Rest assured; it is not an impossible mission. Check the following methods.

Method 1. Check the Trash folder

Google Photos has a recycle bin feature called Trash, as your PC does. It is straightforward to recover deleted files from recycle bin. But the prerequisite is that your deleted photos were still kept in the bin.

When you check the Trash folder on Google Photos, you’ll notice a warning or note that says, “Items in Trash will be permanently deleted after 60 days”.

It indicates that it keeps your removed photos for up to 60 days. If the deleted files are not in the recycle bin, they might have been permanently gone. Please move on to the next part.

Now check the steps to retrieve deleted photos from Google. You could both use the Google Photos app. We will take the Google Photos website as an example.

Step 1. Go to the Google Photos site > log in to your Google account > click Trash on the sidebar.

Step 2. Choose your target Google Photos > click Restore.

Then all the photos will go back to the original location.

Method 2. See if the photos are in the Archive folder

Where are my Google Photos if they are not in the Trash? They may have been permanently deleted but could also be in the Archive folder.

Archived items will not be shown in the Photos window but in the Albums folder, Archive folder, and in the search result.

Step 1. On the Google Photos site, click Archive on the sidebar > locate and select all the archived pictures you need > click the menu button on the top-right corner of the panel.

Step 2. Click Unarchive.

Method 3. Check your backup settings

How do I find my photos on Google? There is another feasible approach – backup. Sagacious users will backup photos to Google Drive or directly create backup copies of Google Photos in Google Takeout.

>> Go and check your Google Photos backup. Please make sure you have backed up the photos to the correct account you need.

If unfortunately, no backups are available, you are out of luck to find the photos that are only stored on the Google Photos cloud server.

How to recover deleted photos from Google Photos without backups?

As mentioned above, the photos deleted from the Google Photos Trash will be permanently gone, especially when they were only kept on the Google Drive cloud server.

But you could turn to your local hard drives if there are file copies on your local ones.

Even if the photos are deleted along with the versions on the cloud at the same time, you could use third-party tools to search and restore them.

MyRecover is a trustworthy Windows data recovery tool that you can rely on. It is developed by a sophisticated team with over 10 years of development experience and is specially designed for Windows users.

With the help of its unique features, you can quickly get back deleted and lost data from external or internal hard drives like HDD, SSD, USB, SD card, etc.

Support over 200 recoverable data types, including 42 kinds of images, videos, documents, emails, etc. 

Select and restore data in 3 simple steps while scanning. 

Retrieve deleted data with its original path, filename, and format. 

Support Windows 11/10/8/7/Server. Windows Server users could also recover deleted files in Windows Server 2016/2019/2022, etc. 

Follow the steps below to learn how to recover deleted photos from Google Photos without backups.

Step 1. Install and run the software > select the original location of the photos > Start Scan.

Step 2. Check and sort the scanned files by Date modified, Type, Size, etc., to locate your wanted photos quickly.

Step 3. Go to Deleted files or Recycle Bin > go to the original location of the photos > select the images you want > click Recover x files.

If failed, go to Other missing files > Images to check if your photos are there. With the help of this tool, you can also retrieve photos from external hard drives.

Conclusion

Users asking the question, “Where are my Google Photos” can refer to this article and get some help from the detailed guide. The Trash, Archive folder, and backups can help them find their photos.

If the photos were permanently deleted, it is suggested to use professional data recovery software for Windows to scan and restore them. But please remember that the images stored only on the cloud cannot be recovered.