Discover how to recover photos from an SD card that seemingly disappeared. Learn the do’s and don’ts of SD card recovery and explore both free and paid options available for retrieving your lost photos.
Recover Deleted Photos from SD Card: A Quick Plan of Action
To cut to the chase, here’s a quick plan of action to try if your photos or videos have gone missing from your SD card or you’ve accidentally deleted them. The good news is that it’s often possible to recover deleted photos from the SD card.
You can find a much more detailed version below, but here’s the quick version:
Stop using the SD card. This might sound obvious, but it’s important because overwriting the data will make it harder to recover deleted files from it. Remove the card from your camera or phone to reduce the risk.
Scan the SD card with the free trial versions of SD card recovery software. These are good options to start with. Both have free trials, versions for Windows and Mac, and are straightforward to use. The scan using the free trial will show you whether any files can be found and recovered.
Recover the photos from SD card. If the photo recovery software can find the deleted photos, you can then decide whether to buy a full license to actually recover the lost photos. If you’d prefer not to buy a license, there are also free alternatives, but they are either feature-limited or less user-friendly (more on that below).
Backup the recovered files. To be safe!
Table of Contents
SD Card Photo Recovery First Steps
If your photos suddenly aren’t showing up when you go to view them on the camera or on your computer, it still might be possible to recover them.
I can’t promise you’ll be able to recover deleted photos from the SD card, but there are some things you can definitely try that often work. Troubleshooting involves working methodically.
First off, don’t panic. It happens to all of us at some point. Accidental deletion and the ever-present risk of data loss is one of the occupational hazards of shooting with a digital camera. It’s the equivalent of accidentally exposing the film, except, in this case, there’s a much better chance of recovering the photos.
Second, stop shooting new photos or recording new videos on the SD card. As in, right now. The more you continue writing to the memory card, the harder it’s going to be to recover what’s there. Depending on what has gone wrong, you run the risk of writing over the original photos, effectively burying them deeper (and potentially beyond recovery).
Whether you’ve accidentally formatted your memory card with photos or videos still on it, you removed the card while it was still writing, the card has become corrupted, or there’s been some problem that has made the photos disappear, here are some suggestions for trying to recover them.
Step 1: Isolate the Problem
Before knowing how to tackle the problem, you’ll first need to isolate it. If you can’t read your memory card, it’s natural to assume it’s a problem with the card. Sometimes it is. But sometimes, it can be something else. So what you want to do is confirm that it’s the card misbehaving and not something else.
I’d recommend trying to put the card back in the camera and see if you can view the photos using the camera’s own playback. If you can, go ahead and sigh with relief—you’ll almost certainly be able to recover your photos, and the problem is apparently somewhere else. But don’t take any more photos or record any more videos—you don’t want to make the problem worse.
If your digital camera can read the card normally, there are several things that could be going wrong. The issue might be with your card reader, the cable connecting your card reader to the computer, or even the computer’s USB or other connection port.
With USB, a common culprit is an unpowered USB hub (or even a powered one, for that matter). If you’re using a hub, try plugging the reader into a USB slot that’s connected directly to the motherboard (i.e., one on the computer itself rather than one on a peripheral device). It’s also worth trying to plug it into a different USB slot.
It’s also possible that it’s a software issue. Most modern operating systems can read most memory cards without extra software. But it’s not impossible to have a setup that causes problems. If you have another computer handy, try that.
Nearly all modern cameras can be used as card readers by connecting the camera directly to the computer via a USB cable. Usually, you’ll need to have your camera powered on. With some, you’ll need to put the camera in connection mode. Your camera’s instruction manual will be able to help if you’re in doubt. So with the memory card in the camera, connect it to your computer to see if you can access the photos. If you can, go ahead and download the photos right away to your computer. Get the photos to a safe place first, then worry about finding out what went wrong.
If your camera can’t read the photos either, then the problem probably does lie with the card. So it’s time to move on to more serious data recovery efforts.
Step 2: Scan the SD Card to Find What Photos are Recoverable
When your photos are on the SD memory card, it’s a pretty weak link in the chain. In most cases, it means there’s only one copy (unless you have one of the newer, high-end cameras that can copy to two cards simultaneously). And while memory cards are pretty reliable, there is nevertheless still a small percentage failure rate. Once you download the photos off the memory card to your computer, one hopes you have a robust backup system in place involving multiple copies (and if you don’t, here are some ideas on where to start). Until then, you’re relying on the memory card.
There are a number of data recovery software options available. While they aim to do basically the same thing, they don’t all do it in the same way. Most of them look and feel as though they were designed by a committee of engineers rather than anyone concerned about pesky little things like user interfaces. However, to be fair, the leading apps have improved in this area quite a bit in recent versions.
Some of these photo recovery software options are free; some are quite expensive. Some work in some instances and not others. Some are limited to certain file formats, while others get the whole shebang. So you might be in for a little trial and error. The reputable ones shouldn’t do any further damage to the data on your card. For any that involve a paid license, I strongly recommend running a trial version first to get an indication of whether anything’s going to be recoverable. You don’t want to shell out money unless you have some confidence it’s going to get results.
How successful these will be in recovering your lost photos depends on what has gone wrong in the first place. If it’s a simple case of accidentally formatting a card, there’s an excellent chance of recovering the files. Things get trickier the more you’ve overwritten new data over the top of existing data or the card is damaged.
If you already have data recovery software installed, it’s worth trying that. But make sure it’s compatible with memory cards. Some software is designed for specific types of data recovery, such as memory cards or hard drives.
There are several options when it comes to data recovery software. Here are some options worth looking at. All of them work with SD, CompactFlash, and microSD cards, along with other types of flash memory devices. The scans are going to take a while, so don’t expect instant results. All of the software works by taking a virtual fine-tooth comb to the data on the card.
It’s also worth mentioning that even the apps that are branded by a specific memory card manufacturer aren’t limited to working with only cards made by that manufacturer. Any of this software will work on any memory card from any manufacturer.
Software Options for Finding & Recovering Deleted Photos & Videos from a Memory Card
Stellar Photo Recovery
The things I like about Stellar Photo Recovery are:
It’s very user-friendly, with among the best interfaces and workflows.
It’s reliable and thorough.
The folks at Stellar have a full suite of data recovery apps, from email recovery to video repair to databases. Stellar Photo Recovery focuses on image files, but despite the name, it also recovers video and audio files, so you can use it for all the kinds of files you’ll be shooting with your camera. Or you can narrow your search to one or more specific file extensions or a particular region of the source disk or card. The option to select by thumbnails or carousel rather than by individual image is very handy and user-friendly, as is the ability to resume scans.
There’s also a free trial version that lets you scan to see what’s recoverable, with thumbnails, but to actually recover any files, you’ll need to buy a license.
If you decide to buy a license to run the recovery operation, you can get 10% off with the coupon code HCWT10 at checkout. There are versions for Mac and Windows.
Disk Drill
Disk Drill, by CleverFiles, is a full-featured data recovery app that can recover photos and videos along with just about any other kind of file format. So it’s a handy app to have available in other situations, not just when you need to recover SD card photos.
The things I like about Disk Drill are:
It has a user-friendly layout and workflow
It’s flexible and powerful–it works on all file types, not just photos and videos
You can recover up to 500MB for free (for more than that, you’ll need to buy a license)
It gives you a lot of control over specifically what kind of files you want to look for. There are also some related features: for example, it has built-in S.M.A.R.T. monitoring that can alert you to potential problems brewing with your storage devices, and it has a duplicate file finder to help you free up storage space taken up by redundant duplicate versions of the same file.
There’s a free trial version that will run the scan and show you what it can find—i.e., a preview of deleted pictures it can find and what’s possible to recover. And while still using the free version, you can recover up to 500MB for free. If you’re only after a small number of photos, it might be enough for what you need. For recovering more data than that, you’ll need to upgrade to the licensed Pro version–that adds the crucial tools you need to get your photos back without any restrictions on the amount of data.
If you decide to buy a license to run the recovery operation, you can get 10% off with the coupon code HAVECAMERA at checkout. There are versions for Mac and Windows.
Disk Drill is an especially good option for Mac data recovery. That’s because there’s an alternative way to get Disk Drill: as part of the Setapp subscription, where you get a large number of really great Mac apps for a monthly subscription fee. I’m a paying subscriber to Setapp myself and find it to be a really great way to get many of the apps I was already using but was paying and upgrading individual licenses. Setapp is free for 7 days, then $9.99/month.
It’s very thorough and will work on pretty much any filetype and any drive type.
It’s free.
PhotoRec is one of my go-to data recovery apps, but it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. On the plus side, it’s powerful, thorough, and reliable. It’s also free. It’s compatible with a very large number of operating systems. And you can restore just about any kind of file from just about any kind of storage media.
On the negative side, its interface isn’t very user-friendly if you’re not comfortable with text-only interfaces, and you don’t get features like being able to view the thumbnails of the files and select specific images to recover—you either save everything or all the files of the file types you specify. Which makes it slower most of the time rather than being able to be selective.
Remo Recover is designed to be more comprehensive than just recovering photos, and it works on hard drives as well as memory cards. There are versions for Mac and Windows. There are three editions—Basic, Media, and Pro—with corresponding increasing features and prices. The Basic edition doesn’t recover photos, so you’ll need the Media ($70) or Pro ($180) versions for that. The Pro version can also recover from deleted partitions and reformatted hard drives. There’s a free version for Windows that is limited by the amount of data you can recover.
EaseUS offers much the same functionality with a slick and well-thought-out interface that walks you through the process of recovering deleted pictures from an SD card.
There’s also a free version that allows you to recover up to 2GB of data but is otherwise mostly fully functional.
SanDisk RescuePRO / RescuePRO Deluxe
SanDisk has its own data recovery software, RescuePRO and RescuePRO Deluxe, that’s designed especially for memory cards and flash drives. But it also works with cards from other brands, not just SanDisk. So if you happen to already have a license for it, you can certainly use it to recovery
There are two key areas of difference between the standard and deluxe versions: the deluxe version handles more RAW and video formats and will also work with cards larger than 64GB. It’s available for Windows and Mac.
Some of the higher-end SanDisk memory cards include a license key for the app that comes on a small piece of paper with the card. If you kept that number and have it handy, go here to download RescuePRO. If you didn’t keep the little piece of paper that came with the card, you’ll need to buy a new license.
There’s a trial version that allows you to save the first 25 image files and show other files that can be recovered. If you want to go ahead and recover more than that first 25 files, you’ll need to buy a license that works on an annual subscription basis.
PhotoRecovery / PhotoRecovery Professional
This is similar to the RescuePro line and is distributed by the same company that distributes RescuePro, but it’s not a branded SanDisk product. It’s a bit more expansive in the file formats it can recover, the interface is different, and it will let you work with a media image file if you’ve managed to clone the original media.
Aside from price, the differences between the standard and professional versions related to memory card tests and diagnostics, memory card benchmarks, and repairing memory cards. There’s a trial version available that will show you what files can be recovered but won’t let you save any of them.
ProGrade Digital Recovery Pro
ProGrade Digital Recovery Pro is another one branded for a card memory manufacturer (in this case, Prograde Digital), but its functionality isn’t limited just to their cards. In this case, it’s another rebranded version of LC Technology’s PhotoRecovery app.
If you have a license for it that came with your ProGrade Digital memory card, this is a good option for getting full-featured recovery without paying another licensing fee.
DiskDigger
DiskDigger is available for Windows, Android, and Linux (there’s no native Mac version, but they have an experimental version here for pre-Catalina OSX) and can recover most kinds of files from most kinds of storage media.
There’s a free trial version, and at $14.99 (personal license), the cost of the fully licensed version is significantly lower than most of its competitors. You can find it here.
Recuva
Recuva is a no-nonsense app that offers much the same functionality. One thing in its favor is that it’s priced more competitively than some of the other options. It’s Windows only.
CardRecovery / CardRescue
This does basically the same thing as the others. In its favor is a refreshingly straightforward user interface that walks you through the process. There’s a version for Windows and Mac. And there’s an evaluation version—try that first before buying a license.
No Longer Available
These photo recovery apps are no longer available. I’m keeping them mentioned here in case anyone is wondering what happened to them.
Lexar Photo Recovery. This was a rebranded version of Stellar Photo Recovery. Some of Lexar’s higher-end cards included a license to it.
Calling in the Big Guns to Recover Deleted Photos on SD Card: When Other Options Don’t Work
Okay, so maybe things have just gone horribly, horribly wrong. If your memory card isn’t showing up on your computer at all and you’ve tried everything else to access the data on it without luck, it suggests more serious damage or data corruption of the files. In which case, it might be time to call in the big guns.
But this option really only makes sense if the photos on there have a lot of personal or professional value, and there’s no other option left. Because it’s not cheap. Nor is it quick. But it can make sense if the missing files are from, say, a client’s wedding shoot. As expensive as it might be, it’s still a lot simpler and cheaper than staging a reshoot (and less likely to tick off your business insurance!).
In that case, it’s time to send the card or cards to a professional data recovery lab.
I’ve never had to use any of these services and can’t personally vouch for them. But here are some services that offer more advanced levels of data recovery from memory cards. In some cases, they can even recover data from cards that have some physical damage.
LC Technology. Based in Florida, LC Technology is the firm recommended by SanDisk for their media. They do other brands of media, too, but there’s a flat-rate fee structure for recovery from SanDisk products based on the amount of data and whether any of the connectors are broken. You can find those rates here. If they can’t recover any data, you only get charged for return postage.
Memory cards are pretty resilient, but there are some precautions you can take that can save a lot of headaches.
Always format the card in the camera. Format the card regularly.
Never remove the card while data is being transferred.
Turn the camera off before removing the card.
Have a backup card handy, just in case.
What If Your SD Card Won’t Mount on Your Computer?
Sometimes your memory card might not show up in your filesystem. There are all sorts of reasons that might happen. Obvious first troubleshooting tips include taking the card out and reinserting it or rebooting the computer.
Make sure your card reader is compatible with the kind of memory card you’re using. For instance, a card reader that is only compatible with SDHC won’t read SDXC cards, and a CompactFlash reader won’t read a CFAST 2.0 card. But they’re nearly always backward compatible within the same form factor, so an SDXC reader will read SDHC cards.
Here are some more ideas to try.
Mac Users:
Open Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.app) and see if it’s showing up there.
If you’re using a USB card reader, try a different USB slot on your computer and connect directly to the computer rather than through a USB hub.
Open a Terminal window (Applications > Utilities > Terminal.app), remove the memory card, enter Killall Finder in the Terminal window, and hit Return, reinsert the memory card, and check Finder again.
Try the SD Card Formatter app put out by the SD Association. You can find it here.
See if it shows up in a drop-down menu at the top of the app’s screen.
Windows Users:
Try the SD Card Formatter app put out by the SD Association. You can find it here.
See if it shows up in a drop-down menu at the top of the app’s screen.
The best practice for formatting memory cards is to do it in the camera and do it regularly. That helps to keep the card’s filesystem healthy to avoid data corruption from happening and sets up any files or folders that the camera might need and expect. It’s not a perfect guarantee against data loss, nor does it ensure that you can recover deleted data, but it’s an easy precaution that helps.
It is, of course, also possible to format cards using a computer. If you’re using an SD or microSD card, a good, free, and pretty much foolproof option is to use the SD Card Formatter app that is put out by the SD Association. I have a guide to using SD Card Formatter here. You can also use your operating system’s built-in data formatting tools, although, with those, you’ll often have to make sure to pick the correct option among several.
How to Recover Deleted Photos on SD Card FAQs
Is it possible to recover files from other types of memory cards?
Yes. While I’m focusing here on recovering photos from SD cards, the same information and process also apply to other flash memory card types, including microSD, CompactFlash, XQD, CFast, and CFxpress cards. And, as a general rule, it also applies to other storage devices such as USB flash drives.
Does it matter what storage capacity the SD card is?
No. The same processes apply whether you’re using a 16GB card or a 1TB card. Or any other storage capacity, for that matter. This process will also work with recovering files on a USB flash drive.
Does it matter what file format my deleted photos are saved in?
Maybe. It’s not so much about what deleted data can be recovered rather than the choice of which recovery software to use. Some of the data recovery apps are completely agnostic about what kind of files they work with and can recover any image or video files or document file formats.
In some cases, the available tools might be a bit more limited. For instance, the more user-friendly apps provide features like visual thumbnails to preview recoverable files; if you’re using an image file format the app can’t process, the thumbnail might be available, but it still might be able to recover data. Other apps might have versions that will filter out anything that’s not a photo or video file. The apps are pretty good with commonly used image and photo file formats, but you might run into issues with newer or more obscure file formats.
This commonly comes up with RAW files. There are many proprietary RAW file formats out there. Common ones should be a problem, but niche RAW file types with limited compatibility might be a problem (looking at you, GoPro).
So if you’re trying to recover deleted pictures in a less-common file format, it’s worth confirming with the apps’ spec sheets to confirm that it can find and recover the format.
What if my SD card has become corrupted?
That certainly makes things harder. It depends on the extent and type of data corruption. But a scan using one of the free trial versions might reveal that at least some (but perhaps not all) files can be recovered. It’s definitely worth a try.
In general, the same process applies: stop using the SD card, try running one of the recovery apps to see if it can recover pictures, and, if it can, restore the deleted files.
But before you do that, try fixing the corruption with your computer operating system’s built-in tools. On Windows, it’s CHKDSK. On macOS, it’s First Aid. These are your best bets for fixing a corrupted SD card. You can then proceed with the scan and data recovery process.
What if the SD card recovery software can’t find my deleted images?
In that case, the odds are leaning against being able to recover deleted images from the SD card. But before giving up, it’s worth trying one of the other SD card recovery software options. I have run into some instances where one app can’t find deleted pictures, but another can.
Can you recover deleted photos or files on an SD card?
Yes, you can recover deleted photos or files on an SD card. Both photos (like jpeg and png) and other files can be retrieved using a reliable data recovery tool. These tools scan the SD card slot and retrieve the data that hasn’t been overwritten yet.
How to recover deleted photos or files on an SD card using a Mac or PC?
To recover deleted files on an SD card using a Mac or PC, you’ll need a recovery tool. Connect your SD card to your computer, usually via an SD card slot or external hard drive. Once connected, launch the recovery tool and click on the recover button to start the process. This applies to both Mac and PC users.
How can Android users recover deleted photos or files from an SD card?
Android users can recover deleted photos or files from an SD card using data recovery tools available for Android devices. These apps work by scanning your device’s storage, including the SD card, for files that have been deleted. Some apps might require you to connect your Android phone to a PC.
How to recover deleted photos or files on an SD card for free?
Several free data recovery tools can help you recover deleted files on an SD card. However, keep in mind that the success rate of recovery might be lower compared to premium tools. Also, free versions might have limitations like data caps or fewer features.
How to recover deleted photos from an SD card without a computer?
To recover deleted photos from an SD card without a computer, you can use mobile apps designed for data recovery. For Android users, there are several options in the Google Play Store. Remember to back up your remaining data before you begin the recovery process.
Is there any free photo recovery software?
Yes. There are a few options for free data recovery software, which I discuss separately. – Disk Drill has a limited feature set for running it in free mode–you can recover up to 500MB for free. But if you’re only after a small number of photos, it might be enough for what you need. To recover more data than that, you’ll need to upgrade to the licensed version. It’s available for Windows and Mac. – EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is free to recover up to 2GB of data. For more than that, you’ll need to buy a license. – PhotoRec is thorough and powerful, but it’s a command-line app that doesn’t have a graphical user interface. If you’re comfortable working with command-line tools, I highly recommend PhotoRec (and if you’re not, I’ve put together a guide to using PhotoRec here). – Windows File Recovery is a Windows-only app. Again, it’s a command-line utility that doesn’t include a graphical user interface.
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I'm a professional photographer based in Washington, DC. Seven continents, up mountains, underwater, and many places in between. I've been shooting for 30+ years, and my photos and time-lapse videos have appeared in a bunch of different publications, from major newspapers to magazines and books, billboards, TV shows, professional sports stadiums, museums, and even massive architectural scrims covering world-famous buildings while they're being renovated. You can see some of my travel photography here and here.
