How to Recover Photos from SD Memory Card

By PhotoRec (all operating systems)

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Stop SD card access. If the file has just been deleted, the data may still be there, just waiting to be overwritten by new data. Not accessing the SD card will help limit your ability to overwrite data.

Ideally, take the SD card out of your device until you're ready to restore files.

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Download PhotoRec. PhotoRec is free, open source file recovery software for both Windows, OS X and Linux.

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Unzip the program. PhotoRec does not need to be installed. You just need to extract the programphotorec_ osfrom ZIP file. Where os will be the name of your operating system. For example, the Windows version would bephotorec_win

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Connect the memory card. You can connect the SD card to the computer using a memory card reader, or insert the memory card into the camera and plug the camera into the computer via a USB cable.

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Launch PhotoRec. PhotoRec runs on a command line interface. You will use the arrow keys to navigate through the program.

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Select the drive. Select the SD card from the list of available drives then press ↵ Enter.

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Select partition. SD memory cards usually have only one partition. Please use the arrow keys to select.

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Select menuFile Opt. This menu option is located along the bottom edge of the window.

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Uncheck unnecessary files. You can speed up the search process significantly by limiting the type of files you search for. If you are restoring photos, deselect all but JPG, JPEG, RAW, CR2, PNG, TIFF, GIF, BMP, SR2, and DNG.

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Select the menu itemSearchto continue. The file system menu opens.

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Select the file system type. If you are recovering files from an SD card, selectOther(Other).

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Select the space that needs to be inspected. If you are recovering deleted files, selectFree. If you are recovering data on a damaged memory card, selectWhole.

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Select a folder to save the recovered files. You should create a new folder for easier access.

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Wait for data to be restored. This process can take quite a long time. The number of files being restored will be updated in real time.

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Browse through files. The file name will be corrupted, so you will have to manually search through the recovered files until you find it. If you still can't find the photos you want, you can try other data recovery options.

In ZAR (Windows)

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Stop SD card access. If the file has just been deleted, the data may still be there, just waiting to be overwritten by new data. Not accessing the SD card will help limit your ability to overwrite data.

Ideally, take the SD card out of your device until you're ready to restore files.

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Download and install ZAR (Zero Assumption Recovery). The full version of ZAR requires payment, while the demo (trial) version only allows us to recover image files. Note: you should only download ZAR from the developer's website.

On ZAR's website, click the "image recovery" link near the bottom of the page. This will allow you to install the demo for photo recovery.

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Connect the memory card. You can connect the SD card to the computer using a memory card reader, or insert the SD card into the camera and plug the camera into the computer via a USB cable.

The computer may prompt you to format the memory card or notify you that the card cannot be read. Don't format according to this prompt because you could overwrite where the picture is being saved on the card.

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Open the Image Recovery tool in ZAR. Launch ZAR and click Image Recovery (Free). For other programs, look for a similar action button. Some programs may skip this step completely.

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Select memory card. In the "Disks and partitions" section, select your SD card. Click Next to start the recovery process.

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Select the files you want to restore. You will see a list of photos that the software found on the SD memory card. You can select photos to restore or select all to recover all lost photos. You may not be able to preview the image, and the file name will also be lost.

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Choose where to save photos after being restored. If the SD card is damaged, you should not save here. Instead, choose or create a folder on your computer to save the photos to. The images will be safe if the SD card crashes again.

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Copy files. Click Start copying the selected files to restore the photos. The selected file will be saved to the location you specify.

Some photos may not be fully restored. Even if the thumbnail looks fine, the image may be partially lost or completely damaged.

By Data Rescue 3 (Mac)

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Stop SD card access. If the file has just been deleted, the data may still be there, just waiting to be overwritten by new data. Not accessing the SD card will help limit your ability to overwrite data.

Ideally, take the SD card out of your device until you're ready to restore files.

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Download and install Data Rescue 3. Although there is a fee to use, Data Rescue 3 is one of the most powerful data recovery programs available for OS X. You can purchase Data Recovery 3 on the website or via email. via the Mac App Store.

If you don't want to spend money, use PhotoRec.

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Connect the SD memory card. Insert the SD card into your Mac computer. If your Mac doesn't have a memory card slot, you can use an external card reader via a USB cable or insert an SD card into the camera and connect it to your computer.

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Launch Data Rescue 3. You can find the program in the "Applications" folder. Then, select "Start New Scan" from the main menu.

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Select SD card. A list of drives will appear in the Data Rescue window. Select your memory card from this list.

The program may prompt you to select a memory card partition. Most memory cards only have one partition, but if there are multiple partitions, you should choose the entire SD card.

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Select scanning method. During the first scan, you should select "Deleted Files Scan". This process will scan the free space on the memory card to find deleted files. If this method doesn't work, you can try again and select the "Quick Scan" process, followed by "Deep Scan." Click Start after selecting the scan type.

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Wait for the scanning process to complete. This process may take a while, especially if you choose Deep Scan. If you want to pause, you can click the Suspend button.

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Select the files you want to restore. Once the scan is complete, you will see a list of files that can be recovered. Check the box next to each file or folder you want to recover.

If you perform a Quick or Deep Scan, the search results will be in the "Found Files" section.

If you select Deleted Files or Deep Scan, the search results will be in the "Reconstructed Files" section. File names will often be lost.

You can preview the files by selecting them from the list and clicking "Preview". However, not all files can be previewed.

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Restore files. Once selected, click Recover and choose a location to save the file on your computer. Once you find a suitable location, click Open.

Jessica Tanner

Update 30 October 2023