How to Recover Deleted Photos from Cameras, Memory Cards and Drives

Choose the analysis method according to how the photos were lost. Use Fast Scan for recently deleted photos on a healthy, readable file system, or Full Analysis after formatting, partition loss, file-system damage, or when the storage appears RAW or inaccessible.

• Fast Scan – recommended when photos were recently deleted and the file system is still intact and readable. The program uses the current file-system metadata to find deleted files quickly and, when this information is still available, preserves original file names, folders, dates, and other attributes.
• Full Analysis – use this method if the memory card, disk, or USB drive was formatted, repartitioned, damaged, appears RAW, or cannot be accessed normally. The program performs a deeper sector-by-sector analysis and searches for existing and previously used file-system structures to recover as much original information as possible.
• Content-Aware Analysis – an optional Full Analysis mode that searches the storage for known photo and file signatures. It is especially useful when file-system metadata is missing or severely damaged. Files found by signatures may be recovered without their original names, folder paths, or timestamps.

The same analysis workflow is available on Windows, Linux, and macOS and can be used with supported file systems found on memory cards, cameras, removable drives, and computer storage.

Filter the Scan Results

After choosing the analysis method, you can narrow the results with filters to make deleted photos easier to find. Specify criteria such as the file name, approximate size, or date to hide files that do not match what you are looking for.

Filtering does not change or remove files from the storage device. It only limits which files are displayed in the recovery results.

After the scan is complete, browse the detected files and find the deleted or lost photos you need. Hetman Photo Recovery displays images as thumbnails and lets you open a full-size preview to check their contents and condition before recovery.

Preview Photos Before Recovery

Select any detected image to preview it before saving. The pre-recovery preview is available in the free evaluation version, so you can scan the storage and check whether the photos you need have been found before purchasing a license.

A correctly displayed preview is a strong indication that the image data is intact and can be recovered successfully. Open a photo in the full-size viewer to examine its contents, zoom in or out, and rotate the image if necessary.

You can browse the scan results using several display modes, including Icons, List, Large Icons, and Thumbnails. Thumbnail view is especially useful when you need to visually locate specific photos among a large number of files.

Select individual photos or multiple files for recovery. Use “Select All”, “Deselect”, or “Invert Selection” when working with larger groups of images.

Filter and Sort the Scan Results

If the scan finds many files, use filters to quickly locate the photos you need. You can filter the results by file name, date and time, file size, or image resolution. Clear the filter at any time to return to the complete list of detected files.

The results can also be sorted by name, type, status, size, or resolution. You can disable sorting to display photos in the order in which they were discovered during the scan.

Select the photos you want to recover, choose how and where to save them, and complete the recovery. Always save recovered files to a different disk, memory card, or other storage device to avoid overwriting deleted photos that have not yet been recovered.

Save Photos to Another Drive

Saving recovered photos to another local or external storage device is the simplest option. Select a destination available in Windows, Linux, or macOS with enough free space for all of the images you want to recover.

Do not save recovered photos back to the same storage device they are being recovered from. Writing new data to the source disk or memory card can overwrite deleted files and make additional photos impossible to recover. Use another HDD, SSD, USB drive, memory card, network storage, or other separate destination.

Hetman Photo Recovery can preserve the available original folder structure and lets you configure how recovered files are named when parts of the original file names are unavailable.

Specify the destination and recovery options, then click “Finish” to save the selected photos.

Save Recovered Photos to a ZIP Archive

Hetman Photo Recovery can save recovered photos directly to a ZIP archive. This option is convenient when you want to keep multiple recovered images together in a single file for storage, transfer, or backup.

Specify the ZIP file name and choose the required archive options. You can restore the original folder structure, replace unsupported characters in file names, select the compression method, split a large archive into multiple volumes, or protect the archive with a password.

Choose where to save the archive and continue the recovery process. Make sure the ZIP file is stored on a different physical device from the one you are recovering photos from to avoid overwriting deleted data.

Upload Recovered Photos via FTP

You can also upload recovered photos directly to a remote server with the integrated FTP client. This can be useful when there is not enough free space on another local storage device or when the recovered files need to be transferred to a remote location.

Enter the FTP server address, port, username, password, and other required connection settings. Hetman Photo Recovery also supports FTP proxy configuration.

Click “Save” to start uploading the selected files.