How to Get Back Old Photos | 8 Methods

Eleanor Reed

Jun 03, 2026 • Filed to: Photo/Video/Audio Solutions • Proven solutions

TL;DR:

You can recover deleted or corrupted old photos by utilizing native Windows restoration tools, retrieving them from previously synced cloud backups, or running specialized data rescue software like Recoverit and Repairit.
    ● For deleted photos, restore them via Windows Previous Versions, Google Photos (if previously synced), or use Recoverit for deep scanning, provided you save the recovered files to a different drive to prevent data overwriting.
    ● To repair corrupted images displaying blank screens or broken pixels, change the file format from JPG to PSD, run the chkdsk /r /f X: command to fix bad drive sectors, or use Repairit to process multiple formats simultaneously.
    ● Software recovery methods can retrieve files deleted years ago regardless of the time passed, but this is only possible if the original digital storage device has not suffered physical damage.

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You probably have faced a condition in your life when you lost something valuable. Isn't it hurts a lot, as it is difficult to have it back? Now, what will be the situation when you lost your memorable photos? Here the scenario is completely different. Because we are here to help you with how to get old deleted photos back.

Part 1. Different Cases of Old Photos

There are several cases when your old photos are deleted or corrupted. It may be from a hard disk, SD card, or another digital storage device. Now how to get old photos back requires expert advice. Let us understand this by taking various problems in hand.

Case 1. Deleted Old Photos

What causes old photos to be deleted?

There are several reasons behind this like

• Accidental formatting of the storage device
• Virus or malware attack
• Overheating or moisture in a storage device and so on

Can I recover deleted old photos?

Of course, you can. We are here to help you in recovering old deleted photos.

Case 2. Corrupted Old Photos

What causes old photos to get damaged?

There are mainly two reasons behind this,

1. Data Degradation: Data that is stored on magnetic media loses magnetic orientation with time.
2. Silent Data Corruption: Occurrence of error while reading or writing data causes the photos to corrupt.

Can corrupted photos be recovered?

Yes, it is easy to recover corrupted photos by following proper guidance. We are here to guide you on how to get back old photos.

Part 2. How to Get Back Deleted Old Photos?

There are many possible solutions to bring deleted files back. One of the best and easy solutions is to go for a backup. If you haven't created any backup, no worries, there are many other options available like software, recycle bin, command prompt, cloud storage if regular synching was on, and so on.

Let us discuss this subject in detail by using four effective methods to recover old deleted photos.

Method 1. Get old photos back with Recoverit

There are many old photo recovery apps present in the market. Recoverit is one and quickest among them. It is one of the best data recovery software that will help you to retrieve old photos. It is also one of the most reliable and safest data rescue utility software. It can help you to access and retrieve deleted photos for free.

For this, you need to install Recoverit data recovery software. It is available for both Windows and Mac.

First of all, Launch Recoverit Data Recovery for beginning the process of restoring old photographs.

Step 1: Select a location

• Select the location, where you lost your photos or from where you want to recover deleted photos.
• Once you are done with this, click on the "start" button to start the processing.

Step 2: Scanning the location

• The Recoverit software will start to scan the selected location This process takes a few minutes as it's an all-round scanning, in some cases, it may even take a few hours. The time taken will depend on the size of the files.
• The All-around scanning is designed to deeply scan and search for more files from the digital storage device. Although it will take a longer time to complete scanning as compared to normal scanning. But it is effective.
• During the scanning process, you can toggle. This will help you to pinpoint the files that you want to recover. You can also choose specific file types like photos, videos, and so on. Further, you can also choose file formats like JPG, PNG, and so on to perform specific scanning.

Step 3: Preview and recover

• At last, you can preview all recoverable old photos on the results as shown in the image.

• Once you are done with the preview click the "Recover" button for restoring and saving your old photos.

Note: Do not store from where you got them deleted, lost, or corrupted.

Method 2: Recover old photos using backup

This is one of the best and easiest old deleted photo recovery methods. For this,

1. Just go to Control Panel
2. Click on System and Security > Backup and Restore
3. Click Restore my files as shown and you are done.

Method 3: Restore old photos using the previous version

Previous versions or shadow files are saved as a backup as well as in the form of restore points. For this, you should have windows backup regularly. For restoring old photographs.

1. Just Right-click on the folder from where old photos are deleted.
2. Select the option "Restore previous versions" as shown in the image

3. From the dialog box, choose the date when your old deleted photos were present in the folder as shown.

4. Select the chosen previous version, and click "Open" to view it.
5. Make sure that, it's the version that contains your old deleted photos.
6. Once you are sure, finally click on the "Restore" option and you are done.

Method 4: Recover deleted old photos from Google Photos

This is also one of the simple techniques for recovering old deleted photos. The only thing is, here you need an internet connection to recover old deleted photos. For this

1. Just go to photos.google.com from the search engine
2. Select the old deleted photos that you want to restore now.
3. Select the option save to the device.
4. Selected old photos will be saved in your device

Note: Only those old photos can be recovered that are previously synced.

Part 3. How to Restore Corrupted Old Pictures

When you try to open a corrupted old picture, in most cases it displays an error that the file can't be opened. In another case, the part of the picture generally shows as blank. In some cases, random colorful lines and broken pixels appear in the picture. To repair this old picture, there are a lot of methods. These include backup, command prompt, format changing, software, and so on.

Let us discuss in detail how to retrieve old photos.

Method 1. Repair Corrupted Old Photos with Repairit

Repairit photo repair software can restore corrupt photos from any digital storage media even if it's severely corrupted. It can be used to repair corrupted photos on both Windows and Mac. Whether the pictures are in JPEG format or any other format. It can simultaneously repair multiple JPEGs and other formats.

Let us start the process of repairing or restoring old photographs.

1. Connect the storage device to your PC
2. Run Repairit data recovery software
3. Go to the more tools option and click on "Repair Photo".
4. Click on "Add file" and browse the location to select the old corrupted photos as shown.

5. After adding the required corrupted pictures click "Repair". the process of repairing will begin as shown.

6. Once the process of repairing is completed click "preview" and then "save repaired files" as shown in the image. A dialog box will appear. You have to browse the destination folder. Once you select the folder click on the "save" option. All repaired photos will be stored in that location.

Method 2. Use command prompt

CHKDSK scan is one of the prime solutions to fix file system errors. It helps in retrieving recoverable information from bad sectors. To use this,

1. Connect the digital storage media with pc.
2. Press Windows + S and type "cmd".
3. Click on Command prompt > Run as administrator as shown.

4. Type chkdsk /r /f X: where X is the corrupted drive as shown in the image.

5. Press enter and wait for the process to complete. You are done.

Method 3: Error-checking Tool

The error checking tool is one of the easiest methods to retrieve old photos. Let us follow some simple steps to repair old corrupted pictures.

1. Open File Explorer and click on the connected storage device containing the corrupted pictures.
2. Click on the properties for going to the Tools tab and then click on the '"Check" option as shown in the image.

3. Click on the "Scan Now" and wait for the scan process to complete.

Once this process is completed you will get your repaired old pictures.

Method 4: Rename the file or convert to another format:

One of the simplest methods to repair a corrupted old picture is by converting the JPG format to another format. You can try the PSD format for better results. In most cases, it repairs the error.

You can also rename the file keeping the same extension (.jpg) to repair the error.

Part 4. Tips for Protecting Your Old Photos

Digital images are one among those that can disappear in seconds. A lot of people lose their digital photos to viruses and malware attacks, Hard drives or other digital storage device failures, and so on. Moreover, most digital storage devices have their life after which they start giving errors or becomes corrupted. Sometimes human activity forces the storage device to become corrupt. There may be accidental deletion in some cases.

To help you out here are some tips to protect your old photos.

• Use a good quality storage device to keep your photos safe for a long duration
• Always keep backup of your photos
• Use cloud storage to access old pictures anytime in future
• Use multiple SD cards to store photos
• Handle the storage device gently
• Avoid interrupting normal function during usage like transferring or opening of files.
• Use genuine Antivirus to prevent your device from virus or malware attacks
• Use genuine windows to keep your photos safe for a long interval of time
• Remove your storage device safely
• Don't use the same storage device on different systems

Closing words:

Old deleted photo recovery is one of the most difficult tasks to perform. There is a lot of online information available that claims to give 100% results. But in reality, the scenario is completely different from the one that promised. But if you really, want to get the maximum possible results then the necessary information is given to you in this dossier.