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How to Recover Deleted Photos and Images Online

Wondershare Recoverit Authors

Jan 27, 2024 • Filed to: Photo/Video/Audio Solutions • Proven solutions

Online storage or cloud data platforms have proven to be a revolution in giving efficient data storage alternatives. Instead of stocking gigabytes of photos and videos on external hard drives, you can safely store them online. And even when you have deleted photos online, you can still recover them back using several methods. The article discusses some of the best ways to recover deleted photos online or from different cloud platforms. Moreover, it also features how to retrieve deleted photos from a computer or SD card.

Part 1: What Does Online Photo Recovery Mean?

Photo recovery is the process of retrieval of photos that got lost, deleted, corrupted, or became inaccessible due to some inconvenience. On the other hand, online image recovery is the process of retrieval of deleted photos from cloud storage services. To make space on the drive, often, people end up deleting some files, only to realize their need later. Hence, online photo recovery serves as a great way to get all your pictures and files back. Below are the questions that will give you a greater insight into the subject.

1. Where Do Permanently Deleted Photos Go?

When you delete any picture or file permanently, it will be moved to the trash folder. This trash folder has different synonyms for different cloud platforms. Moreover, they also entertain different policies for the time frame to retrieve photos and files back from the trash folder. Once the allowed time is over, you cannot retrieve them back.

2. Two Types of Online Photo Recovery

There are two ways you can retrieve photos back in the cloud storage, which are as follows,

Well, that"s what most people think. But you cannot use any online tool or application to restore photos to the cloud. One can only use software to retrieve data from a local computer or external hard drive.

3. Can You Recover Deleted Photos Online?

As stated in the earlier question, it is impossible to recover photos from online posts a set time frame. For local computers, SD cards, and external hard drives, you can use recovery applications to restore deleted photos.


Part 2: How to Find and Recover Your Deleted Photos from Cloud Online

Losing your captured memories is the most frustrating thing. But if you have lost pictures from the cloud storage, then do not worry. You can recover pictures online easily. There are different time frames under which you can recover deleted photos from the respective cloud storage service.

But you can recover photos only if you have not cleared deleted photos from the recycle bin. Depending on the service that you are using, the process of retrieving deleted photos from the cloud storage varies.

Here we will discuss the detailed steps for different cloud storage services. Go through them and follow them step by step to recover all your deleted photos.

Guide 1: Google Drive

Google Drive is the best storage device where you can store all your files. Here if you delete any of the stored files, you can recover them back from the "Trash" within 30 days. G-Suite users can recover permanently deleted photos with Google Admin Console.

Restore your deleted photos with the following steps:

Step 1: Sign in to your Google Admin Console and then select "Users."

select users icon

Step 2: Look for your user name, then select the eclipse icon, and then click on "Restore Data."

select restore data

Step 3: Mention the range of dates, and select "Drive" in the applications. Then click on "Restore."

select restore tab

The above steps will help you retrieve data from Google Drive.

Guide 2: iCloud

Unintentional deletions often leave you frustrated and helpless. But if you have accidentally deleted any of your saved important photos from iCloud, then you can easily recover them back. Here is the process for online photo recovery on iCloud.

Step 1: Enter iCloud.com in your web browser. Sign in and then select "Settings."

Step 2: Under the Advanced tab, select "Restore Files."

Step 3: Select the photos to restore and then click on "Restore Files."

check the boxes before file names

The deleted photos will be restored to their original location. It will be specified under the file name in your iCloud Drive account. But you can recover only those files that are deleted in the last 30 days.

Guide 3: Dropbox

Dropbox is a reliable cloud storage service that keeps all your saved data secure. However, if you have accidentally deleted any of your saved pictures, Dropbox saves them to allow recovery in the next 30 days.

Recover photos online with the following steps:

Step 1: Sign in to Dropbox and select "Events."

click on events

Step 2: Look for the events that have multiple file deletion. Select it once you find that event.

Step 3: Now select the option "Restore these files." When you click on this option, all your deleted photos are restored.

Step 4: If you want to restore the complete folder that you have deleted, then tap on the "Trash" that you can find near the "Search" bar. Select the folder that you want to recover and click on "Restore."

recover photos online

Tip: Your deleted photos are available for 30 days in the trash. After 30 days, these will automatically be deleted.

Guide 4: OneDrive

OneDrive is also a cloud storage service by Microsoft. If you have a Microsoft account, you can avail of this service to store your captured important pictures. But if you delete these pictures accidentally then you can restore them with the following steps:

Step 1: Sign in to your Microsoft OneDrive account and select "Recycle Bin."

Step 2: Now select the pictures that you want to restore and tap on "Restore."

select files to restore

Tip: The time frame to recover deleted photos online for Microsoft users is 60 days, but if you are Office 365 users, then you have 90 days to restore your deleted photos.


Part 3: Recommended: Desktop Deleted Photo Recovery Software

When it comes to online deleted photo recovery or any other data file from a local computer, Recoverit serves as a reliable option to entertain. To recover the lost data, you must first download the application and launch it on your Mac computer. Double-click on the Recoverit logo and follow the steps below.

Step 1: Select the location for recovery

To recover pictures from your computer or SD card, select the location and click on "Start".

select the location to find deleted photos

Step 2: Scan the selected location

After making the selection, when you click on "start," the software shows you the scanning process at the top. Here you get an idea of what percentage of scanning is complete and what is left. Moreover, if your required files are found in-between the scan, you can even stop the scanning in-between.

list of deleted photos

Step 3: Preview and Recover

Recoverit gives you a preview of all the files that are recovered during the scan. You can preview the required file after clicking on it. After assuring that your needed files are recovered, save them to the desired location.

preview recovered photos


Part 4: What"s important to protect your photos and images?

Certain essential habits must be entertained to protect your pictures. All the methods mentioned in the article won"t be as effective if you are not cautious enough. Whether you lose photos, audios, videos, or any other documents, you can always take some precautionary measures to prevent the situation. Here are some useful tips to avoid photo loss from cloud storage and your computer as well.

As briefly mentioned earlier, when you get to know about the deletion of photos from the cloud storage, avoid uploading any new data to the file. It will overwrite the cloud storage space, and you might not be able to recover it. Now, if you want to restore the photos from the cloud, it might not show up in the list.

A reliable antivirus helps a great deal in keeping malicious software, files, and documents at bay. If you are not using an antivirus, then you must update the inbuilt features, like XProtect in Mac OS and Windows Defender in Windows OS.

You can never be in such a hurry that you comprise the integrity of essential data and files. Hence, you must follow a safe procedure to safely eject any external device and avoid abrupt computer shutdown at any cost.

Make sure you pay the utmost attention while deleting anything from the cloud storage. While it"s easy to restore a photo from Google Drive from the trash box, it"s not that efficient an option in other cloud storage platforms.


Closing Words

A computer offers only a limited space to store any type of data, whether it"s a picture, audio, or a video file. Accidently or intentionally, often, we delete photos, only to realize their worth later. Now, if you act within the time frame, you can recover pictures online. And if you have deleted your photos from your computer and emptied the recycle bin as well, you can recover them back using Recoverit Data Recovery software.

Recoverit author

Eleanor Reed

staff Editor

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