How to Access and Retrieve Photos from Google Cloud

Eleanor Reed

Dec 16, 2024 • Filed to: Photo/Video/Audio Solutions • Proven solutions

You might have thought of Google Cloud storage as a great alternative to store all the photos as compared to a local hard drive. While Google Cloud is a reliable cloud service platform to store data and files, it is susceptible to data loss as well. Now, you might get stressed about the whole situation, but you don't necessarily need to. The article features the backup and recovery mechanism and some of the best solutions to retrieve photos from Google Cloud.

Part 1: What’s Google Cloud in Photo Backup & Recovery

Google Cloud is a public cloud computing service. If you come across a situation where you lose your photos from the local hard drive, you can use Google Cloud for backup and recovery.

Overview of Google Cloud System

Google Cloud system offers a range of services, including data storage, data computation, and application development. Application developers and cloud service administrators mostly access it via VM or dedicated network connection.

Whether you use Google Cloud as a developer’s tool for computation or machine learning services or store photos as a backup, both aspects work.

Backup & Recovery of Google Cloud

Google Cloud works a great deal in disaster recovery plans. It serves as an efficient way to avoid losing data if your computer meets with a system crash or other incidents, which may result in data loss. You can back up 15 GB of photos for free. The storage services will be charged if you want to store more photos or other data after the given limit.

How to Access Backed-up Photos on Google Cloud

You can get access to all the backed-up photos by signing in to the Google Cloud account. All the images can be restored from Google Drive. Moreover, even if you delete any photo from your Google Cloud account, you will have 60 days before it will be deleted forever.

Part 2: How to Recover Deleted Photos from Google Cloud

People often choose to delete the data stored in their Google Drive. One of the usual reasons to do so is the lack of sufficient space, especially for those with 15 GB of storage capacity.

Now, what to do if you have deleted the wrong photos from the online storage, considering you only realized the mistake later? With no backup in the local hard drive, the situation might get stressful for you. These are some of the important points to retrieving photos from Google Cloud.

But even when you have deleted the photos from Google Photos or Google Cloud Storage, you can still restore them.

Methods of Restoring Deleted Photos via Google Cloud

Whether it’s the deleted photos or any other document, you can retrieve them back from the trash folder. As briefly mentioned earlier, all the data that you choose to delete is stored in the trash folder for 60 days. After this time limit, the photos are permanently deleted.

Sometimes, we accidentally delete the wrong file. If it were supposed to get permanently deleted on the first click, it would have created a lot of inconvenience for their users. Follow the steps to retrieve photos on Google Cloud.

Step 1: Log in to your Google Admin Console and click on the ‘Users’ icon.

Step 2: Navigate to the user name whose data you want to retrieve. Now, click on the eclipse icon on the right.

Step 3: Click on the ‘Restore Data’ tab from the pop-up menu.

Step 4: Mention the required range of date, choose 'Drive' in the applications, and tap on 'Restore.'

All the steps discussed above will help you retrieve the photos from Google Drive. Besides, as stated earlier, it should not be more than the maximum time frame, after which the files are permanently deleted.

How to Retrieve Permanently Deleted Photos on a Computer

For someone new to cloud storage services, you might get uneasy over the loss of photo collections. But if you know the process, you can still retrieve photos from Google Cloud. The deletion of data is not limited to cloud storage, as it can also occur on your computer for the same reasons covered in the last segment.

While you can choose from a wide range of options to retrieve photos from the computer, Recoverit Data Recovery software is among the best you can get. Here is why you can believe Recoverit is an excellent software to begin your photo recovery journey with:

• 🖥 Drives & Disks Recovery - Recover photos from all the drives and disks of your system, including from your emptied Recycle Bin.
• 🔍 Dual Scanning Modes - Comes with 2 different scanning modes, an All-Around scan and a Deep scan for better recovery results.
• 👁 File Preview - Supports to preview all the scanned files before recovering deleted photos from Recycle Bin.
• 💪 Powerful - Supports 1000+ file formats recovery, and can help you recover deleted files from all kinds of storage devices like SD cards, hard drives, PCs, laptops, Windows, digital cameras, etc.
• ⚡ High Success Rate A high recovery success rate without any quality loss.

Free Download | WinFree Download | Mac

Security Verified. 3,591,664 people have downloaded it.

To retrieve the deleted photos from the computer, you must download the Recoverit application and install it when the installation completes, double-click on the Recoverit application software and follow the steps below.

Step 1: Select a Location

Tap on the 'Select Location' tab to pick a location on the computer from where you want to retrieve the deleted photos. You can also select the precise location of the photos in the 'Select Folder' option.

Step 2: Scan the Location

Now, once you tap on the 'Start' option, Recoverit starts scanning for deleted files. You can choose to abort the process in the middle if you see your deleted photos on the list.

Step 3: Preview and Recover

Click on the 'Preview' tab if you want to be sure that it's indeed the deleted files that you wanted to retrieve. You will be able to see the size, type, and date modified, among other details from the preview feature. Now, to recover all the photos, click on the ‘Save’ tab and select a location to store them.

You can select the above process to retrieve deleted photos from both Windows and Mac.

Tip: While selecting a location to restore the files, make sure you don't pick the same location as that of a deleted file location.

Part 3. Why can’t you Find Deleted Photos on Google Cloud?

As stated earlier, one of the possible reasons why you couldn't find the deleted photos on Google Cloud is that it might be over 60 days. That's the time frame for which the deleted photos can still be found in the trash folder.

Limitations of Google Cloud

Google Cloud offers numerous advantages over other cloud storage services like Amazon S3, Microsoft’s Azure, and others. It includes efficient documentation, flexible storage options, and easier integration with other Google Cloud services. Despite being proficient in all aspects of cloud services, it has some limitations.

Here are some of the shortcomings of Google Cloud backup.

• Complex Pricing Scheme

It has comparatively high pricing options that sometimes become inconvenient options to entertain for some people.

• Retrieving Files from the Storage Is Expensive

If you are downloading a significant chunk of data, you might want to think twice before proceeding. It's an expensive affair and can cost you a lot if you're going to retrieve photos from Google Cloud in GBs.

• Expensive Support Fee

Well, if you come across an issue with Google Cloud services, the support fee is quite expensive. You might have to pay $150 per month just to avail of the silver class services.

Causes of Failing to Restore Photos via Google Cloud

You must know the reasons for the deletion of the picture before you know how to retrieve photos from Google Cloud. While sometimes you intentionally do it, it occurs as a result of other factors as well. Read on to learn about the possible causes of the deletion of photos from Google Cloud.

• Malware Intrusion

If your computer has some malicious programs, you might face data deletion or manipulation. If you are uploading a file on Google Cloud with malware, it may corrupt the data on the cloud and delete it.

• Human Error

You intended to delete something else but deleted something else. Because of how typical is this case, Google Cloud entertains a trash folder where your deleted files are stored for a specific time.

• Power Failure during File Transfer

In rare cases, people have witnessed the deletion of data from the Google cloud storage due to the power outage during the file transfer process.

Part 4: How to Master Google Cloud Photos Backup & Recovery

Although you can't control the outcome of an inconvenience, you can surely ensure a few things for efficient backup and recovery. Here are some of the key tips that can help you to store photos safely on Google Cloud.

Sync Your Photos Across Multiple Devices

If you are working on an office computer and a personal laptop in your home, it might be difficult to transfer photos. In such a scenario, you might have to email photos back and forth, which often gets frustrating.

Instead of doing that, you can install Google Drive on all the devices you are using. It will allow you to get access to the photos instantaneously and effortlessly from all the devices.

Store Photos Directly To Google Drive

Imagine a situation where a group of people are working on the same project and need collaborative effort. Now, if more than one people have access to the Google account, you may want to check the previous versions of the photo. But how can you check the earlier version, if someone has recently updated it?

For such a scenario, you can check the 'Revision History' under the file menu. It allows you to store any previous version of your photos or files without deleting the revision record.

Use Google Cloud for Efficient Back-up and Recovery

People always use their phones to check photos, emails, and other documents. Now, instead of downloading the file on the local machine, you can download it directly to Google Drive. Moreover, Gmail comes with an inbuilt feature to save photos and other files to Google Drive. It makes it significantly convenient for you to transfer large files.

Avoid Accidental Deletion

Instead of finding yourself in a tricky situation in the first place, you must pay the utmost attention while deleting any file from the Google Cloud services. Moreover, you won't be able to do much if you recall the picture's deletion after 60 days. It's the maximum time a deleted file stays in the trash folder of Google Drive.

Use Reliable Antivirus

Uploading a file with a malicious program can do a lot worse than the rest of the data on Google Drive. You must use a reliable antivirus to ensure the safety of your photos. As an alternative option, you should regularly update Windows Defender for maximum security.

Closing Words

As stated earlier, people often delete their photos from the Google cloud, citing various reasons. Even when the images are deleted as a result of some system-related error, you can still retrieve them.

But if you have permanently deleted the photos from your computer or external hard drive, you can use Recoverit to retrieve them. It works wonders in retrieving the images from the computer.