What to do right now
- Check the phone's gallery trash or recently deleted album and your cloud photo backup first.
- Check the PC's Recycle Bin; if they are not there, keep use of that PC drive to a minimum.
- Scan the PC drive with FileFix Ultimate to get the photo folder back.
What to check, in order
The phone's recently deleted album
The Samsung Gallery trash and the iPhone Photos Recently Deleted album usually keep photos for 30 days. If moving the photos deleted them from the phone, they may still be there.
Cloud backups
If Google Photos, Samsung Cloud, iCloud Photos or another backup was on, download the originals again from the web or the app. Check the cloud service's bin too.
The PC's Recycle Bin
A folder deleted on the PC may be in the Recycle Bin as a whole. Restoring it puts it back where it was.
Scan the PC drive
If the Recycle Bin is empty, run the FileFix Ultimate portable ZIP from a USB stick and scan the drive where you moved the photos. If file records survive, the folder structure and original names such as IMG_ come back too.
Save to another disk
Preview the photos and save them to another disk. Keep them in at least two places so you do not lose them again.
The phone itself cannot be scanned from a PC
A phone connected over USB shows up in File Explorer by name, but it does not expose its storage as a drive. PC recovery software therefore cannot scan a phone's internal memory. A microSD card used in the phone is different: take it out and scan it on the PC.
Photos saved on the PC are ordinary files on a PC drive and can be recovered like any other file. Chances are good on a desktop hard drive or an external drive; on a laptop SSD, TRIM makes it harder as time passes.
When recovery is difficult
- The phone's recently deleted period has passed and there was no cloud backup.
- The PC drive is an SSD with TRIM and time has passed.
- Many new files were saved to the same drive after the deletion.
How FileFix Ultimate helps
- Restores deleted photo folders on PC drives with their names and structure.
- Also finds JPEG, HEIC, PNG, MP4 and MOV by signature.
- If the originals were overwritten, finds small copies in File Explorer's preview cache.
- Scans the phone's microSD card through a card reader.
FileFix Ultimate is free, works offline and never writes to the drive you are recovering from. Check the signature before you run it.
Frequently asked questions
Can photos moved from my phone and deleted on the PC be recovered?
Check the phone's recently deleted album and the cloud first. If there is no copy, scanning the PC drive often gets them back.
Can I connect the phone and recover from it directly?
No. A phone's internal memory does not appear as a drive, so it cannot be scanned from a PC.
Can iPhone HEIC photos be found?
Yes. HEIC photos saved on a PC drive are found from file records or by signature.