How to Recover Deleted Wedding Photos from HDDs/SD Cards

Are Deleted Photos Actually Gone Forever?

Few things are more heartbreaking than losing your wedding photos, the once-in-a-lifetime memories that capture your happiest day. Whether they vanished due to accidental deletion or a formatted hard drive, the fear of losing them forever can be devastating. But here’s the truth: deleted photos are not always gone forever.

When you delete a photo on your computer or camera, it isn’t instantly erased. Instead, the system marks that storage space as "available", meaning the data remains until it’s overwritten by new files. That’s why quick action is critical.

How to Recover Deleted Wedding Photos from HDDs/SD Cards

When photos disappear, the key is to stop using the affected device immediately. Every new write action (like saving new files) risk overwriting your deleted photos. Once you’ve stopped using it, try the recovery options below.

Check Backup First

Before using other complex methods, checking for backups is the simplest and most effective approach. If you have the good habit of backing up regularly, your wedding photos can be easily retrieved.

👉Windows File Explorer

If you’ve ever transferred wedding photos from an external hard drive to your computer for viewing or editing, you can check if they still exist in Windows File Explorer.

👉Cloud backup services

If you've synced your wedding photos to cloud services like OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud, you can restore the photos from backups.

Windows File Recovery [Command-Line Tool]

If there's no backup exists, it's time turn to professional data recovery tools. Windows File Recovery is a command-line data recovery tool provided by Microsoft, which supports recovering data from local storage devices like HDDs, USB drives and more. But it only compatible with Windows 10 and 11.

Step 1. Download and install Windows File Recovery from Microsoft official channel.

Step 2. If the drive containing the deleted wedding photos is an external hard drive or SD card, connect it to your computer and note its drive letter.

Step 3. Open Windows File Recovery and run it as administrator.

Step 4. Type the following command "winfr H: D: /extensive /n *. jpg /n *. png" and hit "Enter" key. Replace the drive letters "H" and "D" with your actual drive letters.

★Tips:

H: the source drive letter.

D: the destination drive letter.

/extensive: the scan mode. If you want to perform a quick scan for the target drive, please switch to "regular" mode.

/n *. jpg /n *. png: the filter command. Only recover files with ".jpg" or ".png" extension.

Wait for the process to complete, you can check the recovered files by pressing "y".

Recover Deleted Wedding Photos with MyRecover

While Windows File Recovery is a powerful tool, it can be challenging for most novice users. This is because even small mistakes, such as typos, symbol errors, or missing spaces can cause data recovery to fail. If you want a simpler yet equally effective tool, MyRecover comes highly recommended.

Its user-friendly interface simplifies the data recovery process, allowing users of all levels to easily complete data recovery. Additionally, it supports recovering deleted photos on Windows from various storage devices, such as HDDs, SSDs, USB drives, SD cards, camera memory cards, and more.

 MyRecover

Easy & Powerful Windows File Recovery Software

• 500+ Devices Supported | SSD, HDD, USB Flash Drive, SD Sard, etc.
• 1000+ File Formats Supported | PNG, MP4, MP3, TXT, ZIP, MSG, etc.
• 500+ Data Loss Scenarios | Deletion, Format, System Crash, Virus Attack, etc.

Download Freeware
Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7&Server

100% Secure

Step 1. Download and install MyRecover on your computer from Microsoft Store, avoid installing it on the drive with deleted wedding photos.

Step 2. Run it and select the drive where the deleted photos were stored, then click "Scan".

Step 3. Choose the files you wish to recover from the recoverable lists and click "Recover".

Step 4. Select a destination drive (not the original one) to save the recovered files.

When the process is completed, you'll see the message "Files have been recovered successfully". Then you can check the recovered wedding photos in the destination folder by clicking on "Browse" button.

How to Recover Deleted Wedding Photos on iPhone

Additionally, apart from hard drives, wedding photos can also be accidentally deleted when you view them on your phone. This section will walk you through recovering deleted wedding photos on an iPhone.

Check the Recently Deleted Folder

When you delete a photo on an iPhone, it goes into the Recently Deleted folder and stays there for 30 days. Follow these steps to recover deleted wedding photos:

Step 1. Open "Photos" app on your iPhone.

Step 2. Then go to "Albums" > "Recently Deleted".

Step 3. Select the photos you would like to recover and click "Recover".

If more than 30 days have passed, or the photos were deleted from "Recently Deleted" folder, this method won't work. In that case, the professional data recovery tool can rescue your deleted wedding photos.

Recover via MyRecover for iOS

For photos permanently deleted from an iPhone, MyRecover for iOS is a great recovery option. It can restore 10+ types of iPhone data, including photos, videos, contacts, call history, WeChat history, etc. With it, you can quickly recover data directly from your iPhone, iPad, and iPod. Download MyRecover for iOS and follow these 3 steps to recover your deleted wedding photos.

Step 1. Connect your iPhone to the computer and trust the computer on your iPhone.

Step 2. Click "Scan Now" on MyRecover for iOS to scan your iPhone.

Step 3. Choose what you want to restore and then click "Recover" on the computer in the top right corner.

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