How to Recover Deleted Photos from SD Card Free

Lost important photos on an SD card? No worries! Here are three possible plans to help you recover photos from your SD card. You can easily restore the deleted pics with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for free. 

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Updated By

Jaden

Written By

Dany

Updated on

27 February 2026

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9 Min

Recover deleted SD card photos by immediately stopping usage of the card to prevent overwriting, then connect it to a computer using a card reader. Use reputable data recovery software, such as EaseUS, to scan the card, preview the files, and restore them to a different drive.

SD card is a kind of memory card widely used with digital cameras, dashcams, Android mobile phones, and camcorders. The SD card usually stores lots of photos and videos, and you can view these recorded files on a computer easily with the help of an SD card reader.

Photos and videos may be accidentally deleted due to sudden issues, such as pressing the delete button by mistake, formatting the SD card intentionally, or removing the SD card incorrectly.

Things will be alright after losing important photos on the SD card because we'll guide you on how to recover deleted photos from SD cards in this article.

The Best SD Card Photo Recovery Method

SD card photo loss can occur in different ways across devices, and matching the recovery method to your scenario can significantly increase success. Below are the most common real-world scenarios and their corresponding optimal solutions. Whether you need to recover pictures from sd card free or undelete camera sd images, you'll find the right fit:

  • Camera SD card photo loss: Accidental deletion in Canon/Nikon/Sony, camera sudden power off, SD card error.
  • Android phone SD card photo loss: Unsafe ejection, phone crash, accidental format.
  • Dashcam SD card photo loss: Loop recording overwrite, SD card corruption.
  • SD card photos lost with backup: Local/cloud backup.

In this passage, we will discuss possible Windows solutions and the first and most effective way to recover SD card photos: using reliable SD card photo recovery software, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. Feel free to click the download button. The links in this passage are 100% safe. This is the most effective method for users without a backup, and the top choice for camera SD recovery and free photo SD recovery.

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This photo recovery software is effective at recovering deleted JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, CR2, NEF, RAW, and other image files from an SD card.

Whether you have taken photos with the brand's digital cameras, the EaseUS recovery tool can always help. It can recover deleted photos from Canon cameras, Sony, Nikon, and Fujifilm cameras.

Follow the tutorial below to recover pictures from SD cards with the EaseUS SD card recovery tool:

🏆EaseUS SD card recovery leverages patented video fragment reconstruction technology to deeply repair video files lost due to accidental deletion, formatting, or corruption. Explicitly designed for cameras, action cameras, drones, and dashcams, it accurately restores complete and playable precious footage.

Step 1. Select the SD card to scan

  • Download and install EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard on your Windows PC.
  • Use the proper way to connect your SanDisk/Lexar/Transcend SD card to the computer. 
  • Open EaseUS SD card recovery software and choose SD Card Recovery on the left panel. All connected drives will display here. Select your SD card and click "Scan for lost data".
select the sd card and click scan

Step 2. Check for scan results

  • Wait for the scanning process to complete.
  • Specify one or several file types to show up, like Pictures or Videos.
  • Click "Preview" to check if they are the wanted files.
filter the lost photos

Step 3. Recover SD card data

  • Preview the recovered files and click "Recover".
  • Choose a different location to save the recovered files instead of the original SD card.
Recover lost photos

💡Want to know more about SD card data recovery? For example, what is the best SD card data recovery software? How to recover a damaged SD card? How to recover data from an unreadable SD card...Go for SD Card Data Recovery FAQs and restore your precious lost files.

Notice:
Equipped with SSR (SmartSector Rebuild (SSR) Engine): SD cards undergo frequent read/write/delete operations, causing photo file fragmentation. SSR technology deeply scans fragmented data segments, intelligently reconstructs complete file structures, and recovers hard-to-restore files such as camera RAW formats (CR2, NEF), achieving a 30% higher success rate than older versions.

This handy memory card recovery tool can help you easily recover deleted photos from SanDisk, Transcend, Kingston, Lexar, Sony, and PNY SD cards. If your friends have the same SD card photo loss troubles, please share this product with them!

 

Now, you can check the following video tutorial to find out how to recover lost or deleted photos from an SD card:

  • 00:00 SD Card Recovery Basic Info
  • 01:08 Delete Files from SD Card
  • 01:50 Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
  • 02:25 Recover Deleted Files from SD Card
recover deleted files from SD card
 

Can you recover deleted photos from an SD card on a Mac? Follow the guide below to find Mac solutions:

how to recover deleted photos from an SD card on Mac

[2024] How to Recover Deleted Photos from SD Card on Mac

Recovering deleted photos from an SD card on Mac with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is the first and best solution. Read more >>

Other Options: Recover Photos from SD Card Free

If you want to try alternative tools to undelete images from an SD card or recover pictures from an SD card free, the following professional photo sd recovery tools are tested and reliable.

1. Get Deleted Photos from Memory Card with Windows File History (Windows 11/10)

Windows File History is a native backup and restore utility that can help you create copies of personal files. If you have backed up the SD card on the computer desktop and enabled File History automatic backup, there will be copies of the deleted photos in the File History backup disk.

Check the guide below to perform SD card picture recovery with Windows File History:

Step 1. Locate the Windows search box beside the Windows icon. Click and type in file history in the search tab, and run File History. Or you can open the File History window by going to Control Panel > System and Security > File History.

open File History

Step 2. Check the left side and choose "Restore personal files".

restore personal files with File History

Step 3. Check every folder if you don't know where the copies of the SD card are. The arrow beside the recover button allows you to check the previous version of the folder.

Step 4. Select the SD card photo or the photos you want to recover and click the green recover button to confirm the recovery.

recover deleted photos from an SD card with File History

If you have a copy of SD card photos on the backup disk, connect it and regain the deleted photos directly.

2. Retrieve Photos Deleted from SD Cards with Cloud Backup

You can also perform SD card image recovery with cloud backup. If you are using an Android phone with an external SD memory card, your mobile phone may automatically upload the photos to a cloud platform such as Google Photos.

If you have connected the SD card to the computer and backed up it with Microsoft OneDrive, you can visit OneDrive's official website and get back important pictures.

Here are some cloud recovery guides that may help you recover deleted photos from an SD card:

OneDrive SD card sync

SD Card Photo Loss Prevention Tips

Preventing SD card photo loss is far easier than recovering lost photos. Our professional engineers recommend these actionable tips to protect your precious images:

  1. Always safely eject your SD card: Never pull the SD card out of a device while it's reading/writing data.
  2. Avoid using the SD card after photo loss: If you accidentally delete photos, stop taking new photos/videos or saving files to the SD card.
  3. Use high-quality SD cards: Choose genuine, high-speed SD cards from reputable brands (SanDisk, Kingston, Lexar).
  4. Format SD cards correctly: Format your SD card in the device it's used for; this avoids file system incompatibility and corruption.
  5. Avoid extreme conditions: Keep your SD card away from water, heat, magnetism, and physical damage. SD card chips are delicate and easily damaged by harsh environments.
  6. Enable auto-sync for Android/phone SD cards: Turn on Google Photos/OneDrive auto-sync for your Android phone SD card.

Summary

If the EaseUS memory card photo recovery software does not work and you don't have recent backups on local disks or cloud storage, try EaseUS data recovery services. Our professional memory card data recovery engineers will help you solve data loss issues online.

EaseUS SD Card Photo Recovery Services

Click here to contact our experts for a free evaluation

Consult with EaseUS data recovery experts for one-on-one manual recovery service. We could offer the following services after FREE diagnosis

  • Repair corrupted RAID structure, unbootable Windows OS, and corrupted virtual disk file
  • Recover/repair lost partition and re-partitioned drive
  • Unformat hard drive and repair raw drive(Bitlocker encrypted drive)
  • Fix disks that become GPT-protected partitions

Deleted Photo Recovery on SD Cards FAQs

If you have more questions on retrieving deleted pics from SD cards, check this section may let you know more:

1. Can I recover deleted images from an SD card without software?

YES. You can recover deleted images from an SD card without software when you have backups. Windows File History or Mac Time Machine will back up personal files automatically if you have enabled the backup option.

2. How do I recover deleted pictures from a memory card?

The best way to recover deleted pictures from a memory card is by applying data recovery software. Besides this method, you can also get back deleted photos by restoring recent SD card backups from a backup disk or cloud storage.

3. What is the best SD card photo recovery software?

The following SD card photo recovery programs may be very helpful:

  1. 1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
  2. 2. Recuva
  3. 3. Stellar Data Recovery
  4. 4. Disk Drill
  5. 5. R-Studio
  6. 6. Acronis Revive
  7. 7. Remo Recover
  8. 8. Recover My Files
  9. 9. Puran Data Recovery
  10. 10. TestDisk
  • Updated by

    Jaden is one of the editors of EaseUS, who focuses on topics concerning PCs and Mac data recovery. Jaden is committed to enhancing professional IT knowledge and writing abilities. She is always keen on new and intelligent products.…
  • Written by

    Dany is an editor of EaseUS who lives and works in Chengdu, China. She focuses on writing articles about data recovery on Mac devices and PCs. She is devoted to improving her writing skills and enriching her professional knowledge. Dany also enjoys reading detective novels in her spare time. …
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