How to Recover Deleted DCIM Folder from Android

Accidentally Deleted DCIM Folder on Android Phone

"Yesterdays, I mistakenly deleted the picture folder named DCIM on my Android phone during the image transfer process from my mobile phone to a USB flash drive. I wrongly choose the DCIM folder when I was trying to delete another picture folder on the flash drive to free up some disk space. As a result, all the inner stored pictures were gone. Is there any way to recover the DCIM folder from an Android phone? I am really urgent to get all of my pictures back!"

What is DCIM on Android? Every camera, whether it's a dedicated digital camera or the Camera app on Android or iPhone, places the photos you take in a DCIM folder. DCIM stands for "Digital Camera Images".

Once you delete the DCIM folder from your device, you are faced with terrible data loss. Generally, Android phones and iPhones store the DCIM folder in its internal storage while digital cameras save the folder on its memory card. However, if you insert a memory card (SD card, xD card, microSD card, CF card) into your Android phone and set to place the photo/videos on the memory card, the DCIM folder will exist on it instead of its internal storage. Based on where you store the photos and videos, there are different ways to find the DCIM folder on Android.

How to View DCIM Folder on Android

Step 1. Connect your Android phone to your computer with the matched USB cable. Tap "Turn on USB Storage" and then touch "OK" or "Mount".

Step 2. Open Windows Explorer. Double-click the new drive under "Devices with Removable Storage".

Step 3. Double-click "DCIM". Double-click "Camera" to view pictures and videos stored on your device, or click ".thumbnails" to view the thumbnails used in the Gallery app.

How to Recover Deleted DCIM Folder from Android Internal Storage

To recover the photos and videos in the DCIM folder stored in the internal storage of your device, you need the Android data recovery software - EaseUS MobiSaver. This tool can help you recover lost photos, videos, contacts, music, notes, and more from your Android phone. You can download the Windows version on your computer to recover the DCIM folder from your Android phone like Samsung, Huawei, Sony and more. (You can also get the EaseUS MobiSaver app on Google Play, which you can use to scan and recover the DCIM folder directly on your Android phone.)

To recover the DCIM folder on Android:

Step 1. Connect your Android phone to your PC. Download and launch EaseUS MobiSaver. If you haven't rooted your phone, root it first by following the root guideline.

Step 2. After the software recognizes your phone, click "Start" to let the program scan the device. All the found photos and videos will be displayed on the screen.

Step 3. Then you can get a preview of found photos, choose the ones you want to retrieve, and click "Recover" to save the items in a safe place on your PC.

After recovering the photos and videos in the DCIM folder successfully, you can transfer these items from your computer to your Android phone easily via a USB cable. EaseUS MobiSaver is also available for iPhone data recovery.

How to Recover Deleted DCIM folder from Android Memory Card

If the DCIM folder is saved on your Android memory card, you can easily recover your photos and videos from the storage device with reliable hard drive recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. This software helps to recover files or folders lost due to accidental deletion, formatting, or other reasons from local/external hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards, digital cards, and other conventional storage devices.

Download the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and follow the steps below to recover DCIM folder from your Android memory card:

Step 1. Select the location to scan lost folder

Under the Location section, click "Browse" on Select Folder to choose the location where you lost the folder and click "OK" to scan the lost folder. 

Step 2. Find and preview found files in the lost folder

If you remember the folder name, type the folder name in "Search" to quickly find the lost folder. Then open the found folder and double-click to preview lost files. 

Or you can use the left pane to locate the lost folder, then use "Filter" and "Type" to specify the desired files.

Step 3. Recover and save the lost folder with files

Last, select the folder and files and click "Recover", browse to choose a new & secure spot on your PC and click "OK" to save it.

The Bottom Line

In addition to accidentally deleting DCIM folder on Android phone, other issues related DCIM folder include "DCIM folder shows empty but not", "DCIM folder missing", and "delete DCIM folder on iPhone". As you can see, data loss in the DCIM folder occurs quite often. This should remind you of the importance of data backup. Whether you prefer to transfer the files from your mobile device to computer or sync the content on your phone to cloud storage, it's a good choice to make a backup of your precious files elsewhere.