Forum Discussion
Deleted photos (About a Year ago)
I've looked into this for you, and I'm afraid the news isn't good. Recovering photos deleted from OneDrive about a year ago is almost certainly impossible, no matter what type of account you have.
The reason is that all versions of OneDrive have a maximum file retention period that is far shorter than a year. Once this period passes, files are permanently deleted from Microsoft's servers and cannot be retrieved.
Here are the specific time limits for each account type:
Account Type Recycle Bin Retention Period Total Possible Recovery Time
Personal (Microsoft Account) Files kept only 30 days after deletion. 30 days
Work/School (Business) Files kept max. 93 days across both. 93 days (approx. 3 months)
There are a couple of final places you can check before accepting that the files are gone.
Check your local computer: If you had the OneDrive folder synced to your computer, the files might still exist in your computer's own Recycle Bin (Windows) or Trash (Mac) . This is your best bet. Try searching your computer for the file names.
Hope this information is helpful, even though it's not the answer you were hoping for.