Forum Discussion

Francois87's avatar
Francois87
Copper Contributor
Jun 30, 2026

OneDrive free up space catastrophic failure?

Hi,

I recently did "free up space" on my Pixel 9. I had to do it 3 times because of the amount of pictures and it only allows to delete a certain amount each time.

Now some of my pictures are NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. Not on my phone, not on OneDrive.

More specifically, 2 albums that are very important to me and I spent countless hours making. They are not in any trash either.

Is there any hope to get my pictures back ?

Thanks.

Free up space

1 Reply

  • Jamony's avatar
    Jamony
    MCT
    Jul 02, 2026

    Hi, I’m sorry, that is a stressful one. I’d stop doing any more cleanup on the phone for now and check OneDrive on the web first, especially Photos, Recycle bin, and any albums or folders involved. One thing to keep in mind is that albums are often just collections/views, not separate copies of the files. Also check the phone’s Recently Deleted area and any other photo app that may have been syncing, such as Google Photos or the device gallery cloud backup. If the files are not in OneDrive web or either recycle bin, I’d open a OneDrive support request quickly, because timing can matter with recovery.