Urgent! Is there any free photo recovery software for PC to recommend? (Windows 11 / Mac is OK)

You can also try to restore from Windows 11 Recycle Bin or right-click the folder and click "Restore Previous Version". These are built-in photo recovery methods and do not require installing anything.

Choosing the right photo recovery software can be a bit of a mixed bag, and while there are definitely some solid options out there like Recuua. Not every file is guaranteed to be recoverable. If the data has been overwritten or fragmented, there’s a good chance you won’t get back all your photos. It can be super frustrating to scan for hours and only find a few usable files, or worse, corrupted ones. Some photo recovery software can have a pretty clunky interface. While tools like Recuua are fairly user-friendly, others might feel like they were designed in the '90s. If you’re not tech-savvy, it can be a headache trying to figure out how to navigate the software or understand all the scanning options.

A lot of free photo recovery software for PC offers trial versions with restrictions, like only letting you preview files without actually recovering them unless you pay up. It can feel a bit like a bait-and-switch when you find the tool that seems to work well, only to hit a paywall when you try to recover that precious vacation photo. Each recovery tool may perform differently based on the type of file system you have or the kind of data loss scenario you’re in. Sometimes, one software might hit the jackpot with a certain type of file, but the next software won't turn up anything useful, even if they’re all reputable. This can mean wasting time trying to find the “perfect” solution.

I had a similar experience. I was stunned when I cleared the SD card. Fortunately, I recovered a lot of photos with command line tools. Here are two command line methods, both of which are built-in or open source, suitable for people who don't want to install too many third-party things.

✅ Method 1: Use the winfr tool (Windows File Recovery) built into Windows

This is an official recovery tool from Microsoft, which can be used since Windows 10. The command looks like this:

bash
winfr C: D:\recovered /regular /n *.jpg /n *.png /n *.cr2

It means to recover photos in .jpg/.png/.cr2 format from the C drive to the recovered folder of the D drive, supporting RAW format. It's pretty powerful, but the command line is a little bit difficult.

If you are looking for the best free photo recovery software for PC, this is definitely worth a try, it's free and officially produced.

✅ Method 2: Use the open source tool PhotossRec

This is in the TestsDisk suite, supports Windows and macOS, and is mainly operated by the command line, but it can scan various devices and even read crashed partitions:

bash
photorssec

After entering, select Disk → File Type (only JPG, PNG, RAW) → Output Path, and the recovery will start automatically.

Although the interface is in pure English character mode, the recovery ability is very strong and fully deserves the title of "best free photo recovery software for PC". It can also be used on the Mac side and has good compatibility.

I have used both of them. If you are not afraid of typing commands, it is definitely more reliable than those "free tools" with advertisements flying all over the sky. I sincerely recommend it as one of the best free photo recovery software for PC solutions when you are trying to recover photos. I hope you can get your photos back!

In addition, it is strongly recommended not to write anything to the hard disk before recovery to avoid overwriting the original data, otherwise even the best "best free photo recovery software for PC" will be powerless. Come on 🍀

When you're on the hunt for photo recovery software for PC, it can be a bit of a rollercoaster ride. I mean, sure, there are tons of options out there, and some of them can be lifesavers if you've lost precious pictures. A lot of these recovery programs aren’t free. Some might offer a trial version where you can see what you can recover, but when it comes to actually getting your files, you might have to shell out some cash. And that’s a bummer if you weren’t planning on spending money just to get back a few photos.

Even with the best photo recovery software, there's no guarantee you're going to get everything back. Sometimes you might recover a bunch of files, but they could be corrupted or incomplete. It feels like hitting the jackpot but getting a bunch of old receipts instead of cash. Running recovery software can take forever, especially if you have a big hard drive or a ton of files. You might find yourself staring at the screen, wondering if you accidentally signed up for a marathon instead of a recovery session.

Some of these programs can be a bit complicated to use, with confusing interfaces or too many options that make your head spin. You might end up spending more time figuring out how to navigate the software than actually recovering your photos. Not all photo recovery software is created equal—some shady ones can come bundled with malware or other unwanted surprises. You definitely don’t want to end up with a bigger problem after trying to solve another! 

In Windows 11/10/8/7, you can use the chkdsk command to try to recover errors in the file system, and sometimes you can get back the pictures that have been deleted by mistake, but this method doesn't guarantee that you can always recover all the pictures successfully, especially the parts that have been overwritten by new data without using any photo recovery software for Windows 11/10 PC. Here are the specific steps:

Press Win + R key combination, type cmd and enter to open the Command Prompt window.

Determine the partition where the image is located by using diskpart utility or disk management tool, assuming that the image is on D drive.

Type and run the following command with the free photo recovery software for pc:

chkdsk D: /f /r

The /f parameter means fixing errors on the disk, and the /r parameter means locating bad sectors and recovering readable information. 

Executing this command may require administrator privileges. If you are prompted for insufficient privileges, right-click on the Command Prompt icon and select "Run as administrator".

This process may take some time, depending on the size of the disk and the number of files. After the execution is complete, check if the pictures are restored to their original folders.

I understand how distressing it can be to lose precious photos. Here are some reliable photo recovery software options that you can consider using Recuua.

1. A popular choice for file recovery, including images. It offers a simple interface and easy operation.
2. It allows users to preview recovered files before restoring them.
3. Supports various file formats, including JPG and PNG.

Tips for Successful Recovery:
Before using photo recovery software for PC. Stop using the drive where the photos were located immediately to avoid overwriting any data. Always perform recovery on a different drive than the one from which you're recovering. Make sure to scan with multiple tools if the first one didn't yield satisfactory results, as each tool uses different methods for recovery.

When an image is deleted, its data does not immediately disappear from the storage device. In most operating systems, the deletion operation usually just marks the file's index as "deleted", while the actual data of the file remains in the physical space of the storage media. This means that as long as this space has not been overwritten by new data, it is still possible to recover deleted pictures with professional data recovery tools. The operating system will mark the space occupied by the file as "free", allowing subsequent writing of new data, but the original data may still be intact on the physical plane.

If the storage device continues to write new data, the original data blocks of the deleted pictures may be overwritten by the new information, which makes recovery much more difficult or even impossible. In the case of mechanical hard drives, data may remain in the gaps between the magnetic tracks, while in the case of SSDs, due to wear leveling, data fragments may be distributed in more complex storage units. In such a situation, you need find and try photo recovery software for pc to retrieve deleted photos on Windows 11/10.

In addition, cloud storage services perform a more thorough cleanup process when deleting images, usually wiping data and overwriting storage space immediately. Therefore, recovery measures should be taken as soon as possible after deletion of important images, and write operations on the original storage device should be avoided to improve the success rate of recovery.