Forum Discussion

GarrettRidge's avatar
GarrettRidge
Iron Contributor
Jul 04, 2025

How can I retrieve or recover deleted photos from sd card with computer?

When I connected my camera SD card to my computer, it asks me to format the drive as there is something wrong with it. I meant to delete the No button but accidentally clicked the Yes button. Now, al...
MercerLane's avatar
MercerLane
Iron Contributor
Jul 04, 2025

Windows 11 doesn't come with built-in GUI photo recovery tools, but it does support a few command-line utilities that can help retrieve deleted photos from an SD card. One good option is Windows File Recovery.

Windows File Recovery is a free command-line utility from Microsoft that helps you recover deleted files from storage devices like hard drives, SSDs, USB drives, and SD cards. It’s especially useful when files are permanently deleted (e.g., emptied from the Recycle Bin), and traditional undelete options no longer work.

1. Download Windows File Recovery from the Microsoft Store.

2. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.

3. Run this command to recover deleted photos from SD card:

winfr E: D:\RecoveredPhotos /regular /n *.jpg /n *.png
  • E: is your SD card drive letter.
  • D:\RecoveredPhotos is the folder where recovered files will be saved.
  • /regular is good for recently deleted files; use /extensive for formatted cards.

Pros:

Free and officially supported.

Can filter by file type like .jpg, .png, .raw.

Cons:

Command-line interface only.

Doesn’t support recovery from network drives or corrupted SD cards.

Resources