Accidentally removed important files while freeing up storage. Any hope?
I accidentally deleted a bunch of photos and documents from my Android while trying to free up storage. I realized it a couple of hours later, and unfortunately they aren’t in the Recycle Bin or Google Photos trash.
The phone is still working normally and I haven’t factory reset it. Is there anything I should or shouldn’t do before trying to recover the files? I’d rather avoid making things worse.
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That’s probably the best thing you’ve done. A lot of people keep using the phone for days before attempting recovery.
Good point. I haven’t used the phone since posting here, so hopefully I haven’t made things worse.
Also avoid taking “test photos” to see if recovery works. Every new file reduces your chances a little more.
Whatever tool you choose, don’t keep rescanning over and over. Pick one, scan once, and save anything recoverable to your computer, not back onto the phone.
I’ve used Stellar Data Recovery for Android once after accidentally deleting some photos. It didn’t recover everything, but I was able to get back a decent number of images. The free version also lets you see what it finds before deciding whether it’s worth continuing.
Makes sense. Any PC software you’d actually recommend?
I’d connect it to a PC if you decide to try recovery. I’ve had better results that way than using Play Store recovery apps.
If it’s internal storage on Android 14, keep your expectations realistic. Also don’t install recovery apps directly on the phone since that writes more data.
Internal storage.
Did you delete them from internal storage or from an SD card? That’s an important detail.
That makes recovery harder because of file-based encryption. It’s still worth checking backups first before expecting deleted files to be recoverable.
Samsung A34 running Android 14.
How old is the phone and what Android version is it running? Recovery chances are very different on Android 10 compared to Android 14.
Already checked Google Photos and Drive. No luck unfortunately.
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Appreciate all the advice. I’ll try a PC-based recovery approach first and update the thread with the results. Thanks everyone!