Restore deleted photos

Question

I accidentally deleted the entire "downloaded" album full of pictures from my Samsung Galaxy S2 (SPH-D710) and am trying to use a recovery program I downloaded.

My phone will not show up as a remove-able storage device on my computer, or on the program. I have tried to change the USB settings on my phone but there is no USB settings when I go to Settings > Wireless and networks as most information instructs.

I found the setting for USB debugging by going to Settings > Developer options and can turn that on and off, but that is the only setting I can find relating to USB storage.

When I connect it to the USB cord it gives me MTP or PTP options but again no USB options.

Any advice??? Thank you!

Answer 1

If the folder is on your external SD card: remove the card from the device, and connect it via a card reader. This way you ensure your computer will have the physical access to the card which is needed by most recovery programs for best results.

For further advice, also see Data Recovery - How to Restore Deleted / Formatted Files on HD Micro SD Card

Answer 2

If your device is rooted, you can try Undelete for root users which claim to restore even from internal storage, which is boon as other PC based apps does not work well unless they have physical access.

The app Dumpster claims to work even for unrooted device. But I suspect this has to be installed before the event of deleting - not sure just give a try.

If either of the apps seems promising, I would advice you not to directly or indirectly use the internal storage as if the data blocks are overwritten (by you or by an app or by the system) your chances of recovery goes slim.