You needn’t panic if you accidently delete your photos from your memory card.

You probably move (or at least you should move) your important photos regularly from your memory card to a safer and more permanent location. But what can you do when the original images stored on your memory card never make it to your computer? What can you do besides PANIC if you accidently delete or format the memory card before you’re able to move the photos? This can happen to anyone at anytime (usually the wrong time). The good news is that you may be able to use recovery software to recover some, and hopefully all, of the deleted photos from your memory card – SD, CF, MMC, and most other cards.

Photo recovery software is designed specifically to recover deleted photos. You can find many affordable recovery programs on the Internet (usually from $19 to $39). All of these programs have similar features and the good news is that none require expert knowledge to use. Most programs have a trial version that you can download and install. You install the software, connect your camera to your computer (or insert your memory card into a card reader connected to your computer) and run the recovery software. This lets you run the program first to test whether it can recover any missing photos.

The program then displays thumbnails of the files it can recover. Then you have the option of buying a registration key for the program and recover the files. If you purchase a registration key, select the thumbnail image(s) you wish to recover and save them (for obvious reasons) to a new location.

One important note is that Windows unfortunately may not recognize your camera as a drive, which is what happened with my Canon XSi. If so, you’ll have to use a memory card reader but they’re not very expensive ($10 to $20).

Make certain to set aside enough time for the program to work. It depends, of course, on how many files are on your memory card but it took some of these programs thirty minutes or so to check out my SD card.
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