Accidentally deleted photos, videos or files?
Don’t panic!
There are ways to recover your data irrespective of your device being rooted or not. Till then do not save anything else to your device, do not switch it off, do not update your apps, turn off your cellular data and WiFi before you’ve had a chance to recover your lost data on Android.
Get Back Lost Data on Android (For NON ROOTED Devices)
If you come across a scenario wherein you are not able to find your deleted files on your device then it is time for you to start with the below task of data recovery. All you need to do is connect your phone to your PC and run the file recovery app.
The one little problem with it is that the post-Ice Cream Sandwich versions of Android ditched the Mass Storage Protocol that made your internal storage look like a flash drive, so many tested recovery methods won’t work any more. Don’t worry because there’s a solution for that too.
If the file(s) you’re looking for were on your memory card, you can use a Micro SD Card Adapter to attach your microSD through USB. Download Recuva (Either the paid or free version) which is a program to recover files. You can also use other programs, such as “Wondershare Dr. Fone” (Requires root but available for Mac and PC) but “Recuva” is a great free tool.
To Download Recuva Click here
Note: For most of these programs to work, your memory must be formatted as FAT32, NTFS. If your memory card format is not recognizable, you can just copy of it’s data to your computer, reformat the memory card as FAT32 and then copy the files back on it and continue.
When you open Recuva, the first thing you must do is select the type of file you want to recover. For eg. Pictures, Videos, Music, Documents, etc. Option of restoring from a specific location is available and you can set a specific folder from where you want to attempt recovery. Recuva will only display locations from where it can recover data. Follow the prompts in the program correctly.
Important: When you’re done recovering your deleted files, save them on a different device from which they were initially lost or deleted or else they can hinder your recovery process. So if you are recovering files from your smartphone, copy them on the hard disk of the PC and then transfer them.
If the file(s) were on your internal storage,you can fix that too. If you haven’t already enabled the developer options in Android, go to Settings > About Phone > Build Number (Tap it & 7 times) Now come back to Settings > Developer Options and enable USB debugging. You should now be able to use an app such as Wondershare Dr. Fone to scan your device.
Recover Lost Data on Android (For ROOTED Devices)
- Download and Install “Undelete”
- To Download Click here
- After installing the app, the first thing you got to do is to select the storage device from which you want to recover your data. (Internal or External)
- Scan the selected device.
- Scanning process may take around 2 to 10 minutes. It varies from device to device depending on your memory size and the amount of data stored.
- After the scanning is over, you will be shown the recoverable data in several tabs : Files, Pictures, Music, Videos, Documents and Files. Recovered data is stored in the place from where it got deleted.
- Method not working? No problem! Proceed to the Recuva steps above, or use Wondershare Dr. Fone or another root recovery program.