7 Methods: How to Recover Deleted Pictures From Trash After Empty?

How to recover deleted pictures from Trash? This post will give you 7 methods to help you effectively recover permanently deleted photos from the emptied Recycle Bin.

Posted by @Irene December 17, 2024 Updated By @Irene November 29, 2024

Accidentally deleted a photo? Don’t worry—there’s hope! When you delete a picture on a Windows computer, it’s usually moved to the Recycle Bin, where it can be easily restored. But what if you’ve emptied the Recycle Bin or deleted the picture permanently? While it’s no longer in the trash, it’s not necessarily gone forever. There are methods to recover permanently deleted photos. Check out this article to learn simple and effective ways to get your pictures back!

How to recover deleted pictures from trash

Is Recycle Bin recovery possible? Yes, it is! When files are deleted in Windows, they aren’t immediately erased from your storage. Even after emptying the Recycle Bin, the data may still exist on your drive and can often be recovered, provided it hasn’t been overwritten. In the following steps, we’ll show you how to recover files that have been removed from the Recycle Bin, even after it has been emptied in Windows computers.

Method 1. Run AOMEI FastRcovery to recover deleted photos from trash

When you need to learn how to recover photos from Recycle Bin after empty, we highly recommend AOMEI FastRecovery for this task. Its powerful recovery feature makes recovering deleted files a breeze. Compatible with all Windows versions, including Windows 11/10/8/7 and Windows Server systems, this tool is packed with benefits that set it apart from the rest. Here’s why AOMEI FastRecovery is your ultimate solution!

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 Why do we recommend you choose AOMEI FastRecovery to recover deleted photos from Recyle Bin:
  • User-friendly interface: The software features a user-friendly interface, making it easy to use for people of all skill levels. Besides, it provides 24/7 technical support for your convenience.

  • Versatile functionality: The tool boasts high-speed and reliable data recovery from external hard drives and various storage media, including HDD, SSD, USB drives, and SD cards. It supports over 1000 types of data with recovering unlimited data, covering texts, deleted photos, videos, audio, emails, and compressed files, or a Word doc that was not saved, among others.

  • Wide compatibility: The software is compatible with nearly all Windows versions, including Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, and Windows Server. It also supports various file systems such as NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS, ensuring wide compatibility across different devices.

  • Performs well in complex cases: Recover data from formatted disks, encrypted hard drives, system crash, corrupted USB drives.

  • Security assurance: Users can download the software without worrying about bundled software, and it guarantees a secure environment by refraining from displaying any malicious ads during usage.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI FastRecovery. Choose the exact partition or disk where your data lost and click Scan.

Step 2. Then, the recovery tool start to scan and search. lt will execute the “Quickly Scan" first for finding your deleted data fast, and then execute the “Deep Scan" for searching other lost data.

Step 3. Once the scan is completed, all deleted files, Recycle Bin and other missing files will be displayed. Please select the file you would like to recover and then click "Recover".

Step 4. Then, select a folder path to save your recovered files.

Step 5. Wait patiently for this process of recovering to end.

Method 2. Recover deleted files from Recycle Bin with Windows File Recovery

How do I recover deleted photos from my Recycle Bin? You can get back deleted files from the Recycle Bin for free with Windows File Recovery, even after the bin has been empty. It works with Windows 10 versions 2014 and up, and you need to know a lot about its recovery modes and changes.

Please first press Win+E to open This PC > right-click on the drive where you have deleted files from> click Properties.

Both Regular Mode and Extensive Mode are available on PCs that use the NTFS File System. If you're not utilizing the NTFS file system, you can utilize WINFR's Extensive Mode.

Step 1. Go to Microsoft Store to Get Windows File Recovery.

Step 2. Run Windows File Recovery as administrator, then input the command line based on syntax: winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]

For example, if you need to recover zip files from the Recycle Bin under C: drive to E drive, you need to input commands like: winfr C: E: /extensive /n \C:\Recycler\*.zip

Step 3. Wait for the recovery to complete. Then a folder named "Recovery_(date and time)" will be generated automatically in the destination.

Note: The source and target drives must not be the same.

Method 3. Restore deleted files from File History

In recent versions of the Windows operating system, there is a backup feature called File History. When activated, this function creates regular backups of files in the Documents, Music, Photos, Videos, and Desktop folders. The File History tool backs up files in small chunks so that users can go back and restore older versions later. This means that you can go back to earlier copies of a file that may have been erased a long time ago, almost like going back in time.

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security and click File History.

Step 2. Select Restore personal files. It will open the file history recovery window.

Step 3. Click the left arrow to locate your deleted files, and click the Restore to original location icon to restore deleted files from Recycle Bin.

Method 4. Recycle Bin recovery with the previous version

If you clear the Recycle Bin on a regular basis, you can still restore prior versions of files or folders. It is necessary to enable system restoration and have system restore points accessible. This way may also recover lost Word files.

Step 1. Start File Explorer/This PC. Locate the folder which is used to save the deleted file.

Step 2. Right-click it, and then select Properties > Previous Version. Then select the folder version which is exactly the one before you delete it, and click Restore to restore deleted files to the previous version.

Method 5. Restore Files from Windows Backup and Restore

The built-in Windows backup tool Backup and Restore lets you back up and restore data. It works the same way as File History. It first showed up in Windows 7 and was called Backup and Restore in Windows 8, 10, and 11. You could try it if you save a copy of your files first.

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security and select Backup and Restore (Windows 7). Then, click Restore my files.

Step 2. In the Restore Files box, you may search for and restore files and folders.

◤ Search: enter a portion of the filename and pick the deleted files to recover.

◤ Browse for files: Go to the folder containing deleted files from the Recycle Bin and select it. Next, choose Add Files.

◤ Browse for folders: choose the full folder containing deleted files.

Step 3. Select a location to restore deleted files from Recycle Bin. You can choose the original location or browse to a new location. Then, click Start Restore.

Method 6. Restore deleted files from Recycle Bin with OneDrive

If you back up your local files to OneDrive, then you can download the files whenever you need, even after you delete the Recycle Bin.

Step 1. Go to https://onedrive.com/ and log in with your Microsoft OneDrive account.

Step 2. Go to the folder containing deleted files. Select the file you want to restore and click the Download button to retrieve deleted file from Recycle Bin.

Method 7. Recover deleted files from Recycle Bin after empty using Command Prompt

How to recover deleted photos from Recyle Bin after empty? You can enter Command Prompt to use command lines to try to recover deleted files.

Step 1. Type cmd in the search box and select it with administrator priority.

Step 2. Type chkdsk /f C: and press Enter. It will automatically scan disk errors and fix the error it found.

Note: C: is the drive letter for drive containing deleted files in Recycle Bin. Please replace it with your own.

Step 3. Type ATTRIB -H -R -S /S /D C:*.* and press Enter to display hidden folders with deleted files.

Summary

We hope this guide has given you a clear understanding of how to recover deleted pictures from Trash after it has been emptied, using built-in Windows tools and backups—if you’re fortunate enough to have them. But even if those options aren’t available, there’s no need to worry. AOMEI FastRecovery offers a secure and highly efficient solution, specifically designed to help you recover files even after emptying the trash.