How to Recover Deleted Files from Lightroom [3 Ways]

How to recover deleted Lightroom files?

“When I was using Lightroom last week, I thought I was selecting just one file to delete from disk but didn't notice all of them were still highlighted. I deleted them all from disk. And shortly after something caused them to completely disappear from disk and I had to begin the whole editing process again. Is there any way I can easily restore images if they are accidentally deleted from disk?”

Adobe Lightroom (formerly Lightroom Classic CC) is a powerful image organization and editing tool designed by Adobe Inc. Available on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Apple TV, it allows users to view, organize, edit, save, import, and share a large collection of digital images.

If you’ve used Lightroom to edit your photos, it likely means these images are important to you. So, what can you do if you accidentally delete photos from Lightroom? Before diving into recovery options, it’s important to understand the common reasons why your photos might be missing from your Lightroom library, which can help you identify the right solution. Here are some possible reasons:

▪ You may have removed the photos from the catalog or permanently deleted them from your storage device.

▪ Lightroom’s catalog could be corrupted due to power outages, system crashes, or software bugs.

▪ Physical damage to your storage device may have resulted in the loss of your Lightroom photos.

▪ You may have accidentally moved or renamed the folders containing your Lightroom images.

▪ Issues during the transition to a newer version of Lightroom or migrating the photo library to a different computer.

Understanding these reasons can help you recover your deleted photos more effectively.

3 ways to recover deleted files from Lightroom

Now that you can identify the reasons for missing files in Lightroom, let's explore three methods to recover deleted files:

Way 1. Restore deleted files from the Recycle Bin

If you’ve accidentally deleted your Lightroom photos but they haven't been permanently removed from your system, you can often find them in the Recycle Bin. You can recover these photos back to their original location and open them in Lightroom once again.

Here’s how to retrieve your deleted Lightroom photos from the Recycle Bin:

Step 1. Open the Recycle Bin on your computer.

Step 2. Look for the deleted Lightroom photos you want to recover.

Step 3. Right-click on the selected photos and choose Restore.

The photos will be restored to their original location on your system. After this, you can launch Lightroom and access your photos as before.

Way 2. Retrieve deleted files from Lightroom catalog backups

Lightroom Classic offers the option to create regular catalog backups. However, it's important to note that these backups only include the catalog file itself. Therefore, you should manually back up your edited photos and any exports from Lightroom Classic.

If you’d like to schedule automatic catalog backups, follow these steps:

Navigate to Edit > Catalog Settings (Windows). In the Back Up Catalog pop-up menu, select your preferred backup option.

Steps to recover deleted photos from Lightroom using a backup:

Step 1. Locate and unzip the backup file. Then go to File > Open Catalog.

Step 2. Find the location of the backed-up catalog file.

Step 3. Select the backed-up .lrcat and .lrcat-data files, then click the Open button.

Step 4. If needed, you can replace the original catalog with the copied backup catalog.

By following these steps, you can recover deleted photos from Lightroom using your catalog backups.

Way 3. Recover deleted files using data recovery software

If you've chosen the “Delete from Disk” option and don’t have backups, recovering deleted files from Lightroom can still be possible. This tutorial introduces a more convenient method: using professional data recovery software like AOMEI FastRecovery.

AOMEI FastRecovery is a powerful photo recovery tool for Windows that excels at recovering deleted or lost files, including photos, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, audio files, videos, emails, and compressed files.

Key features of AOMEI FastRecovery:

✦ Versatile recovery options: In addition to recovering files from hard drives, you can also retrieve deleted or lost files from portable devices such as SSDs, USB drives, and SD cards.
✦ Content preview: Assess the content of recovered images based on their original paths and filenames.
✦ Original format recovery: Restore deleted files in their original formats.
✦ Search functionality: Quickly locate specific photo files by typing their filenames in the search bar, or allow the software to scan and display all deleted and lost files on your computer using Quick Scan and Deep Scan features.
✦ File system support: Compatible with NTFS, FAT32, and exFAT file systems on Windows 7, 8, 10, 11, and Windows Server.

Don’t hesitate—download AOMEI FastRecovery now to recover your lost files effortlessly!

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 bins 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 ends.

Conclusion

This post will provide you with efficient techniques for recovering deleted files from Lightroom. Please choose a relevant approach to resolve your issues.

More importantly, you should develop the practice of making regular backups to avoid data loss. For example, whether you need Windows features or free backup software, AOMEI Backupper can help you.