Common problems

Recover deleted photos or files

You emptied the bin, or the folder is simply not where you left it, and your stomach dropped. Before you give up on them, deleting something usually removes the signpost to it rather than the file itself, and the photos often sit there untouched until the device happens to write something else over that space. That means what you do in the next few minutes matters more than anything we do later. Stop using the device now, tell us what went missing and how, and we will look for free, say plainly what is realistically recoverable and what is not, and quote you a fixed price before we attempt anything. If nothing comes back, there is nothing to pay.

Call 0113 460 2103 Book a free diagnosis

No fix, no fee
We come to you
The diagnosis is always free
A real person who does the work, not a call centre

What it usually means

The likely causes, most common first

Photos or files deleted by accident and the bin emptied, where the contents usually still sit on the drive until something writes over them, the commonest cause and the one with the best odds if you stop using the device now
A phone or camera where the pictures may already be backed up to iCloud, Google Photos or another device without you realising, the first thing worth checking because it costs nothing to find them safe
A memory card, SD card or USB stick that has been reformatted, or that now asks to be formatted before you can use it, where recovery is very often still possible
Files swept up, hidden or moved by an update, a sync or a tidy-up, so they are misplaced rather than truly deleted, and sometimes findable in minutes
A drive or card that is beginning to fail, where files vanishing is a warning sign, a different and more urgent job than a simple deletion
An SSD, the solid-state drive in most newer laptops and phones, which quietly clears deleted blocks by itself in the background, the one case where the honest answer is often that they are already beyond anyone's reach

Not sure which is yours? That is what the free diagnosis is for. Call and describe it.

What we do

How we find the real fault

You tell us on the phone what was lost, how it went missing, and, the answer that matters most, what has happened on the device since, because a machine that has carried on being used has had time to write over the very thing we are trying to save
Stop using it now. Do not keep taking photos on the phone, do not save anything to the card, do not install recovery software onto the drive you are recovering from, and do not carry on browsing on the laptop. Every new thing written is a roll of the dice against the files you want back
We check the free places first. Phones back photographs up on their own more often than people expect, and cloud storage catches more than you would think, so before you pay us to hunt for a folder we look at whether it was sitting safe in your account all along
We establish what kind of drive or card it is, because a spinning hard disk and an SSD behave nothing alike once files have been deleted, and that single fact moves the odds more than anything else does
We come to you across Leeds, or you can bring the device, card or stick to us, and on a healthy drive the first visit is often the whole answer
Where a card or drive is fragile or failing, we image it first and recover from the copy, so a sick device is not being hammered while we work and its one clean read is not wasted
We assess honestly what is realistically recoverable before any work, and we never promise what cannot be promised. Recovery is not always tidy, and you can get most of your photos back with a few damaged and some of the names lost
Recovered files come back on a separate drive you keep, never onto the device they were lost from. You get a fixed quote before any work begins, and if nothing comes back, you pay nothing

Is it worth fixing?

An honest answer, before you spend anything

Almost always worth a free look before you give up, especially when the photos are irreplaceable ones of family or of people you have lost, because those are exactly the files that cannot be bought again at any price. The odds are best on a spinning hard disk, a memory card or a USB stick where you have stopped using the device quickly, and a straightforward deleted-file recovery on a healthy drive is the cheaper end of this work. There are two honest exceptions where we will tell you plainly not to spend a penny. The first is a happy one, that the photos were already backed up to your phone, your camera roll or the cloud, in which case we help you find them and there is nothing to recover and nothing to pay. The second is the hard one, an SSD that has already cleared the deleted blocks itself, where the truth is that no software and no laboratory anywhere can bring those files back, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling you hope. You will hear which of these you are in early, and for free, rather than at the end of a bill.

This is a data recovery job. The diagnosis is free, then you get one fixed quote before any work starts. If we cannot fix it, there is nothing to pay.

Call 0113 460 2103 for a free diagnosis

Where we work

We come to you across Leeds

Home or work, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm. There is no walk-in shop, so we come to the machine, or you can arrange to drop it to us. Start at computer repair in Leeds, or pick your area.

Questions

The things people ask

I deleted my photos and emptied the bin. Are they gone for good?

Usually not straight away, and that is the reason we ask you to stop using the device this minute. Emptying the bin removes the signpost to the photos rather than the photos themselves, and the contents sit there until the machine happens to write something new over that space. So the moment they went is not the moment they are lost, but every hour the device keeps being used, the chance of them being written over climbs, and it climbs fastest when the drive is nearly full. Switch it off or set it down, leave it alone, and let us look before anything else gets written on top.

What should I do right now?

Stop using the device. That is the single most useful thing you can do, and it is worth more than anything we do afterwards. If it is a phone, stop taking photos and stop installing apps. If it is a camera card or a USB stick, take it out and do not save anything else to it. If it is a laptop or a computer, stop browsing and stop saving files, and do not download recovery software onto the same drive you lost the files from, because the download itself can land on top of what you are trying to get back. Then call us and tell us what happened.

Can you recover deleted photos from my phone?

Often, and the first thing worth doing costs nothing. Phones back photographs up on their own far more than people realise, so before anything else it is worth checking your iCloud or Google Photos, your camera roll's recently-deleted album, and any other device you are signed in on, because the pictures are frequently sitting there safe. If they genuinely are not backed up anywhere, phone recovery is harder than recovery from a plain card or hard disk, because most modern phones use encrypted solid-state storage that clears deleted data quickly, and we will be straight with you about the odds before you spend anything rather than promise a result we cannot guarantee.

I reformatted the memory card, or it says the card needs formatting. Is there any hope?

Frequently, yes, and reformatting is not the disaster it sounds like. A format usually clears the index rather than wiping every photo off the card, so the pictures often remain until new ones are written over them. The rule is the same as everywhere else on this page: stop using the card immediately, do not take more photos on it and do not let the camera or phone format it again, and bring it to us. The less that has been written to the card since, the better your chances, and cards and sticks tend to give up their deleted files more readily than solid-state drives inside phones do.

Does it matter whether it is an SSD or an old hard drive?

It matters more than almost anything else, so it is one of the first things we check. On an older spinning hard disk, a deleted file usually stays put until something writes over it, which is why quick action so often pays off. On an SSD, the solid-state drive in most newer laptops and in phones, the drive tidies up after itself and quietly clears deleted blocks in the background, and once it has done that the file is gone for everyone, us and any laboratory included. We will tell you which kind you have before you spend a penny, because on a spinning disk the news is often good and on an SSD we would rather give you the honest answer than take money for a job that cannot be done.

Can you do it today, and what does it cost?

Sometimes on the same day, and we will be straight rather than promise a slot we cannot keep. A simple deleted-file recovery from a healthy drive or card can often be sorted quickly, while scanning a large drive takes as long as it takes to work through the whole of it, and a fragile drive has to be read gently in passes and cannot be rushed. On price, we will not print a figure, because the same lost folder is a different job on a sound card and on a failing drive, and any number on a page would be one we had to go back on. We look for free, tell you which situation you are in, and give you one fixed quote before we attempt anything. If nothing comes back, there is nothing to pay.

Sound more like one of these?

Tell us what is wrong.

Call and describe the fault. We will diagnose it for free, give you a fixed quote before any work, and if we cannot fix it there is nothing to pay. A real person who does the work, not a call centre.

Call 0113 460 2103 Book a repair