Is there any possibility of recovering lost photos after a factory reset?

[Android Central Question]

A few days ago I had an unfortunate incident of losing all of my photos after a factory reset. I also lost several playlists in which a lot of time was invested to create. Obviously Im much more concerened with losing the photos. I had a 128gb card in which I thought my photos were being saved however this was not the case. Only 1 folder of photos remains on the card after the reset. I could swear even some of the info on the card was wiped out.

I have done some research and it seems some places say there is a way to recover the photos while others say that the pics are gone permantley. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also being that I am starting frome zero any reccomendations of backing up info moving forward would also be greatly appreciated.

 

[mustang7757]

Which phone ? Did you use back up on your phone like Google photos? Cloud services? I'll leave a link to register so you can communicate here , as a guest account you can't.https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154

 

[belodion]

As long as you don't use the phone, it is I believe possible to recover the files, which after factory resetting have been marked deleted, but not actually deleted. Using the phone again would overwrite them.
Some here would say that they are permanently gone.
If they can be recovered, it would be difficult and expensive.

 

[madmax1979]

the phone is an S9

 

[madmax1979]

Thanks, unfortunately I have used it as it is my only phone.

 

[mustang7757]

Thanks, unfortunately I have used it as it is my only phone.

Hi, Welcome !
Still not clear on if you had backup on with Samsung cloud or Google photos?

 

[madmax1979]

Hi, I'm sorry I misunderstood your question. I don't recall ever setting up either account. I thought the photos were backed up on my SD card. It actually seems that some pics on the card were even effected but you wouldn't think that would be possible.

 

[mustang7757]

Hi, I'm sorry I misunderstood your question. I don't recall ever setting up either account. I thought the photos were backed up on my SD card. It actually seems that some pics on the card were even effected but you wouldn't think that would be possible.

I see , so you didn't have back up on , do you see them on your SD card the photos? It's always good habit to back up through Samsung cloud,Google photos just in case SD gets corrupt and which they do from time to time .

 

[madmax1979]

Yes, moving forward I will definitely make sure I have everything backed up. The Sd card shows a couple of folders but I thought I had more than 2 on the card itself prior to the incident

 

[mustang7757]

Yes, moving forward I will definitely make sure I have everything backed up. The Sd card shows a couple of folders but I thought I had more than 2 on the card itself prior to the incident

Yeah I think what you see on it is all that's left

 

[madmax1979]

do you think it is worth looking into a professional recovery service? Or just call it a loss. I understand it can be expensive like it was commented on here previously.

 

[Rukbat]

A factory reset leaved /Android and /LOST.DIR - everything else - including the possibility of recovering files that were stored internally - is lost. (File recovery apps need the directory structure to find the deleted files - that's wiped to a blank new one with a factory reset. Only PhotoRec could get them back, but there's no Android version, and to image internal storage, so you could copy it to a PC to have PhotoRec recover anything still in internal storage, requires root.)

 

[madmax1979]

A factory reset leaved /Android and /LOST.DIR - everything else - including the possibility of recovering files that were stored internally - is lost. (File recovery apps need the directory structure to find the deleted files - that's wiped to a blank new one with a factory reset. Only PhotoRec could get them back, but there's no Android version, and to image internal storage, so you could copy it to a PC to have PhotoRec recover anything still in internal storage, requires root.)

thank you for the information

 

[mustang7757]

do you think it is worth looking into a professional recovery service? Or just call it a loss. I understand it can be expensive like it was commented on here previously.

I don't , it will cost money and no guarantee, just learned from this future wise.

 

[madmax1979]

Yes for sure, would you suggest using both Samsung and Google photos? Also compared to the photos the playlists are not a big lost. However it was still alot of time invested and imported music with album art etc. Can you reccomend a method or an app theat lets you create/backup your playlists?

 

[mustang7757]

Yes for sure, would you suggest using both Samsung and Google photos? Also compared to the photos the playlists are not a big lost. However it was still alot of time invested and imported music with album art etc. Can you reccomend a method or an app theat lets you create/backup your playlists?

I'm not one to store music but SD card be good for that , but yes I back up everything to Samsung cloud, Google photos, Google drive so I can have multiple places in case something goes wrong and even sd card but will take the ones I make copy out and use different SD card for other things .