Deleted something important?
Here's how to actually get it back.
Free, step-by-step recovery guides for photos, documents, and chat history — Telegram, WhatsApp, and Viber included. Written honestly: what works, what doesn't, and why timing matters.
Every situation is different — jump straight to yours
Recovery odds depend on what you deleted, where, and how much you've used the device since. Pick your case below.
Photos & videos
Recycle Bin, Recently Deleted albums, SD cards, and formatted drives.
Recover photos →Chats & messages
Telegram, WhatsApp, and Viber — cloud backups and local database files.
Recover chats →Formatted drives
Quick-formatted a disk or SD card by mistake? There's still a window.
Recover after formatting →Recover deleted photos & videos
Check the Recycle Bin first
Sounds obvious, but it's the most commonly skipped step. If the file is there, right-click → Restore, and you're done.
Open the Windows Photos app's own trash
If you deleted the image from inside the Photos app, it keeps its own safety net separate from the Recycle Bin — look for a "Recently deleted" section there.
Try File History or a previous version
Right-click the folder the photo was in → Properties → Previous Versions. If File History or System Restore was enabled, you can pull an older snapshot of the whole folder.
Last resort: file recovery software
If none of the above worked, a recovery tool can scan the drive for the underlying data, which usually still exists until it's overwritten. Save anything you recover to a different drive, never back onto the one you're scanning.
Open Google Photos' trash
Deleted images stay in the Trash for 30 days (60 if the photo was already backed up to the cloud). Select it and tap Restore.
Check your gallery app's own bin
Samsung, Xiaomi, and most manufacturer gallery apps keep a separate "Recently deleted" folder for 15–30 days, independent of Google Photos.
Stop using the phone if neither has it
At that point the file only exists as raw data on storage. Continued use risks overwriting it — this is where a data-recovery specialist or software becomes your only option.
Check "Recently Deleted" in the Photos app
Go to Albums → Recently Deleted. iOS keeps deleted photos here for 30 days before permanent removal.
Check iCloud Photos on another device or icloud.com
If iCloud Photos sync was on, the deletion likely synced everywhere too — but the same 30-day Recently Deleted window applies there as well.
Restore from an iCloud or computer backup
A full backup restore reverts the entire device to that backup's date — not just your photo library — so treat it as a last resort.
Eject the card immediately
Turn off the camera or phone and remove the SD card the moment you notice files are missing. One more shot can silently overwrite the deleted photo.
Never format when prompted
If your computer says the card "needs to be formatted" when you plug it in, click Cancel. Formatting can make recovery harder, though a Quick Format usually still leaves data intact underneath.
Scan with recovery software
Plug the card into a computer via a card reader, run a recovery tool, and save any recovered files to your computer's drive — never back onto the card itself.
Recover deleted chats & messages
Understand Telegram's cloud model
Unlike WhatsApp, most Telegram chats live on Telegram's servers, not just your phone. Deleting the app and reinstalling it usually restores every chat automatically.
Check "Saved Messages"
If you ever forwarded the message to yourself, it lives on independently in your Saved Messages folder — even if the original was later deleted.
Look for an exported chat history
Settings → Advanced → Export Telegram Data lets you export chat history going forward. If you'd exported before the deletion, that archive still has it.
Check WhatsApp's built-in backup
WhatsApp backs up to Google Drive (Android) or iCloud (iPhone) daily by default. If a backup exists from before the deletion, you can restore your full chat history from it.
Reinstall to trigger a restore prompt
Uninstalling and reinstalling WhatsApp offers to restore from your most recent cloud backup — this is the fastest path if one exists.
Know the limits
Backups only go back to their last save point — anything deleted and then backed up over is not recoverable this way. There's no "undo" for a single deleted message once both backup and device copies are gone.
Check Viber's backup setting
Settings → Account → Viber Backup. If backup was enabled, you can restore your chat history from the date of the last backup.
Look for local database files (Android)
Viber stores chat databases locally on the device in its app folder. If backup wasn't on, a file-recovery scan of that folder can sometimes pull an older copy.
On iPhone, a full device restore is the only path
Restoring an entire iPhone backup reverts everything — apps, photos, settings — to that date, not just Viber. Weigh that trade-off before doing it just for one chat.
Recover deleted Word, Excel & PDF files
Recycle Bin / Trash
Still the first stop. Sort by "Date deleted" if you're hunting through a full bin.
AutoRecover / Temp files
Office apps periodically save autorecovery copies. In Word or Excel, check File → Info → Manage Document → Recover Unsaved Documents.
File History or Time Machine
If either was enabled before the deletion, you can restore the folder to a snapshot from before the file went missing — this recovers the file exactly as it was.
Cloud sync trash
If the folder synced to OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox, check that service's own web trash — it's often separate from your local Recycle Bin and lasts longer.
Recover files after formatting a drive
Stop writing to the drive immediately
Don't save anything new to it, don't install software on it, don't even browse it casually in a way that could trigger temp files.
Run recovery software from a different drive
Install and run the tool from your main system drive, then point it at the formatted drive as the target to scan — never install onto the drive you're trying to recover.
Save recovered files somewhere else
Always recover to a third, separate location. Writing recovered files back onto the same drive can overwrite the very data you haven't recovered yet.
Act fast
Success rates are highest immediately after a Quick Format and drop the longer the drive stays in use afterward.