I recently helped my teen build their first gaming PC, and we realized that we used the wrong USB drive for the Windows 11 installation. I grabbed a SanDisk 32GB USB from my fireproof box, but I didn't know that writing Windows onto it would erase everything already stored there. Unfortunately, I had about 800 family photos saved on that USB. Is there any chance I can recover them? I'd love to do it for free, but if not, I'm willing to pay for recovery options.
4 Answers
Ouch, that’s a tough lesson! The best shot you have is to use recovery software, but it's a long shot since the data may be gone. It’s honestly a good reminder to always have backups on multiple devices. You might also see if any of your pictures are on other devices, like your phone or a camera.
It's tough, but if you had over 5.4GB of photos on that USB and the Windows installer was larger, you might have overwritten everything. However, you can try using a recovery tool like Recuva—it’s free and can sometimes help get back files that seem lost. Just remember that anything you write to the USB after this point can make recovery harder, so don’t add more files until you try to recover!
Definitely try Recuva! It worked for me before, and it's straightforward. Just make sure you run it from a different drive to avoid further issues.
Sorry to hear that! UTB devices work in a way that when you write new data, it can overwrite existing files. If you used the USB format that was quicker, there might still be some chance to recover files, but don’t hold your hopes too high. I recommend trying a deep scan program like DMDE or Disk Drill—both have some free options to check out.
Yeah, definitely avoid formatting the USB anymore until you run recovery software. It may not be perfect, but there's a slight chance some pictures could still be saved.
Honestly, I think those pictures might be permanently lost after being overwritten. If you want to try, definitely check out Recuva or other similar tools. Just remember that recovering files is hit-or-miss, especially with this kind of issue.
Thanks for the advice! I'll give Recuva a shot and hope for the best.
So true! It's crucial to keep backups. Hope you manage to recover something.