I have lost 500 pics after deleting internal storage

[LucyTru]

Hi I deleted my internal storage and managed to delete all my photos. I managed to retrieve some using a recovery app but although grey tiles show up in my trash where the photos are I cant recover them! It seems to have recovered from Jan 2020 when i got the phone up to Feb 2024 but anything since is gone! HELP 

 

[Helenna]

Hi LucyTru,

That's really sad and sorry to hear this issue from you.

Have you tried to retrieve them from, go to Settings > Accounts and backup > Samsung Cloud > Gallery > Trash. Select your photos and tap Restore. 

Also, have you checked in Google photos app if your'e able to retrieve them back?

[MsEcho]

I'll add this in case it helps, but I'm afraid it may not, and it won't be simple:
Android OS (made with Linux kernel) has a file system similar to Linux; on Linux we have application called PhotoRec which is used to recover lost/deleted files. Deleted files are not "gone" until they are actually overwritten with new data. If you have a friend with a Linux desktop (or, you can download for free a live ISO Image of Linux Mint to run from USB stick on your PC) then in the Linux Mint, install PhotoRec. Plug your phone into the PC via USB cable, with set USB mode on the phone to "MTP", you may now be able to tell PhotoRec to search the phone file system (just like searching a disk drive) for all deleted files. If it works (big if) the recovered files will get filenames like #1234567 which is the inode # the file was given when it was saved. If this works, you'll need to manually rename all recovered files, but at least you'd have them back. Good luck! Been there too: )

[MsEcho]

By the way, until you've given up on recovering the pictures, you should not use the device. Every minute it is being used, there's the chance for deleted stuff to get overwritten.

[Dem_Crumblies_TechYT]

Dunno if you already checked, but checking your Google Photos online might have the images, or even your onedrive if you use it.