Recover Deleted Photos with Stellar – Best Photo Recovery Software in 2026
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Written By Somdatta De
- Approved By Nischal
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Updated on January 6, 2026 -
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When it comes to data loss, people panic the most when cherished photos are involved. It could be a folder deleted by accident, an SD card formatted after a shoot, or images that suddenly disappeared during a transfer. It’s 2026—everyone has access to digital cameras and smartphones with high-res cameras, the capacity of our storage devices is only getting larger, and there’s more frequent file movement. This means photo loss has become a growing problem.
The good news is that in most cases, your deleted or lost photos can still be recovered (as long as you act quickly and use the right photo recovery tool). That’s where modern photo recovery software comes into the picture. Instead of complex technical steps or risky DIY fixes, a reliable recovery tool will let you scan your storage safely and restore photos without altering the original data.
In this article, we’ll look at what makes the best photo recovery software in 2026, why Stellar Photo Recovery Professional stands out, and how you can use it to recover deleted photos from your PC and external storage devices with confidence.
What Makes a Photo Recovery Software “Best” in 2026?
Not all photo recovery tools are built the same. In 2026, the best photo recovery software doesn’t just have to find your deleted files—it’s about how safely, accurately, and efficiently those photos can be restored.
We’ve identified six key factors that define a truly reliable photo recovery tool today.
⚙️ High Recovery Success Rate
The software should be able to locate photos deleted due to accidental deletion, formatting, or file system corruption (not just recently removed files).
🖼️ Wide Photo Format Support
Broad format support is essential. Good photo recovery software should be compatible with common formats like JPEG and PNG, as well as RAW files used by DSLR and mirrorless cameras.
💻 Strong Compatibility With PCs and Storage Devices
The best tools support photo recovery for internal drives, SD cards, CFexpress cards, USB drives, external hard disks, and camera memory cards.
👀 Preview Before Recovery
This is by far the most important; being able to preview recoverable photos ensures you only restore what you actually need.
🔒 Read-Only/Non-Destructive Scanning
A good recovery tool should never write data back to the source device during scanning. This helps keep your photos safe from accidental overwrites.
🧭 Ease of Use
Clear steps, guided scans, and an intuitive interface matter (especially when you’re already stressed about your lost photos).
From our decades of experience with recovery software, we’ve found that these criteria separate basic utilities and free photo recovery apps from powerful, professional-grade software. In the next section, we’ll see how Stellar Photo Recovery Professional meets (and exceeds) all of these requirements, making it the best photo recovery software in 2026.
Why Stellar Photo Recovery Is the Best Photo Recovery Software in 2025
In 2025, recovering photos isn’t just about finding deleted files—you also need to do it safely, accurately, and without further damaging your storage device. Many free/generic tools fall short because they don’t understand modern storage behavior or high-resolution image formats.
Stellar Photo Recovery Professional is designed specifically for these modern recovery challenges. It goes beyond basic recovery from accidental deletion and performs deep scans that locate lost photo data even after formatting, corruption, or file system damage. Whether your photos were deleted by mistake, lost during a transfer, or disappeared after a system issue, Stellar’s software is built to handle all of those scenarios reliably.
It supports photo recovery for PC internal drives as well as external storage like SD cards, USB drives, CFexpress cards, and other camera memory cards (where most photo loss actually occurs). Our recovery process is completely read-only so that there are no additional writes that can put your deleted photos at risk.
The ability to preview your photos before recovery, restore images in batches, and recover both standard and RAW photo formats makes Stellar Photo Recovery Professional a dependable choice, regardless of whether you’re an everyday user or a professional.
In fact, Stellar’s software has so many specialized features, we’ve put them all together in this handy table with the most common photo recovery scenarios.
| Feature | What It Does | When It Helps |
|---|---|---|
| Deep Scan Technology | Scans storage at a low level to locate deleted and lost photo data | Photos deleted accidentally or lost after formatting |
| Broad Photo Format Support | Recovers JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC, and RAW formats | DSLR, mirrorless camera, and smartphone photos |
| Preview Before Recovery | Shows recoverable photos before saving | Helps verify image quality and select only what you need |
| Read-Only Recovery Process | Never writes data back to the source drive | Prevents overwriting deleted photos |
| External Device Support | Works with SD cards, USB drives, external HDDs | Photos lost from cameras, memory cards, and portable drives |
| Batch Photo Recovery | Restores multiple photos in one go | Large photo collections or full folder recovery |
| Post-Format Recovery | Finds photos even after storage is formatted | SD cards or drives formatted by mistake |
| User-Friendly Interface | Guided steps and clear scan results | Ideal when you need fast recovery without technical steps |
How to Recover Deleted Photos Using Stellar Photo Recovery: Step-by-Step Guide
Here’s how you can use Stellar Photo Recovery Professional to get back your deleted photos, hassle-free.
- Download and install Stellar Photo Recovery Professional on your PC on a healthy drive—not on the same storage device from which your photos were deleted. Launch the application.
- Select the type of files you want to recover. We’ve selected All Data. Click on Next.
- On the Recover From screen, select your PC’s internal drive, SD card, USB drive, or external hard disk (from wherever the photos were lost).
- Now, click on Scan to begin a regular scan. If needed, the software can also perform a deep scan to locate photos lost due to formatting or corruption.
- Preview your recoverable photos to confirm the image quality and to ensure that you recover exactly what you need.
- And that’s it! You can now save the recovered photos to a different location.
If your storage device isn’t detected, shows signs of physical damage, or fails during scanning, further DIY attempts may reduce the chances of recovery. In such cases, professional photo recovery services from Stellar Data Recovery can help, using advanced in-lab techniques to safely retrieve your images.
Important: Always save restored photos to a separate drive to avoid overwriting recoverable data.
This read-only recovery process ensures your original storage remains untouched while giving you the best chance of restoring your deleted photos safely.
When Photo Recovery Software Won’t Work (and When to Consider Professional Recovery)
While photo recovery software is highly effective in most deletion and formatting scenarios, there are situations where software alone may not be enough.
Photo recovery software may not work in the following scenarios.
❌ When photo data has already been overwritten by new files.
❌ When the storage device is physically damaged.
❌ When the drive or memory card is not detected by the system.
❌ When files are reduced to zero bytes or the storage controller has failed
In such cases, continued DIY attempts can reduce recovery chances further. This is when professional, in-lab recovery becomes the safer option.
Stellar’s photo recovery service is designed for severe cases where you’re dealing with physically damaged drives, unreadable memory cards, or storage devices that fail to initialize. Using specialized in-lab tools, Stellar’s engineers can recover photo data directly from damaged storage when software-based recovery isn’t possible.
Knowing when to stop software attempts and head to professional recovery services can mean the difference between successful recovery and permanent photo loss!
For more specific photo recovery scenarios and helpful guides, check out these articles:
FAQs
1. What is the best photo recovery software in 2026?
Stellar Photo Recovery is widely regarded as one of the best photo recovery software options for recovering deleted or lost photos from PCs, SD cards, CFexpress cards, and other media.
2. Can photo recovery software recover deleted photos from a PC?
Yes. A reliable tool like Stellar Photo Recovery can scan your PC storage and recover deleted photos software-based, as long as the data hasn’t been overwritten.
3. Is there a free photo recovery app that works?
Some free photo recovery apps can scan and detect photos, but most limit actual recovery. Full recovery usually requires a professional photo recovery software.
4. Can Stellar Photo Recovery recover photos after formatting?
Yes. Stellar Photo Recovery can recover lost photos even after accidental formatting, provided the photo data hasn’t been overwritten.
About The Author
Somdatta is a professional content writer and analyst focused on the storage technology sector, with expertise in both magnetic and flash storage, as well as cloud computing and virtualization concepts. She translates technical concepts into clear, engaging content to sensitize readers toward a multitude of data loss scenarios and help them gain insights into the nuances of data recovery.
