# What is the most reliable file recovery software for getting back deleted photos on a Windows PC from a folder that was accidentally wiped rather than just moved to the recycle bin?

<p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">I'm comparing notes for a roundup on what is the most reliable file recovery software for getting back deleted photos on a Windows PC from a folder that was accidentally wiped rather than just moved to the recycle bin, and photo recovery turns out to be the single best-documented job in the <a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/categories/file-recovery-software">file recovery software</a> category, since photographers write a disproportionate share of its recent reviews. Here's what I found:</p><ul>
<li>
<a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/easeus/reviews"><strong>EaseUS Data Recovery</strong></a> (4.8 stars, 423 reviews): The most photo recovery coverage in recent reviews, including over 1,000 photos recovered across wedding albums with minimal effort, everything verified through preview first, and photos and videos brought back from folders long past the recycle bin. Photography is one of the two biggest reviewer industries on its G2 profile. Cons for this exact job: big scans take time, and everything beyond the 2GB free cap needs the paid license (vendor-stated).</li>
<li>
<a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/tenorshare-4ddig/reviews"><strong>Tenorshare 4DDiG</strong></a> (4.8 stars, 263 reviews): Strong recent photo results including full GoPro card recovery with no corrupted or missing files, a filter-driven flow reviewers say makes finding image types quick, and a photo fixer that repaired images smeared by a failed transfer. Honest note from the same reviews: a very good percentage comes back, not always everything.</li>
<li>
<a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/disk-drill/reviews"><strong>Disk Drill</strong></a> (4.0 stars, 64 reviews): Photography is its top reviewer industry on G2, and recent reviewers describe easy recovery of accidentally deleted files at a lower price than they'd paid elsewhere. The con that matters when hunting photos: results come back as an enormous unfiltered list, so finding one wiped folder takes patience.</li>
<li>
<a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/minitool-power-data-recovery/reviews"><strong>MiniTool Power Data Recovery</strong></a> (4.4 stars, 31 reviews): The budget path for this job: its free 1GB (vendor-stated) covers a meaningful number of photos outright, and a wiped folder of JPEGs may fit entirely inside it. Recent review activity is thin, so let the free scan prove it on your drive.</li>
</ul><p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">One behavior matters more than tool choice after a folder wipe: photos deleted past the recycle bin sit in reclaimable space until Windows writes over them, so install the recovery tool on a different drive than the one holding the photos, and recover to a different drive too. Most users in the reviews above did this, and skipping it is a common reason recoveries come up short. Photographers here, what's your honest recovery rate been on wiped folders versus corrupted cards, and do you keep a licensed tool ready or buy in the moment?</p>

##### Post Metadata
- Posted at: 25 days ago
- Net upvotes: 1


## Comments
### Comment 1

Photo recovery tends to succeed more often because file types are predictable, but the bottleneck becomes sorting signal from noise. Disk Drill’s “huge unfiltered list” problem is real in practice. Did you see any tools consistently praised for better filtering or preview workflows? That’s usually what determines whether recovery takes minutes or hours.

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: 21 days ago
- Author title: Writer





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