Oops! You've unintentionally deleted files on your SD cards and you're in an uncomfortable state right now? We can feel the heat in your body but take a deep breath and calm down. You can recover lost files from the SD card on your TECNO, Infinix, or itel phones. Whether they're the photos or videos of your good old memories, PDF or other document files for work, your entire music library, or anything else. One thing is that it sucks to lose files on your SD card. It's even worse when you think you can't recover them. But in this article, we'll walk you through 4 easy methods on how to recover lost files on your TECNO & Infinix SD card.
Let’s get started. But before that, we recommend you stop storing new files on the SD card to avoid losing the files you’re dying hard to recover totally.
1. Restore deleted files from the Trash folder
If you're using one of those Gallery or File Manager apps that have a recycle bin, you have a high chance of recovering the deleted files on your SD card. Though the default Gallery and File Manager apps on TECNO and Infinix devices didn't ship with such a feature, the pre-installed Google Photos app on these devices moves your pictures and videos to the Trash folders after deleting them. With that, you could restore the deleted files easily if you deleted them from the Photos app or any File Manager app with recycle bin. Follow the steps below to check and restore lost photos and videos from the trash folder.
- Open the Photos app on your device.
- Tap Library in the bottom
- Select
- From there, you'll see all the photos and videos deleted in the last 60 days via the Photos app.
- Scroll through them and select the ones you want to restore, then tap Restore below the screen.
Chances are you’re able to restore the lost files on your SD card by now. If not, try the next solution below.
2. Review files that are hidden with Vault
With the introduction of Vault on HiOS 7 and XOS 7 on TECNO and Infinix devices, people can now hide almost everything on their phones - be it apps, photos, videos, PDF files, and other documents. On XOS 7.5 and HiOS 7.5, the feature is also extended to hide files from the File Manager, AI Gallery, HiOS Launcher, and more. So, chances are that you’ve hidden some files mistakenly, which means it won’t show on the SD card or your Gallery. Before panicking over your lost files, simply check the Vault folder first:
- Open AI Gallery on your TECNO of Infinix phone.
- Click Tools in the bottom bar.
- Select Vault and unlock it.
- Now check the file categories one after the other to view the hidden files. If you sight any of the lost files there, kindly unhide them.
3. Recover deleted files from backup
This method will likely work for you if you’re already using Google Photos to back up your pictures and videos. It works in the sense that even if you mistakenly deleted your photos and videos on another app, they’ll still show up on Google Photos. However, Google Photos only back up the pictures and videos on your camera roll by default. So, if you’ve not been backing up “device folders”, this solution might not work for you.
Nevertheless, it’s worth checking.
- Simply open the Photos app on your device.
- Ensure you’re connected to the internet.
- Scroll through the pictures and videos on the first interface to check if you can find your lost photos. If yes, you can download them from there.
In case you’ve not been syncing your gallery to the cloud with Google Photos, kindly do so now to avoid future loss. Also, don’t forget to “Back up device folders”, so you don’t miss images on other folders next time, even after factory reset.
4. Recover lost files with Android Data Recovery
So you’ve checked the trash folder and your Vault app but none seems to help recover your lost files? All hope is not lost, however. You can try some of the Android data recovery apps around. These apps were created mainly for this purpose and they can help you recover lost files on your SD card in most cases.
Although, the recovery process might work or not: depending on how the files were deleted and what you’ve done after deleting the files. To yield better results, it is recommended you stop storing things on the SD card as soon as possible. Storing new files may end up filling the space and eventually take over the data you want to save.
As for the Android data recovery apps, we recommend you try the desktop version first. The mobile apps seem to have some limitations. For instance, you need to root your Android phone or most of the recovery functions won't work. More so, you might not be able to do a deep search on your phone. So, we recommend you use a desktop computer app.
To get started, install any of the apps on your PC and launch it. You'll need to eject the affected SD card from your phone and attach it to the PC with a micro SD card adapter or USB card reader. After that, you need to launch the app and follow the on-screen guide to do a thorough scan of your SD card. Hopefully, you'll be able to recover the lost files.
