Even after you "delete" a raw file, it lingers on your hard drive for a while, and you might be able to recover it.
Most high-end digital camera can shoot in a raw format that stores the image data with full integrity. Although these image files can be the basis for high-quality image editing, they also consume massive amounts of disc space, some reach over 100MBs. You might delete them to free up space, only to later realize you needed one of the raw photos. By using file recovery tools, it's possible to recover these lost images even after you delete them, although even with the best tools, you might discover that the file has been truly lost or corrupted.
Instructions
PhotoRec
1. Open PhotoRec. If you don't already have it installed on your computer, use a different computer to download it, and install it onto a flash drive. Since every program you install on your computer after you delete your raw image has a chance of overwriting the image, it's best to install even a small piece of software like PhotoRec on a different drive. PhotoRec is free, open source and specifically designed for recovering photos.
2. Select the drive your image was located on. If you have multiple drive and are unsure which it was on, then repeat the following steps for each drive until you find your image.
3. Select which partition type your computer has. Most Windows-based computers use "Intel," while pre-OSX Macs use "Apple," and newer models use "EFI GPT."
4. Select the partition your image was located on. Again, if you're unsure, repeat the following steps for each partition.
5. Wait while PhotoRec recovers images from your hard drive. When it's done, it will tell you where the recovered files are being stored. Look for the image you lost by browsing through the recovered files.
Recuva
6. Open Recuva. As with PhotoRec, if you do not already have it installed on your computer, download it onto a separate computer, and install it onto a USB. This will prevent Recuva from overwriting your deleted raw image. Recuva is free, and its user interface is more intuitive than PhotoRec's DOS-based interface.
7. Select the drive your image was located on, and perform a scan. If you're unsure which drive it was on, then repeat this and the following steps for each drive. The scan process can take up to 30 minutes for each drive.
8. Look through the detected files to find your lost image. To make searching easier, you can narrow the results down to just images by selecting "Pictures" from the drop-down box next to the "Scan" button. By clicking on a file, you can also preview its image to verify that it's the one you're searching for.
9. Right-click the image, and select "Recover Highlighted." Select where you want the recovered image to be saved.
