Recovery of deleted photos on Xiaomi Redmi 6A: from the cart to deep scanning

Deleting photos from Xiaomi Redmi 6A is a familiar situation, one careless click, reset or phone malfunction, and valuable photos disappear from the gallery. Fortunately, in most cases, files are not permanently deleted: they can be returned if you act quickly and correctly. In this article, we will discuss all the current ways to restore photos on Redmi 6A, from standard MIUI tools to professional utilities for PC.

The main factor of success is time. The sooner you start the recovery process, the better the chances of returning the files to their original quality. The fact is that when you delete the photos, they don't disappear immediately from memory: the system simply marks them as "free space" that can be rewritten with new data, so the first rule is to immediately stop using your phone to shoot, install applications or download files.

The Redmi 6A (codenamed cereus) features limited hardware resources: 2/16 GB of memory in the base version and the lack of a microSD slot in some versions, which affects the choice of recovery method. For example, deep scanning through a PC can take hours, and installing heavy utilities directly on the phone is often impossible.

1. Checking the basket in the standard MIUI gallery

The easiest way to get back deleted photos is to use the built-in Recycle Bin in the Gallery app. In MIUI (even on older versions like Redmi 6A), deleted files are stored in the Recycle Bin for 30 days, after which they are finally cleared. If less than a month has passed, the chances of recovery are close to 100%.

Instructions:

• 📱 Open the Gallery app (the icon with a flower on your desktop).
• 🗑️ Slip on three dots in the upper right corner → pick the basket.
• 🔍 Scroll through the list or search by date (if there are a lot of photos).
• ✅ Select the desired pictures with a long tap → press Restore.

If the cart is empty or there is no photo in it, check:

• 🔄 Whether cloud backups were enabled (see Section 3).
• 📁 Have photos been deleted through the file manager (in this case, they do not fall into the gallery basket).
• 🔧 Have you reset your phone to factory settings (this cleans the cart).

⚠️ Attention: B MIUI 10 and older (relevant to Redmi) 6A) The cart can be disabled by default. To activate it, go to Gallery Settings. → Basket → Turn on the Recycle Bin. But it'll only help for future deletions, because the deleted files won't come back.

2.Recovery through Mi Cloud backups

Xiaomi offers its own cloud storage, the Mi Cloud, which automatically backs up photos if the feature is enabled. Redmi 6A defaults 5GB for free, which is enough for several thousand photos in compressed format.

How to restore:

• 🌐 Go to Settings. → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud.
• 📸 Select Gallery or Backups section.
• 🔍 Find the folder with the date the photo was on the phone.
• ⬇️ Click Download or Restore (depending on version) MIUI).

If there are no backups, check:

• 🔄 Whether synchronization was enabled: Settings → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → gallery → Autosynchronization.
• 📶 Is there enough space in the cloud (when overflowing new photos are not uploaded).
• 📡 Was there any problems with the Internet at the time of removal (photos may not have time to download).

⚠️ Note: If you used Google Photos instead of Mi Cloud, check the cloud cart: deleted photos are stored there for 60 days. Go to photos.google.com, select the Recycle Bin from the menu on the left and restore the desired files.

3.Use of the file manager to search for "hidden" photos

Sometimes the photos are not deleted, but simply moved to other folders or become hidden.

• 🔄 Updates MIUI (files can migrate to DCIM/.thumbnails).
• 📱 Using third-party galleries (e.g. Google Photos creates a folder) Pictures/Google Photos).
• 🔧 Failures in the file system (photos may be in Lost.DIR).

How to find it:

1. Open Files (Standard Xiaomi Manager)
2. Go to the Inner Memory → DCIM or Pictures.
3. Enable the display of hidden files: tap on three points → Settings → Show hidden files.
4. Check folders:.thumbnails – thumbnails (may be full-size copies); Lost.DIR – recovered files after crashes. MIUI/Extra — backups of system applications.

If you find files with the.nomedia extension, rename them to.jpg, which often helps you get back access to your images.

1. Long tap per file. → Rename.
2. Remove.nomedia from the title.
3. Open the gallery and update it (pull the screen down).

Step-by-step instructions for Recuva (on the example of Windows):

1. Get Redmi on board. 6A PC-only USB-cable.
2. Enable File Transfer Mode: On your phone, select File Transfer (MTP).
3. Download and install Recuva from the official website.
4. Start the program, select the type of image files.
5. Specify your phone’s drive (usually a Removable Disc (E:) or the like).
6. Press Analysis and wait until it is completed (can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours).
7. Check the photos you found and click Restore.

The critical nuance for the Redmi 6A is that if the phone has been formatted or reset to factory settings, PC recovery is unlikely, in which case the files are overwritten with system data, and even professional programs will not find them.

5. Recovery through TWRP and root access (for advanced)

If standard methods didn’t work, and photos are critical, you can try low-level recovery through custom recovery TWRP. This method requires unlocking the bootloader and installing TWRP, which voids the warranty and can lead to a phone blink if you make mistakes. Use it only if you understand the risks.

Steps:

1. Unlock the bootloader through the Mi Unlock Tool (you need a Xiaomi account tied to the phone).
2. Install TWRP for Redmi 6A (look for the current version on twrp.me).
3. Download DiskDigger or PhotoRec (there are versions to work with TWRP).
4. Load to TWRP (clip Power + Volume Up).
5. Connect your phone to your PC and run the scan through ADB: adb shell su /data/local/tmp/photorec /data/media/0/DCIM

⚠️ Attention: On Redmi 6A s MIUI 12+ Unlocking the bootloader can result in a 7-30-day lock on your Mi Account.Put your phone on your account before the procedure and wait for the unlock confirmation (usually takes 3-5 days).

Alternatively, use ADB without TWRP:

• 🖥️ Connect the phone to the PC with debugging enabled USB.
• 📥 Install. ADB Tools (e.g. Platform Tools).
• 🔍 Use the command to search for deleted files: adb pull /data/media/0/DCIM/ C:\Redmi6A_Backup (It'll copy all the files from the folder. DCIM disk-c:).

6. Contacting a service center: when nothing helps

If all of these methods failed, and the photos are critical (for example, they are the only pictures of documents or memorable events), you can contact the Xiaomi service center.

• 🔧 Chip-off – Retrieving memory chips and reading data directly.
• 💾 JTAG — Connecting to test contacts of the board to access memory.
• 🛠️ Recovery from physical injuries (such as after a phone drop).

The cost of such services starts from 5 000-10 000 rubles and depends on the complexity of the work.

• 📅 Recovery time may take from 3 days to 2 weeks.
• 📊 Success depends on memory status: if the chip is damaged, the data can be lost irretrievably.
• 🔒 Not all service centers work with data recovery – check in advance.

Before the service visit:

• ❌ Don’t try to take your phone apart by yourself.
• 📱 Do not turn it on if it does not respond to charging (this can aggravate damage).
• 📝 Make a list of lost files with approximate shooting dates.

💡

If the photos were taken on a memory card (if your Redmi 6A supports microSD), retrieve it and connect it to your PC via a card reader. Recovery from a memory card is often easier and more efficient than from an internal drive.

7. How to prevent future photo loss

To avoid the problem of losing your images, set up automatic backups on Redmi 6A and follow the simple rules:

Cloud backups:

• ☁️ Mi Cloud: Enable autosynchronization in Settings → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → gallery.
• 📸 Google Photos: Install the app and activate Backup and Sync.
• 💾 Yandex Drive or Mail.ru Cloud: set up automatic photo upload through their apps.

Local copies:

• 🖥️ Regularly (once every 1-2 months) copy your photo from your phone to your PC via USB Wi-Fi (for example, using Mi) PC Suite).
• 📁 Use a memory card (if your Redmi model is a memory card) 6A It supports) and set up the photo to save it by default.

Additional measures:

• 🔄 Periodically check the folder DCIM Duplicate or corrupted files.
• 📱 Install an alternative gallery (such as Simple Gallery) that offers advanced backup settings.
• 🔧 Turn off automatic cache cleanup in Settings → Warehouse → Cleaning to avoid accidentally removing thumbnails.

💡

Even if photos are permanently deleted, don’t despair: modern neural networks (such as Google Photos or Remini) can improve the quality of old or damaged images by restoring some of the details.

FAQ: Frequent questions about photo recovery on Redmi 6A