Accidental removal of important images from the smartphone screen is a situation familiar to many owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco. Finger flinched, swipe was wrong, or the system failed, and valuable footage disappeared from the gallery. Panic in such cases is the first enemy, because it prevents sober assessment of the situation and choose the right algorithm of actions.
Fortunately, the Android operating system and the MIUI shell (or the new HyperOS) offer multiple layers of data protection. Often deleted files don't disappear instantly, but are only marked by the system as overwritable, and the chances of success depend on how fast you react and which sync tools were activated before the incident.
In this guide, we will look at all the ways to return images, from the built-in cart to the use of specialized software, and carefully follow the instructions so as not to aggravate the situation and overwrite the memory sector where your data is stored.
Using the built-in basket in the Xiaomi Gallery
The easiest and fastest way, often forgotten in a hurry, is to check the standard shopping cart in the Gallery app. MIUI shell automatically saves deleted media files to a special buffer for 30 days. This is the first place to look before trying complex methods.
To get there, open the Gallery app and go to the Albums tab. Scroll down to the bottom and you'll see a folder called Deleted or Recycle Bin, and it's got all the photos you've erased in the last month.
⚠️ Note: If you manually cleaned the Recycle Bin or have been more than 30 days, files are permanently deleted from the file system level, and this method will not help.
Select the images you want, click the Restore button, and they'll return to their original albums, and if the button is inactive, it means the file is damaged or has already been restored.
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Turn on the display of hidden albums in the gallery settings to always see the folder "Deleted" and control its occupancy.
Checking cloud services: Mi Cloud and Google Photos
Xiaomi smartphone owners have access to the Mi Cloud ecosystem, which by default can sync a gallery. Even if you deleted a photo from your phone, a copy of it could stay in the cloud if the sync was turned on in time.
Go to your smartphone settings, select "Mi Account" and go to Mi Cloud. Click on the gallery icon and make sure the sync switch is active. If so, the deleted photos may be in the web version of the cloud at i.mi.com.
The alternative is Google Photos, which many Android users use as their primary storage, open the app, go to the Library section and check the Recycle Bin folder, and the files deleted there can last up to 60 days.
If you find photos in the cloud, you can download them back to your device, and to do this, in the web interface or application, select the desired frames and click on "Save to the device" or "Restore".
Recovery from Local Backups
Shell MIUI It has a powerful built-in backup tool that users often ignore. If you ever backup a system or an application data, your photos could be archived. SD-map.
Go to the "Settings" menu" → "The phone" → "Backup Restore" (or simply type "Reserve" in your settings search) shows the date you created copies. Select the date preceding the removal of photos.
- 📂 Select the data type "Photographs" or "Gallery".
- 📅 Make sure the backup date is up to date for lost files.
- 🔄 Click "Restore" and wait for the process to be completed.
Once the operation is complete, the phone may suggest a reboot, and don’t ignore this requirement, as the system’s media scanner needs time to index the recovered files.
Where is the backup physically located?
Use of third-party applications for Android
When built-in methods fail, specialized tools come to the rescue, and one of the most popular solutions is DiskDigger, which can scan memory for traces of deleted files, and its effectiveness depends on root rights.
Without a super-user (root) right, the app does a surface scan, finding thumbnails and cached versions of the photo, which may be lower than the original, but it's better than nothing. With root rights, you can search for full versions of files.
| Annex | I need a Root. | Type of data recovered | Price. |
|---|---|---|---|
| DiskDigger | Preferably. | Photos, Videos | Freemium |
| Undeleter | Yes. | All types of files | Paid |
| Dumpster | No. | The basket (future photos) | Free of charge. |
Install the app from Google Play, run the scan and wait for the results. If the program finds your photos, save them to another folder or send them to the cloud so that the original memory sector does not disappear.
☑️ Action plan for the use of software
Recovery through PC Connection
If the mobile applications fail, you can try to connect the smartphone to the computer, and the computer programs have more computing power and more advanced algorithms for analyzing the file system. USB-cable and a little more time.
You'll need a program like Recuva, Dr.Fone or 7-Data Recovery. Before connecting, turn on your phone's USB debugging mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and click on MIUI Version 7 times to activate the developer menu.
Settings → Advanced settings → For developers → Debugging by USBConnect your phone to your PC, select file transfer mode (MTP) and run the scan in the program on your computer. The process can take anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours depending on the amount of memory.
⚠️ Warning: When connecting to a PC, don't agree to formatting the device if the system suddenly requests this action.
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The less you do with your phone after deleting your photo, the better the chances of a full recovery via PC.
Preventing Data Loss in the Future
The best way to combat photo loss is to set up the system properly in advance, automating processes will save you from having to waste time on recovery in the future, and modern Android allows you to set this up with almost no user input.
First of all, set up automatic upload to the cloud. In the Google Photos app, turn on Autoboot and Sync. In the Xiaomi gallery settings, there is also a sync point with Mi Cloud. Choose one main service and make sure it doesn't overflow.
Make local copies of important data on a computer or external hard drive regularly. Once a month, connect your phone to your PC and copy the DCIM/Camera folder. This will take a couple of minutes, but will give you a physical copy of the data out of reach of system failures.
- 🔋 Watch for free space: overcrowded memory increases the risk of crashes and data loss.
- 🛡️ Install antivirus so that malware does not damage files.
- 🔄 Check sync once a week by opening the cloud from another device.
Using an SD card can also be risky if it's of poor quality.Cheap cards often fail without the ability to recover. Invest in reliable drives from proven brands like SanDisk or Samsung.