How to recover deleted photos on Xiaomi Redmi 7: from the cart to deep scanning

Losing photos on a smartphone is one of the most frustrating situations for a user, especially if you are talking about the Xiaomi Redmi 7, which, despite its age (the model was released in 2019), is still in active use. Fortunately, even if you accidentally clicked on Delete or formatted the memory card, the chances of returning pictures remain high, the main thing is to act quickly and correctly.

In this article, we will look at all possible recovery options, from basic ones (checking your cart and cloud backups) to advanced ones (using PCs and specialized utilities), and focus on the nouns of working with MIUI 10-12, which are installed on most Redmi 7, as well as the risks associated with overwriting data. If you have tried to restore something and nothing has worked, do not despair: at the end of this article there is a section with alternative solutions for complex cases.

1.Check the basket at MIUI Gallery

The first thing you need to do is to look into the built-in Gallery app shopping cart, and in MIUI, deleted photos are not erased immediately, but are sent to a temporary storage facility where they are 30 days (by default), which can be changed in the settings, but most users keep it standard.

How to find the basket:

• 📱 Open the Gallery app on your Redmi 7.
• 🗑️ In the lower menu, tap on the Recycle Bin tab (or Remote in older versions). MIUI).
• 🔍 Scroll through the list and find the photos you want. To recover, click on the picture and select Restore.
• 📤 For mass recovery, use the Control button. → tag files → Restore.

If the cart is empty or the photo is not there, it means that either more than 30 days have passed, or you have manually cleaned the cart, or deleted the photo through the Explorer (in which case they will bypass the gallery basket).

⚠️ Warning: Do not save new photos or videos to your phone until you recover! Each new file increases the chance of overwriting deleted data, making it impossible to recover.

2. Recovery via Mi Cloud (Xiaomi Cloud)

If your Redmi 7 has been enabled to sync with Mi Cloud, the chances of returning photos are very high. Xiaomi Cloud automatically reserves media files (if this option is activated in the settings).

Instructions for remediation:

• 🌐 Go to i.mi.com from any device and log in with the same Mi Account as you do on your phone.
• 📁 In the Gallery section, find the Remote or Recycle Bin folder (similar to local storage).
• ⏳ Photos are stored in the cloud 60 days after deleting, which is twice as long as a phone.
• 🔄 To return the images, select them and click Restore. They will appear in the gallery on Redmi 7 the next time you connect to the Internet.

If there are no photos in the cloud, check:

• 🔧 Has gallery synchronization been included in Settings? → Mi Account → Mi Cloud → gallery.
• 📶 Is there enough space in the cloud (free 5GB, but easy to fill).
• 📅 Last sync date – photos may have been deleted before they could load.

3. Restore via Google Photos (if used)

Many Xiaomi Redmi 7 users set up automatic uploads of photos to Google Photos. If you are logged in to a Google account and have backed up, check:

Steps to recover:

1. Open the Google Photos app on your phone or go to photos.google.com.
2. In the side menu, select the basket (on the site - in the left column).
3. Find the photos you need (they are stored for 60 days) and click Restore.
4. If the photos aren’t in the cart, check out the main gallery – they may just be hidden or archived.

If you didn’t use Google Photos but you had a Google account on your phone, try:

• 🔍 Enter a Google Photo search query by date or location (e.g. beach August 2023).
• 📥 Check the Downloads folder in Google Drive – sometimes photos are saved there when manually uploading.

⚠️ Note: If you have deleted a photo from Google Photos and it has been more than 60 days, it can’t be restored even through Google support.

4.Use of PCs and programs for deep scanning

If the previous methods didn't work, it's time to connect the computer. Special programs (for example, DiskDigger, Recuva, EaseUS MobiSaver) scan the internal memory or memory card of Redmi 7 at the file system level and can find photos even after formatting.

Important: This only works if deleted photos have not been overwritten by new data, and the less you use your phone after deleting, the better the odds.

Step-by-step instructions for DiskDigger (free version):

Turn off mobile internet and Wi-Fi on Redmi 7|

Connect your phone to your PC through the original USB-cable|

Enable file transfer mode (MTP) in the notification curtain |

Install DiskDigger on your computer (from the official website |)

Do not connect other storage devices during scanning-->

1. Connect Redmi 7 to your PC and select File Transfer mode.
2. Start DiskDigger and select the drive that matches the phone’s memory (usually Internal Storage or microSD card name).
3. Press Dig Deep (deep scan) and wait until it is completed (may take hours).
4. After scanning, mark the desired photos (filter in.jpg,.png format) and press Recover.
5. Save the recovered files to your PC hard drive, not back to your phone!

For the memory card:

• 📷 Remove the microSD from your phone and connect it to your PC via a card reader.
• 🔍 Use Recuva (in the scanning settings, select Deep Analysis).
• 💾 Save the recovered photos to another medium to avoid re-loss.

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If the program finds photos, but they open with artifacts (stripe, blur), it means that some of the data has been overwritten. Try to restore them in RAW format, sometimes this gives a better result.

5. Recovery after reset to factory settings

If you have done a hard reset (reset via Settings) → Additionally. → Recovery and reset, the chances of returning a photo drop sharply, but they are, only specialized software and knowledge of the features of the Redmi 7 file system will help.

What can be done:

• 🖥️ Connect your phone to your PC and scan your internal memory with programs like EaseUS Data Recovery or Dr.Fone, and they can work with partitions after a reset.
• 📱 If the reset was made via Fastboot, the data is erased irrevocably, and only a backup will help.
• 🔧 Try to restore the section /data through ADB, But it requires root rights and experience (more in spoiler below).

If you have recently reset (within 1-2 days), try:

• 🛑 Disable the phone immediately and do not turn it on before connecting to the PC.
• 🔌 Use DiskDigger in Dig Deeper mode – it searches for snippets of files even after formatting.

⚠️ Note: After resetting to factory settings, do not update MIUI And don't install apps! Every record on a disk reduces your chances of recovery.

6. Alternative ways and prevention for the future

If none of the above has worked, there are extreme measures:

• 📞 Contact Xiaomi Service Center – They have low-level recovery tools (but it’s expensive and doesn’t guarantee results).
• 🔧 Try it. JTAG-Recovery (requires special equipment and soldering skills).
• 💿 If the photo was on a memory card, take it to a data recovery laboratory (for example, ACE Lab or R-Studio).

To avoid losing photos in the future:

Enable automatic sync with Mi Cloud or Google Photo|

Regularly copy photos to PC or external disk|

Use the memory card as the main storage (easier to restore)|

Do not clean the gallery basket manually |

Before resetting your phone, make a backup through Settings → Additionally. → Backup-->

For Redmi 7, it is especially important to:

• 📲 Use external drives (flash drives) OTG) storage.
• 🔄 Set up weekly sync with the cloud (in Mi Cloud Settings, select Autosynchronization over Wi-Fi).
• 📦 Install third-party backup apps like Resilio Sync or FolderSync.

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The most reliable way to avoid losing a photo is a combination of cloud backup (Mi). Cloud/Google Photo Photo) + Even if one method fails, the other will save the data.

FAQ: Frequent questions about photo recovery on Redmi 7