Never lose an image again

Losing or accidentally deleting images can be very scary, but all may not be James Abbott explains everything you need to know about image recovery and back-up

- James Abbott

James Abbott James is an award-winning landscape and portrait photographer based in Cambridge and the author of The Digital Darkroom: The Definitive Guide to Photo Editing in Affinity Photo and Photoshop. See www.jamesaphoto.co.uk and Instagram: @jamesaphoto

When you've taken great care to shoot the W best images you possibly can, there's nothing worse than losing them through accidental deletion or card corruption. While your camera gear can be insured against loss or damage, images require a much more personal approach to keeping them safe from being lost.

In fact, you never need lose another image again - you simply need to know how what precautions to take. Prevention is always the best medicine, so not only will we show you how to recover deleted images alongside strategies to reduce the chances of losing them, but we'll also explain how to improve your back-up workflow for the ultimate data security.

1 Back'em up, and avoid card corruption

After each shoot, it's wise to download your images to your computer to avoid accidental deletion or card corruption. Once downloaded, don't simply delete all images from the card - there's a risk that the file that tells devices where images are being stored on the memory card could end up getting corrupted. Format the card to create a new file, and start afresh.

2 Formatting a card by mistake

Accidentally formatted a card? No need to panic. When you format your cards, you don't actually delete the images from them. What happens is that the file that tells cameras and computers that the card holds 'X' number of images in 'Y' location is deleted, so the card appears empty when in reality it isn't. This means that you can use image-recovery software to relocate these images and recover them from the card. Phew.

3 Smart recovery care tips