Can I get back deleted photos when the card is formatted on my iMac?

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Level 1

4 points

Can I get back deleted photos when the card is formatted on my iMac?

Hi. I uploaded new photos to lightroom last night and all went perfect. This morning I went to work on them and realized that all photos/folders from my mac have dissapeared from a certain date (there is nothing prior to sept 2024). My wife had inadvertedly dissconected the hard drive where time machine is stored a couple of days ago. I can get a backup from a few weeks ago thanks to time machine, but the photos that I uploaded yesterday are important to me and do not want to lose them (the card was formatted this morning). Would anyone have any input on how to proceed?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: lost photo folders overnight

iMac 21.5″ 4K, macOS 13.7

Posted on Jun 7, 2025 7:37 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 7, 2025 7:49 AM in response to cubatahavana

It sounds like this doesn't involve the Photos app-- is that correct?

Do you know why Folders disappeared? Another inadvertent unplugging? Or could it be that they are not where you thought they should be? You could use the app Find Any File ($6) to search in places where Spotlight doesn't look.

As an unfortunate "I told you so," I never delete pictures from my memory cards until I'm sure I have at least two backups on two different external drives. For instance, we see here the use of "Delete after transfer" as a cause of much tears.

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Answer 2

cubatahavana Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 7, 2025 9:28 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

it doesn't involve the photos app, no. No idea why they dissapeared. My thoughts are that for whatever reason the mac auto backed up to sept 2024 deleting everything in between. As I said, I have a recent backup on time machine, but those photos are not in it. Tried data recovery for the sd card with no luck so far

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