3 Ways to Recover Deleted DCIM Folder from Android (UTF-8)

The table below will help you quickly find the solution to recover deleted DCIM folder on your Android device:

Accidentally deleted the DCIM folder on your Android phone?

"Yesterday, while transferring pictures from my phone to a USB flash drive, I mistakenly deleted the DCIM picture folder on my Android phone. I was trying to delete another image folder on the flash drive to free up some disk space but accidentally selected the DCIM folder. As a result, all the pictures stored in it are now missing. Is there any way to recover the DCIM folder from my Android phone? I really need to get all the photos back!"

What is DCIM on Android? Whether it's from a dedicated digital camera or the camera app on your Android or iPhone, photos are stored in the DCIM folder. DCIM stands for “Digital Camera Images.”

Once you delete the DCIM folder from your device, you may lose your precious data. Usually, Android phones and iPhones store the DCIM folder on their internal storage, while digital cameras save it on memory cards like SD, xD, microSD, or CF cards. However, if you insert a memory card into your Android phone and set it to save photos/videos on the card, then the DCIM folder will exist on the memory card instead of its internal storage. Depending on where you store your photos and videos, there are several ways to find the DCIM folder on your Android.

How to Access the DCIM Folder on an Android Device

< strong > Step 1. < /strong> Connect your Android phone to the computer with the appropriate USB cable. Tap “Mount USB storage,” and then tap “OK” or “Mount.”

Step 2: Open Windows Explorer and click on the new drive under Removable Storage Devices.

Step 3: Double-click on "DCIM." Inside, double-click on "Camera" to view pictures and videos stored on the device, or click on ".thumbnails" to see the thumbnails that the gallery app uses.

How to Recover Deleted DCIM Folder from Android SD Card

If the DCIM folder is saved on your Android memory card, you can easily recover photos and videos from the storage device with a reliable Data Recovery Wizard tool. This software helps you restore lost files or folders that were accidentally deleted, formatted, or lost due to other reasons from local/external hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards, digital cards, and other common storage devices.

As long as the deleted DCIM folder hasn't been overwritten with new data, you should be able to recover your precious files from your Android's memory card. To maximize the chances of restoring all your data, remove the card and stop using it immediately after the loss occurs.

Download the tool Data Recovery Wizard, and follow these steps to restore the DCIM folder from your Android memory card:

Step 1: Select the folder where you lost your files

Launch Disk Drill. Under “Choose a location,” click “Select Folder.” Click “Browse” to choose where the folder was lost, then click “Recover” to scan for lost folders.

Select the folder to scan:

Step 2: Look for and preview the found files in the Lost Folder

If you can remember the name of the folder, type it in the search box to quickly locate the missing file. Then, open the found folder and double-click to preview the scanned files. Alternatively, you can use the Filter feature to look for specific types of files.

Step 3. Recover and save the lost folder

Finally, select the folders and files you need and click “Recover” to choose a new secure location on your computer to save the recovered data.

How to Recover Deleted DCIM Folder from Android Internal Storage

To recover photos and videos from the DCIM folder on your device's internal storage, you'll need to use an Android Data Recovery software like MobiSaver. This tool helps you retrieve lost photos, videos, contacts, music, notes, and more from your Android phone. You can download the Windows version on your computer to recover the DCIM folder on Samsung, Huawei, Sony, or other Android phones. (You can also get the MobiSaver app on Google Play to scan and restore the DCIM folder directly on your Android device.)

How to Recover the DCIM Folder on an Android Device

Step 1: Connect your Android device to the computer. Download and run the MobiSaver program. If your phone isn't jailbroken, jailbreak it first by following the instructions in the jailbreaking guide.

Step 2: Once your device is detected, click on the “Start” button to scan it. All the photos and videos found will be displayed on the screen.

Step 3: You can then preview the found photos, select the pictures you want to restore, and click “Recover” to save them to a secure location on your computer.

After successfully retrieving photos and videos from the DCIM folder, you can easily transfer them back to your Android phone via USB cable. MobiSaver also supports iPhone Data Recovery.

Bottom line

Apart from accidentally deleting the DCIM folder on your Android phone, issues related to the DCIM folder include "DCIM folder shows empty but is not" and "DCIM folder missing." This indicates that data loss in the DCIM folder is quite common. It should emphasize the importance of backing up your data. Whether you transfer files from your mobile device to your computer or sync your phone content to cloud storage, it's a good choice to back up your precious files elsewhere.