Share via

How to recover photos from OneDrive SD Card backup?

Clara Jenkins 0 Reputation points
2026-01-10T14:59:52.09+00:00

I have a Samsung A52S. I selected to back up my SD Card to OneDrive. I only got a notification that the back up was "preparing" and then I unselected the backup option. When I went back to my gallery, all of my SD Card folders had disappeared. Now when I go into my OneDrive, pictures of hundreds of random cartoon images (I presume from other system apps). Some of my pictures are saved in an SD card folder on OneDrive but I cannot save them back to my phone.

Where are my photos and how can I restore them back to my phone in their original photos? I have lost thousands of images and I am desperate to get them back.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | Other | Android
0 comments

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Alex_T 6,385 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-01-10T22:13:33.5266667+00:00

    Hello Clara Jenkins,

    Thank you for reaching out in Microsoft Q&A forum

    I understand you’re worried because after canceling the SD‑card backup, your photo folders disappeared from your phone and only a few unrelated images appear in OneDrive.

    Check if the SD card folders are actually hidden on the phone. Sometimes Android stops displaying SD card folders temporarily. Try:

    1. Restart your phone.
    2. Open My Files > SD Card and check if the folders reappear.
    3. Insert the SD card into another phone or a computer, confirm if the images are still physically on the card.

    If the SD card is corrupted, the images will not appear in OneDrive because they were never uploaded.

    Check OneDrive completely (including hidden areas)

    1. Go to OneDrive.com > Photos and Files.
    2. Look for folders named SD Card, DCIM, Media, or the random cartoon-image folders you mentioned.
    3. Check the Recycle bin: https://onedrive.com/?qt=drivesharedq_recyclebin
    4. Check Photos > Albums to see if OneDrive auto‑sorted anything.

    If you see the pictures online but cannot save them back to your phone, it means only a small portion uploaded before you canceled the backup.

    If you see few files online, but most are missing. This confirms the backup did not finish. OneDrive only uploads after the preparing stage completes, canceling beforehand stops the entire backup.

    The missing images must still be on the physical SD card unless:

    • the SD card is corrupted
    • the card was removed improperly
    • another app modified or deleted the folders (rare but possible)

    Try recovering the SD card on a computer. If the files are not visible on the phone:

    1. Insert the SD card into a PC with a card reader.
    2. Check if Windows File Explorer can see the DCIM and other folders.
    3. If not visible, try a recovery tool such as:
      • Recuva
      • PhotoRec
      • DiskDigger

    This is often the only method to get missing photos back.

    Let me know how it goes

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

    Was this answer helpful?

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.