I need to get older photos

Induwara Nirmal 0 Reputation points
2026-08-06T15:59:07.3066667+00:00

Hello Microsoft Support,

2 to 3 months ago, my brother accidentally deleted files from this PC and from OneDrive.

I need to recover only photos from those deleted files. There are nearly 500 photos.

I am using a free OneDrive 5GB account, so I cannot afford Microsoft 365.

Is there any way to recover photos older than 30 days for free users?

Even partial recovery would help me a lot.

Please let me know if there is any option for me.

Thank you.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | Other | Other

2 answers

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  1. GsN5034 - IA 75,585 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-08-06T16:43:44.45+00:00

    Hello, thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

    Deleted files from your PC’s local drive are moved to the Recycle Bin on your desktop, while files deleted from OneDrive are moved to the OneDrive Recycle Bin.

    In OneDrive, items in the Recycle Bin are automatically deleted after 30 days. Even with an active Office 365 subscription, you can restore OneDrive files only within that 30-day period. Since it has already been two to three months, OneDrive restore will no longer help here.

    ** If this is a work or school account, there may be a possibility of recovering the files for up to 93 days. However, this does not apply to personal Microsoft accounts.+*

    In this situation, you can check the Recycle Bin on Windows to see whether the photos can be restored. You may also try a third-party file recovery tool to recover deleted files from your device and see if it helps.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-08-06T15:59:23.2733333+00:00

    For a free OneDrive personal account, there is no supported way to recover files older than 30 days from OneDrive after they were deleted and the Recycle bin retention period has passed.

    What is still possible:

    1. Check the OneDrive Recycle bin on the web
      • Go to Recycle bin in OneDrive.
      • If the photos are there, select them and choose Restore.
      • For Personal Vault photos, use Show Personal Vault items first.
    2. Check the PC’s local Recycle Bin
      • If the files were deleted from the synced PC, open Recycle Bin in Windows.
      • Select the photos and choose Restore.
      • This restores them to their original folder.
      • Note: online-only files do not appear in the PC Recycle Bin.
    3. Search the local device
      • Use File Explorer to search for the photos by filename, date, or description.
      • If the device had not yet synced the deletion, some files may still exist locally.
    4. Check whether the photos were saved under another Microsoft account
      • If more than one Microsoft account has been used on the PC, the files may be in a different OneDrive.

    Important limits for this case:

    • On a personal OneDrive account, deleted items in the Recycle bin are automatically deleted after 30 days.
    • Restore your OneDrive is a Microsoft 365 subscriber feature and only restores changes from the last 30 days.
    • If a file has been permanently deleted from the OneDrive Recycle Bin, it can never be recovered.

    So for photos deleted 2 to 3 months ago on a free 5 GB account, OneDrive itself does not provide a free recovery option beyond checking whether any copies still exist on the PC or in the local Recycle Bin.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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