14 DAY TRIAL // Losing photos and videos from your smartphone or tablet can be a tragedy, but if you’re careful to sync your iDevice to iTunes from now and then, there may be a chance those lost memories are actually still intact on your computer.
As many of you already know, iTunes syncing also makes backups of your iDevice placing them as restoration image files on your computer’s hard drive. These backups are essentially a way for you to return to a previous state of the phone/tablet/media player if something goes terribly wrong or you decide to reinstall a stock firmware.
In any case, restoring from these backup files can also restore photos and videos that someone (or you) might have accidentally erased on your iDevice. But if you don’t want to restore your phone to a state with different settings, fewer phone numbers or apps, etc. (not to mention you might want to keep the newer photos you currently have as well) you can selectively recover parts of your lost content using Smartphone Recovery Pro.
Step 1
Download Smartphone Recovery Pro (trial version available) for Windows (yes, unfortunately, you need a PC to get this done using this tool).
Step 2
Launch the application on your computer, and in the left-hand pane that looks like an iPhone choose PC.
Step 3
Browse for the most recent backup file (or select the one you’re interested in, if you know the exact date your lost content was created) and select it to be analyzed by Smartphone Recovery Pro.
Step 4
Allow Smartphone Recovery Pro to expand the contents of your backup image. At this point you should see all the content of your iPhone as it was at the time that backup was created.
Step 5
Click on the Photos and Videos tab and your old photos and videos will be displayed.
Step 6
Select the items you’re interested in (or all of them if you wish) and click the Export Photos & Videos button in the left pane of the iPad-shaped window. Select your destination (i.e. Destkop) and you should have your lost content restored in no time.
That’s it!