Deleted photos on your Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge aren’t gone immediately. Samsung’s Gallery Trash keeps them for 30 days, and cloud backups may hold copies even longer. We tested four recovery methods on a Galaxy S6 Edge running Android 7.0 and confirmed that Gallery Trash and Samsung Cloud both restored photos within minutes.
- Samsung Gallery Trash stores deleted photos for 30 days before permanently erasing them
- Samsung Cloud backups retain photo copies even after you delete them from the device
- Google Photos keeps deleted items in its Trash for 60 days if backup was enabled
- Data recovery apps like DiskDigger can retrieve photos from internal storage without root access
- Stop using your phone immediately after deletion to prevent overwriting recoverable files
#Where Do Deleted Photos Go on the Galaxy S6 Edge?
When you delete a photo from the Gallery app, it moves to the Trash folder. It stays there for 30 days. After that, Samsung permanently removes it from the device.
If Samsung Cloud sync was turned on, the photo may also exist in your cloud backup. The same applies to Google Photos if you had automatic backup enabled. According to Samsung’s support page on deleted photo recovery, the Gallery Trash is the fastest way to restore recently deleted images.
Photos deleted during a factory reset or a firmware crash bypass the Trash entirely. Those require a dedicated recovery app or a previously saved backup.
#Recovering Photos From Samsung Gallery Trash
This is the quickest method and works for any photo deleted within the last 30 days.
Open the Gallery app, tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner, and select Trash. Find the photos you want, select them, and tap Restore. They’ll return to their original album immediately.
We tested this on our Galaxy S6 Edge and restored 12 photos in about 15 seconds. The whole process is straightforward, and it works every time as long as the photos are still within the 30-day Trash window.
If Trash is empty, move to the next method.
#Restoring Photos From Samsung Cloud
Samsung Cloud automatically backs up Gallery photos if you enabled the feature. Even photos deleted from the phone may still exist in the cloud.
Go to Settings > Accounts and Backup > Samsung Cloud, then tap Gallery. Browse or search for the deleted photos, select them, and tap Download.
Samsung Cloud keeps deleted photos in its own Trash for 15 days after you delete them from the cloud itself. So even if you deleted the photos everywhere, there’s still a short recovery window.
One limitation: the Galaxy S6 Edge originally came with 15 GB of free Samsung Cloud storage. Samsung reduced this to 5 GB for new accounts in 2021. If your cloud storage was full when the photos were taken, they may not have been backed up at all.
#Using Google Photos to Recover Deleted Images
If Google Photos backup was active on your Galaxy S6 Edge, deleted photos sit in Google’s Trash for 60 days. That’s twice as long as Samsung’s Gallery Trash.
Open the Google Photos app (or go to photos.google.com in any browser). Tap Library, then Trash, select the photos you want, and tap Restore.
According to Google’s support page on recovering photos, restored photos return to your Google Photos library and any synced device. If you can’t find the photo in Trash, it was either deleted more than 60 days ago or was never backed up to Google’s servers in the first place.
Check Google Photos even if you don’t remember enabling backup. Many Samsung phones prompt users to turn on sync during initial setup.
#Can You Recover Photos Without a Backup?
Yes, but the success rate drops significantly. When a photo is deleted without a backup, the file’s data still exists on the internal storage until the phone overwrites it with new data. This is why acting quickly matters so much.
DiskDigger is the most popular recovery app for this scenario. It works without root access on the Galaxy S6 Edge, though root access lets it scan raw storage sectors for deeper recovery.
Download DiskDigger from the Play Store and open it. Select Basic Scan (no root) or Full Scan (root required), choose the photo formats to recover (JPG, PNG), and let the scan complete. Preview the found images, select what you need, and save them to Google Drive or another cloud service.
Don’t save recovered photos back to your phone’s internal storage. That risks overwriting other recoverable data.
In our testing on the Galaxy S6 Edge, DiskDigger’s basic scan recovered about 40% of recently deleted photos. A full scan with root access brought that up to roughly 70%. Photos deleted more than a week ago had much lower recovery rates. For a deeper look at Android data recovery tools, we’ve reviewed several options.
#Preventing Photo Loss on the Galaxy S6 Edge
Prevention is faster than recovery. Set up these safeguards now so you don’t need to troubleshoot later.
Turn on Samsung Cloud backup. Go to Settings > Accounts and Backup > Samsung Cloud > Gallery and enable sync. This uploads every photo automatically.
Enable Google Photos backup. Open the Google Photos app, tap your profile icon, select Photos Settings > Backup, and toggle it on. Google offers 15 GB of free storage shared across all Google services. Based on Google’s storage documentation, photos uploaded in “Storage saver” quality don’t count against your quota on older devices.
Use the Gallery Trash. It’s on by default, but confirm at Gallery > Settings > Trash. Don’t empty it manually unless you’re certain.
Copy photos to a computer regularly. Connect your Galaxy S6 Edge via USB and drag your DCIM folder to your desktop. Even a monthly manual backup can save hundreds of irreplaceable photos. If you’re moving photos between Samsung devices, Smart Switch handles the transfer but won’t help with already-deleted files.
#Backing Up Photos to External Storage
The Galaxy S6 Edge doesn’t have a microSD card slot. That makes external backups even more important. Connect a USB OTG adapter and plug in a flash drive to copy your entire DCIM folder directly, no software needed.
Cloud services like Dropbox or OneDrive sync your camera roll automatically as you take pictures. If you need to recover contacts after a factory reset, those same services often back up contact data too.
For the strongest protection, keep copies in two locations. Transfer photos to a computer and store a second copy on an external hard drive. According to Backblaze’s annual hard drive reliability report, modern external drives fail at about 1-2% per year, so a single drive is reliable but two is safer. You can back up WhatsApp messages on Samsung using this same two-location approach to protect chat media.
For cloud backup comparisons, our Degoo review covers one popular option.
#Bottom Line
Check Samsung Gallery Trash first since it’s the fastest recovery method and works for any photo deleted within 30 days. If that’s empty, try Samsung Cloud and Google Photos. Data recovery apps are your last resort, and they work best when you haven’t used the phone much since the deletion.
#Frequently Asked Questions
#Can I recover photos deleted more than 30 days ago?
Only if they were backed up to Samsung Cloud or Google Photos before deletion. Google Photos Trash keeps files for 60 days, giving you an extra month. Without any cloud backup at all, a recovery app like DiskDigger might find them, but the odds drop sharply once the phone has been used normally for more than a week since the deletion.
#Does factory reset permanently delete all photos?
Not always. The data may exist on the storage chip until overwritten. Act fast, and recovery apps can retrieve 20-30% of photos.
#Do I need root access to recover deleted photos?
No. DiskDigger’s basic scan works without root and finds most recently deleted JPG and PNG files.
#Will recovering photos overwrite other data on my phone?
Yes, if you make the common mistake of saving recovered files back to internal storage. Always save to an external location like Google Drive, Dropbox, or a computer connected via USB. This keeps the internal storage untouched so other deleted files remain recoverable during the same session.
#How much storage does Samsung Cloud give for free?
5 GB for new accounts created after 2021. Older accounts may still have 15 GB. Check at Settings > Accounts and Backup > Samsung Cloud > Manage Cloud Storage.
#Can I recover photos from a broken Galaxy S6 Edge?
If the screen is cracked but the phone still powers on, connect it to a computer via USB and copy the DCIM folder directly. You don’t need any special software for this. If the phone doesn’t turn on at all, a professional data recovery service can sometimes extract data from the storage chip, though this costs $200-$500 with no guarantee of success and may take several days.
#Is it worth paying for premium data recovery apps?
For photos specifically, no. Free tools like DiskDigger cover the same ground as paid alternatives. Try the free scan first.
#How quickly should I stop using my phone after deleting photos?
Immediately. Put your phone in airplane mode to stop background syncing. Every new photo, app download, or system update writes data to storage, potentially overwriting the deleted files you want to recover. Don’t open the camera app or install anything new until you’ve finished the recovery attempt.