Ethan’s 4th Birthday | Recovering Deleted Photos

Today (Saturday) was Ethan’s 4th birthday. To make it extra special we took him to play at The Track in Branson, MO (review to come later). We had a long, hot but fun day. In a hurry to clear my memory card so I could join the family at the pool I thought I transferred my photos to my hard drive. I reformatted my memory card so I had a clean slate for the pool photos.

Tonight when I went to find the photos… they were nowhere to be found. As you can imagine, I sobbed. It’s my (last) baby’s 4th birthday and I had nothing left of it. After a little searching I found a free software program called Recuva.

After about an hour (I have a 16 GB SD card… the larger the card the longer the scan) it not only recovered my photos from today (nearly 400 of them!) but it also found photos I took last month as well! I transferred the files I needed to my hard drive and I now have them to (backup) share! Yes, it was free… but if it had popped up and said “you can have five free the rest will cost you $20”… I would have paid it!

Here are some of the memories I would have lost forever…

1

The kids played nicely in bed while waiting for everyone to get ready for the day.

2

Ethan got to play his first game of laser tag. He had a blast running around shooting at his brother and sisters.

3

Ethan is sporting his “Happy Birthday To Me” shirt.

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We brought Ethan to Chili’s for his favorite meal… chicken and fries. He doesn’t get it often so when he does it’s fairly special.

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Tonight when tucking Ethan in I told him I was so happy he had a happy birthday. He said “Yeah… it was delicious. The cream was yummy!”.

6

Ethan got to ride shot gun with his big brother Josh! He was excited to ride in the fast cars!

7

See what I mean? THAT is why I was sobbing when I thought they were gone. I have nearly 400 photos from today to sort through… these were a few of my favorites.

I can’t believe my baby is 4. Happy Birthday sweet Ethan!

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post. I honestly lost my photos and after recovering these memories I wanted to share this fabulous program with you!

Comments

  1. Sandy VanHoey says

    I would have cried too and I’m so glad you found these great pictures. Speaking of pictures, there is one of your daughter, i think with the fuzzi bunz maybe, not real sure but it is absolutely stunning. That picture belongs in a magazine…just gorgeous and when I see it every day, I think the same thing. I’d have that one enlarged and on my wall…I love it. Happy Birthday Ethan!

    • Thank you Sandy! If it is Fuzzi Bunz that would be my reviewer Lindsay’s daughter. Lindsay takes fabulous photos for me, I agree!

  2. Wow! Thank you so much for this tip. I always fear that my boys will grab my camera and somehow find the “delete all” button before I can back them up.

    • You are more than welcome. In 20 years of motherhood, I was positive I would have had a reason to search for this program as well. Funny thing is, it was totally MY fault! lol

  3. Jessica says

    So glad you were able to recover your photos! Thanks for the tip on the website. I’ve been reading your blog for some time now and I can’t believe how big your baby is getting…he’s gotten so tall! My baby turns 3 next month…time just flies! Glad you had a great day!

    • Thanks Jessica! Yes, bookmark that program. It was super simple to use and it saved my sanity :).
      It’s amazing how big Ethan’s getting! He is almost as tall as Emma now and pretty soon she will be mistaken for the little sister. Thankfully it happened that way instead of her being super tall and him short. My entire family (except me) is near 6 foot or taller (Josh 6’3″, Kaytlin 6′, Hubby 6′). Ethan will be near 6′ as well and Miss Emma will be around 5’4″… my mom’s height :). I am 5’9″.

  4. Abi R. says

    Wow! Love a good ending to a story like that…thanks for sharing I’m sure we’ll need that program at some point too! :p

  5. I am smack dab in the middle of something similar…only with my computer files. So I can relate. I’m so happy you recovered yours. I could use a good thought or two.

    And I love that first photo especially.

    • Thanks Wendy. Did you try that program? You are supposed to be able to scan your hard drive as well. Good luck!

  6. I am so glad to hear that you were able to get all of your pictures back! That would have been terrible to have taken all those pictures and not have any for your sons 4th birthday!

  7. Awe! I completely understand your emotions. I too took so many pictures of my daughters first day of school. The excitement of getting to ride that great big bus for the first time. When the bus drove off, I notice the camera was not advancing to the next picture. To my dismay there was no film in the camera. (No film! Boy does that date me! LOL) So the next day we did retakes! The bus driver thought it was hilarious! Funny now but not so funny then!

    • Oh MAN! Glad you got re-takes but still… I know the pit feeling in your stomach.. ugh!

  8. Claudia M says

    Thank you so much for this tip – i will defiantly come in handy ! Happy Birthday Ethan! 🙂

  9. Linda R says

    Thank you for.sharing ive deleted photos by mistake im glad to know they’re not completely lost

    • Just make sure you run the program asap so the files do not get written over! 🙂

  10. His dessert from Chilis looks sooo good!!

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