Picture recovering program

[P/o Prune]

Hi.
Just had a computer meltdown and had to reinstall Windows 10. Unfortunately all the pictures on my desktop has gone (yes, I know: Men don't take backup. But they cry a lot! )
Does anyone know of a good recovering program I can use?

[R2T1]

Depending on what happened when the "meltdown" occurred, you may have a C:\WINDOWS.OLD folder, similar to when there is a major upgrade. However, it may not have kept the \Pictures folder.

If you can remember any of the recent picture names, you could try searching for them to see if they turn up anywhere and then check out that location.

Beyond that, I don't think there will be much short of some forensic analysis tools. Unfortunately, you may find that the new install has overwritten or trashed them.

There used to be software that could identify blocks of disk space that was is use but had no pointers to it from elsewhere. I don't remember what it was called but it was an old DOS program. From memory, it was useful to find text files, but due to the way picture files are encoded, I doubt there would be any recognisable text.

Hope there weren't too many.

[ElliotM]

A repair would have left your files, but reinstalling likely meant you clean wiped the HD/partition and your files are gone.

[P/o Prune]

I found a program "Recuva"
It restored quite a few of my lost pictures but some of them are gone forever, unfortunately.
I got most of them back, though.

[R2T1]

I trust you have already backed them up and will set up a scheme to do it often from now on. Which reminds me...

[williamjohnson]

This program is really useful! Thanx for it