LOST.DIR is a folder created by an Android phone on the SD card to get back accidentally deleted files like photos, videos, etc. If you are a smartphone user, you would have already seen LOST.DIR folders are located on your external SD card.
Lost.DIR folder basically helps you recover files lost due to various reasons like application crash, improper ejection of the USB drive or SD card/ ejection of SD card during the reading/ writing process, Android abruptly frozen or shut down unexpectedly, interruptions while downloading files on SD card, etc.
Some users might delete Lost.DIR folder thinking that it is a virus folder, which is completely false. You might have observed that once you delete Lost.DIR folder, again it will be automatically recreated after you boot your phone, this is because LOST.DIR is the Android system folder.
Note: Lost.DIR files also get created on a pen drive to help users to recover deleted files from pen drive similar to that of the Lost directories of Android phones.
How to Recover LOST.DIR folder from External SD card and pen drive?
Method 1: Recover LOST.DIR files using Data Recovery Software
Utilize Remo Recover software which is an advanced file recovery tool to restore more than 300 deleted or lost file formats like LOST.DIR files, raw images, photos, videos, audio files, excel files, word documents, PDF files, and many more from various brands of external SD cards, pen drives, memory cards, SSDs, etc. Download this LOST DIR file recovery tool to restore your LOST.DIR files now!
Steps to Recover LOST DIR files using Remo Recover software
- Launch Remo Recover software and connect the SD card or pen drive to your (Windows/ Mac) system from which you want to recover Lost.DIR files.
- Select the Recover Files option, and select the external SD card/ pen drive to restore lost DIR files.
- Click on the Scan button to start restoring lost.DIR files and folders.
- Once the scanning process completes, this LOST DIR file recovery tool will recover all your deleted or lost files.
- Now, you can select the LOST.DIR folders or files from SD card or pen drive which you want to recover and click Save option to restore them on a location of your choice.
Note: You can select the Recover Partitions option to restore data from complex data loss scenarios from SD card or USB.
Method 2: Recover files using LOST.DIR by Adding File Extension
Lost.DIR folder serves the purpose of recovering deleted files similar to that of recovering files from the Recycle bin on a Windows computer or from a Trash bin on Mac during accidental deletion. Follow the below steps to recover files from LOST.DIR folder by adding filename extension.
Quick Tip: File Extension refers to a suffix at the end of the filename which indicates a file type. Such as .png, .jpg, .mov, .mp4, .avi, .mp3, .pdf, etc.
Steps to Recover files using LOST.DIR (Add Filename Extension)
- Go to the LOST.DIR folder and select the LOST.DIR file which you want to recover.
- Now, rename and add the filename extension to the LOST.DIR file.
Eg: (Filename.extension) Audio.mp3, favorite audio.mp3, Video.mov, Wedding video.mp4, Image.png, etc.
(Or)
Search for the LOST.DIR folder using the file name and check all LOST.DIR files to Batch rename and start adding the file extension.
Once you complete adding relevant file extension to the lost directory files, you can try opening them.
In case, if you don’t find the LOST.DIR files or folders on your external SD card or USB, then you can make use of professional SD card Recovery software like Remo Recover. Remo Recover is capable of running an effective SD card recovery on Windows 10 and the latest macOS Big Sur version.
Once you complete adding relevant file extension to the lost directory files, you can try opening them.