Corrupt CF card/ lost images

[Vix_webb]

It appears that I might have a corupt CF card and need some help.

I was at the Lord Mayor's show yesterday and obviously took lots of images. At at friends we were able to look through the photos absolutely fine on his computer, though when he removed the card from the card reader, it hadn't been properly recognised. I'm not 100% sure what happened.

Though now I am trying to load the photos onto my computer, and there are no images on the card to transfer. The card is showing 1.4GB used (it's a 2GB Sandisk Extreme III). I have tried to view the photos on the camera itself and there are "No Images".

Does anybody know if these images can be recovered? Has anybody had this happen to them and what was the outcome?

Obviously, I am very upset as I was able to view the images yesterday, and today they're gone.

[pachinkofan]

assuming you don't have/didn't get the sandisk file recovery cd with the card:
there are a few free ones, but personally I use pandora recovery [when I need to]

I downloaded it from download.com

here

Fingers crossed for you.

Also remember that sandisk is a lifetime warranty, so if it happens to be broken, you'll be able to contact them about a replacement etc.


G>

[El_Sid]

Something similar happened to me just last month but luckily I had already downloaded and saved the pictures. I do hope you manage to recover yours...

As a matter of interest did you view the pictures directly on the card? I have a feeling that I may have done that to mine and somehow managed to corrupt the file structure in doing so...

[baldyd]

I had a problem with some cheap transend 8gb cards a month or so ago. I bought some recovery software, and was able to recover most pictures. I then replaced the card and got a free piece of software with the replacement card (Sandisk).

If I were you, I'd go and buy a new sandisk card now, and use the software on your borken card.

It takes a while, but the images are probably there, and the index to them is just broken.

Maybe also worth trying to read the card in the camera, connected to your pc with a usb cable...?

baldy.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/baldyd

[TallPaul]

I second the SanDisk software, you should have got a code with the card to download from their website. Don't forget the cards have a lifetime warranty (assuming its genuine and not an eBay sourced imitation) so give them a call and they may provide the RescuePro software for you to use before you return the card for replacement.

When it happened to me several years ago on an SD card I had no problems getting a replacement from their UK distributor, check their website Sandisk website, I think PEAK are the one that sorted me out.

[wyephotography]

I was in the same boat on Saturday when I was shooting a wedding. As I was using it, one of my CF cards crashed. That was about half way through and immediately I change cards, not after I had shot 193 photos on that card. When back at home the card show empty in MacOS and Windows even after running a diagnostic on it and the cameras also showed no image. After googling the problem I came across 'Cardrescue' software on a Pro photographers website. So I downloaded and paid the £33 for it. The software recoved all but 7 of the 193 photos. To say I am flaming relieved is an understatement. Available in Mac (www.cardrescue.com) and PC (www.cardrecovery.com) versions, it worked for me.

[Nod]

If anyone needs a copy of the SanDisk software, I have one spare. Free to a good home, although I would like to think that anyone who takes the offer up would drop a quid or 2 into a Cancer Research or similar charity box.

First come, first served - post here first, then I'll ask for a PM with a postal address to send it to. FTR, it's a genuine CD as packaged with an Extreme IV card, with the key on a sticker on the back.

[les_37]

you can DEFINATELY get your images back.

I advice to go to http://www.downloads.com and search for data recovery.

i would download a few of the free ones and try them all.

some of them will work and some wont.
beware of some that offer a free trial and locate all the lost files and then they charge you money to be able to recover them!

so best search www.downloads.com for a freeware version

[Pontoneer]

Are you sure you didn't MOVE your images onto your friend's computer when you viewed them ?

Your pictures might be lurking on his hard drive somewhere ?

[IvorETower]

Reminds me... some packages automatically erase images from a card when they are transferred to a PC; could this have happened here? (will the OP return to let us know?)

[Norman]

He/she raised the question in November and hasn't been seen or heard from since.

[mega_eye]

I had the same problem, shots looked fine in the camera (because you only see a jpg preview) but when transfered to PC the original shots had half the shot missing. Despite formatting the card, this would always continue to an area of the card.

Sandisk tech talked me through the recover and low level formatting but the shots could never be recovered. They gave me an RMA for replacement, but the cost of shipping it back (you have to pay the shipping cost) was more than it would cost to buy another 2G card, so I just threw it in the bin and bought a new card.

[P_Stoddart]

I used "pc inspector smart recovery 4.5" to get images off a card I had accidently formatted before reading correctly. It support any media card. It is free just put the name in a search engine. A review gave it 5/5.

[Roland660]

I recently got back from a two week trip to southern India with 2 x 8GB Transcend CF full of raw files. I can view the pictures on the camera screen and also on the PC in windows photo viewer but cannot open them in any editing software to process. In LR3 it say 'end of file extension missing' and in Nikon capture 'error' and the same in PS3.
Does anyone have any idea as to what has happened and if there is any recovery software to help me.
I have always used San disk cards and never had a problem, I have noticed a few people mentioning Transcend 8GB cards being an issue.

[El_Sid]

I've used Lexars Image Rescue v3 which worked OK. As this appears to be a non-official site beware of viruses etc. Alternatively you can buy v4 from the Lexar website. Alternatuively you could try this one which also appears free.

Do the files appear in Explorer with their file extensions? If not try renaming the file with the appropriate extension (.NEF, .JPG etc) and see what happens.

[tozey]

MiniTool Power Data Recovery 6.5

worked perfectly for me (same issue memory used just no pictures), and its free...just google it