Data recovery

**tspin818** · 05-12-2004, 10:39 AM

In the past two weeks I have had two minor disasters with my compact flash memory cards. Each time it was pictures that I did not want to lose.

The first time I accidentaly formatted the card that I was using to shoot pics of my son's baseball game. I immediately realized what I had done and removed the card from the camera. I did not want to write to it again until I had a chance to recover the pics.

The second problem I had was yesterday. Apparently the card somehow became corrupted. When I put it in my card reader it said there was nothing there. When I put it back in my camera, I just got an error message telling me the card needed to be formatted.

To make a long story short, I was able to retrieve all of the photos both times. I used a free program called PC inspector smart recovery. It is available at:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/smartrecovery.html

The first time I just inserted the formatted card in my card reader when I got home, ran the program and was able to retrieve all the photos from the formatted card. It even retrieved some photos that I had shot weeks and several formats earlier.

For the corrupted card, I just formatted it in my camera, then placed it in my card reader at home and ran the program. Again, it retrieved all of the lost photos.

This is probably the best recovery program I have found. I was referred to it by Stuart way back when I first came to the ZO. A great free utility to have in your photo arsenal.

Hope this helps someone with similar problems.

Tom

**Tangoindia** · 05-12-2004, 12:59 PM

Hi Thomas,

I'm glad for you, that you could recover all the files, i'm still fighting with one Hard Drive, with all my photos from 2001 to 2003 that i haven't formatted , waiting to send it to a recovery store, but they are a little expensive yet, so i'm waiting a little bit.

Cheers

**tspin818** · 05-12-2004, 03:31 PM

Frederic,

You should try this program. It not only works with flash, but with hard drives also. If the drive works, I mean mechanically, this program might be able to recover the files you are looking for.

Tom

**Tangoindia** · 05-12-2004, 04:10 PM

Hi Tom,

Thanks, i didn't know it could work with hard Drives, i will test that this week, i have to get ready in case it works to have a backup drive. I will let you know if it works.

Cheers

**JimL** · 05-12-2004, 05:29 PM

I may be misunderstanding but I have never formated two of my Smart media cards and only formated the other the day I bought it. When I take pictures I just "move" the pictures from my memory card using Windows Explorer (XP) which does a copy and erase but no format. The memory cards will eventually go bad but, as far as I can see, there is no need to do multiple formats. If your cards are becoming corrupted you may want to check the driver for your reader to see if it is compatable with your operating system. I had to upgrade mine (reader driver) to keep Win XP from making rude messages.
JimL

**tspin818** · 05-12-2004, 08:44 PM

Jim,

Everything that I have read and been told about flash media recommends that you always re-format the cards between uses. If you just erase the card it leaves a lot of "debris" behind, which is one of the main causes of card corruption. Also, formatting between uses frees up more of the available memory on the card.

Also, I never format in my media card reader. Since I always use the cards in the same camera, I always format in the camera before using the card.

tom

rob_fox · 05-29-2004, 08:42 AM

I am so happy I stumbled across this thread, last week one of my cards became corrupted and I had a lot of photos from a mates birthday party on it, I couldn't get them off so I bit the bullet and formated the card.
I was the only person there with a cam, so the whole event would have been just a memory.
I'm currently downloading the program as I type this, fingers crossed, hope it works.

Thanks!!!

**mart** · 05-29-2004, 08:45 AM

I wish you luck! And let us know if it works!

<fingers crossed>

rob_fox · 05-29-2004, 09:51 AM

No go, it retrieved deleted photos, but not photos from a card that has been formated *sigh* I guess the party will remain a memory.

**mart** · 05-29-2004, 04:33 PM

Drat

sorry to hear that

hazelj4 · 06-10-2004, 05:45 PM

Hi

there is a program that says it can recover images from a formatted card. You use the demo to see if it can and if it does say recoverable, then you buy the program. I paid $25.00. Hope you can still get images back. Hazel

http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/

hazelj4 · 06-10-2004, 07:50 PM

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/smartrecovery.html This is free so worth a try.

**JimL** · 06-10-2004, 08:46 PM

Thanks for the URL. I downloaded Smart Recovery and File recovery and they both work. I've not had a program llike this since the early Norton files.
JimL

**tspin818** · 06-11-2004, 12:05 AM

Wow! I think that was the same url I posted at the beginning of the thread.

hazelj4 · 06-11-2004, 04:58 AM

Yep - sorry, didn't see that first one that you offered up.

**tspin818** · 06-11-2004, 09:05 AM

Don't be sorry, I was just funning with ya!!

**schnikoly** · 06-26-2004, 12:53 PM

This is my first visit to this form. You guys are lifesavers! I retrieved lost pictures with Smartrecovery. Thanks for sharing your info. I retrieved some priceless picks. Thanks!!!

**tspin818** · 06-26-2004, 11:37 PM

Your welcome!

**neilp** · 07-16-2004, 04:36 AM

Can I just recommend this smartrecovery tool!! It's EXCELLENT...

I've just used it to recover some deleted photos from a floppy disk (remember those old sony cameras with the floppy disk drive built in???).

There are a lot of general file recovery program programs around and I tried one but it couldn't get back all of the files as they work best when a file isn't fragmented.

This smart recovery tool is different in that it specifically searches for JPG files and data and hence can find the rest of the file when it has been fragmented.

Best of all it's completely FREE!!

**mickeybb** · 01-17-2005, 05:02 AM

I went photogging with my best friend that got a camera like mine for Christmas and when we got back to the house, we were looking through the pics on her camera when all of the sudden everything went blank. The info on the LCD screen read xxx in red down in the right lower corner. The card wouldn't work in my camera either. So, I told her I had seen topics about data recovery somewhere on Photozo, we did a search and came up with this thread. We downloaded the program from the link above and recovered every photo. We are both so grateful that the info was here for us to use. Photozo is a great place! Tspin818, and snapfiles.com, thank you very much.

**neilp** · 01-17-2005, 11:17 AM

Glad it worked out for you!!!

It's a great feeling of relief isn't it!

**tspin818** · 01-20-2005, 12:30 AM

I still swear by this utility. Works great, and it's free.

**atreides** · 01-23-2005, 09:06 AM

er,if it says media: absent, even though my camera is plugged in, does that mean it cannot read my card?

**atreides** · 01-23-2005, 09:11 AM

oh bleah, i get error code 6 anyway, and according to their faqs this is to do with media cards over 2 gb, though mine is only 256mb, and it reccommends installing the latest version, which i already have...

THANKS GUYS!

*wait, and this is when the camera wasnt even plugged in!

**neilp** · 01-23-2005, 11:46 AM

hey atreides,

sounds like you've got problems? the tool mentioned above is great for fixing files when the memory card is fully readable and working but the files are messed up. sounds like your memory device is a little more fatal?

have you tried a card reader rather than using your camera?

good luck!

neil.

**tspin818** · 01-23-2005, 01:17 PM

The software above does seem to work better when the card is inserted in a card reader.

**atreides** · 01-23-2005, 07:45 PM

no, this computer is quite old. The memory card works fine, i took pictures with it when i went out with friends and they all uploaded, but for some reason my mums ones didnt. i didnt think it could selective upload like that, but where else could they be? i formatted the computer recently so its not like they could be hiding anywhere.