All pictures lost on CF from 300D to PC - HELP!

[cyber888]

All pictures lost in CF!

It happened twice to me, all pictures on the CF card are lost when I use the card reader to get images into my compter.
I'm sure that the images were fine in the camera before I pulled it out.
I have 3 256MB CF cards, it only happened to 2 of my Kinston card, hasn't happened to SanDisk card yet. The first time, the card was half-full, the second time, it was full.
I took over 5000 pictures on the camera already.

System parameters:
Camera: Digital Rebel
CF card: 256 MB Kinston CF/256 cards (P711557 x 7)
Card reader: SanDisk ImageMate 8 in 1.
OS: Windows 2000.
Image software: CANON Zoom Browser EX 4.1.1.47 (from original CDROM)

The reason may be because I didn't turn off the power before pull out the CF card.

I just want to figure out how to avoid it next time.

Has anyone lost picture in CF, before transferring to the computer? Any way to avoid it?

It's just too annoying, with all my Christmas pictures....

Thanks for any advice.
~andrew

[robertwgross]

Andrew, tell us where the CF cards were formatted, and how.

---Bob Gross---

[mattchase]

Not sure exactly what is causing your problem, but it probably isn't because you don't turn the camera off before pulilng the CF card. When you open the plastic door covering the CF, the camera will turn off automatically. As long as all your images have finished saving to the card, then you should be fine. If the red light is still blinking (images are still being written to the card), then upon opening the CF card door you will lose any images that haven't been written to the card, and possibley all the images.

When you put the CF card in the card reader, can you access that card and see the files? How do you go about doing the download? If you are using the Canon software, perhaps the software is putting the images somewhere besides where you expect. Double check where it is putting the images and see if they are there. If you are downloading manually by opening the CF card and selecting the files, then copy and pasting them onto your hard drive, does Windows show that they are copying?

Here is a link to a free program designed specifically for recovering images from CF cards. It doesn't always work, but the times I have had to use it it at least recovered some images. Put the CF card in your card reader, run the program, select the correct drive letter, and click start. If you see the "images found" numbers raising, then it is finding things. If the "Read Errors" numbers go up, then close the program, reboot, and try it again (seems to be a bug). The one thing I noticed is it doesn't work for RAW files, only JPGs. http://www.matthewchase.com/dmr.exe

[cyber888]

The CF card were formatted by XP.
Right click the property in Window Exploror. The first one was by "Quick Format", the second one was normal format.
I did not format it in the camera because I want the CF cards ready when plugin.

[cyber888]

When the card is in the reader, the CANON software can not see any pictures.
Windows Exploror can see there are 230 of 250 MB were taken, but can not see any file names or folders.

[robertwgross]

Suggestion:
Format all CF cards in the camera. Once all images are properly copied, not moved, to the computer, then reformat the CF cards the same way in the same camera.

---Bob Gross---

[sdommin]

cyber888 wrote:
The CF card were formatted by XP.
Right click the property in Window Exploror.

There's your problem. You should format the card in the camera ONLY!

[cyber888]

sdommin wrote:
cyber888 wrote:
The CF card were formatted by XP.
Right click the property in Window Exploror.

There's your problem. You should format the card in the camera ONLY!

Thanks, I will definitely format the CF in the camera in the future.

[robertwgross]

Here's an idea for Canon.

When they package up any digital camera such as 300D, 10D, etc., they put a hang tag on the CF door that says "Read me first."

On the tag, it would state things like:
(1) Charge up the battery before you go to step 2.
(2) Format the CF card in the camera, using the menu.
(3) Install a compatible lens on the front.
etc.

---Bob Gross---

[Motorsports Photo]

You format IN CAMERA, because you never know what a computer might format your card to. Different operating systems have different formats. Unfortunately I've never seen in a manual what kind of format each one does.

Format in camera and you'll never go wrong.

-Pete

Happy Holidays!

[robertwgross]

Yes, there are different types of media formats such as FAT, FAT32, etc. Most of the time, these relate to the maximum capacity of the volume that you are working on. An operating system such as XP has certain default formats that will try to impose on the media, and those may or may not be what your camera wants to do. So, it is much wiser to format the CF card in the camera, and then the computer OS will figure out what it must do to read it if or when that media is attached. In other words, the OS can likely handle different formats, but the camera can likely handle only one.

So, which are we going to use? The camera's format.

There are exceptions when this falls down. Suppose your camera cannot recognize the CF card at all. But then, you have other troubles.

---Bob Gross---

[Fisher]

Just out of curiousity, do most of you format your CF card prior to using them. I have a 1 Gig Lexar CF card for my Digital Rebel. I have not formated it and everything seems to work fine. I realize that formating the card in the camera creates the best possible match between the camera and card. I was just wondering if there are other reasons for formating and if other problems arise if you do not.

[robertwgross]

Any kind of media can have bad addresses. It's more likely to have bad parts in rotating magnetic media, but anything is possible even in Compact Flash semiconductor memory. Doing a fresh format on a CF card (in the camera) will wipe out or else work around any bad bad parts. Further, it is faster than erasing all images.

---Bob Gross---

[defordphoto]

I always format my cards. Saves them from being fragmented. And yes, solid-state CFs can get fragmented. The 10D supports FAT32. Many times I format them on my computer too with no issues whatesoever. And have also never had any issues with FAT32 formatted cards on the D60 either, which supports FAT16.

If I ever swap cards bwteeen the two cameras I always "clean" them by formatting on the PC. That way one camera does not inherit the other's numbering sequence.

[scottbergerphoto]

The following link from Canon re: Windows XP and formating CF cards is confirmatory of what has been said about formating the card in the camera: http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/customer/windowsxp.html
Scott

[CyberDyneSystems]

Cyber :)

Do a search fro "Fast File Recovery" and "Media Rescue" in google,. and try these tools beftroe you reformat... maybe you can save those pics!

[nakedeye]

I had a similar problem about a month ago. I remembered seeing something on the web about some CF recovery software. I did a Google search to find it. The software is called Photorescue and it runs on Windows and Mac OS9 & X. They have a demo version that will show you what can be recovered from your card before you purchase the product. It costs $29 as it was worth every penny and then some as it was virtually flawless in recovering several hundred images. Bookmark this page for future reference:

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

[SHvnDave]

When it only takes less than a minute to format a 256M card in camera, why wouldn't you do that - regularly. I would assume that after erasing all the images, it would be a good idea to reformat so as to preclude any unintentional perversion of images.

[Derek Smith]

I recently lost a whole CF full (256) of images by taking the CF out of the reader before selecting 'Eject Medium'

When the card was replaced into the reader it was apparently blank.

I paid out my $29 for a copy of Photorescue and recovered all the files but seven.

Its a great and easy to use utility, but I won't be forgetting to 'Eject Media' for a while to come.

Derek

[Derek Smith]

I thought that fragmentation only happened when files were left on the media and new files had to be written into the variable sized gaps left when some files were deleted.

If you delete ALL the files each time you download the contents of a CF, surely it is not possible for files to become fragmented as pictures are taken (they are being written sequentially into a clear space on the CF)

Therefore why reformat a CF card at all?

Derek

[robertwgross]

Derek, I think you have some misunderstandings.

When you erase a file, does the file get erased? No, not entirely. It's data remains occupying sectors, but the filename is changed in the FAT so that the sectors can be reused.

Based on this misunderstanding, you failed to fully appreciate the importance of a fresh format to the media. A fresh format in the camera wipes out good files, erased file debris, anything else, and starts off with a clean FAT again. Highly recommended for photographers.

By the way, this is nothing new to Compact Flash. It is the same way with floppy disks and other media.

---Bob Gross---

[where1]

I almost lost 16 pix from Christmas. I used PC Inspector File Recovery 3.0 to get them. It is freeware I downloaded from a link I found on this site.

It took me about 2 1/2 hours, but I recovered all 16 pictures on the CF from the card reader with this program. Explorer denied there were any pictures on the card with it in the card reader, but the camera would display them. I couldn't see them on the x-drive or in the camera with a USB link either. My computer was running really slow with the CF in the reader, maybe that is why it took so long to recover them.

Here is the program link...
http://www.convar.de

Here is the thread I found the link in...
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20183#113669

[KO_300D]

Hi Cyber,

I had the same problem on my last camera which used smartmedia. Basically, it seems to create a new folder on the card when you remove it and put it back into the camera and the camera has 2 folders with the same name and doesn't know which one to open so doesn't display any pics. I agree with the other guys about formatting in the camera only. I use a reader with my 300D as well and find the best way is to copy the images from the card to the pc, then put the card back in and format.

Have u formatted the card since your initial post? If not you might still be able to salvage the pics. You can get recovery software for removable media - try the following;

http://www.z-a-recovery.com/digital_image_recovery.htm

Luckily I haven't lost any images yet so haven't tried the above software, but if it's not too late let us know how u get on!

[KO_300D]

Trust me not to read the most recent post before replying!

[DamienB]

robertwgross wrote:
Based on this misunderstanding, you failed to fully appreciate the importance of a fresh format to the media. A fresh format in the camera wipes out good files, erased file debris, anything else, and starts off with a clean FAT again. Highly recommended for photographers.

Not quite. Formatting in most digital cameras, including the D60/10D/etc. is the same as a 'quick format' i.e. it does NOT carry out a sector by sector format. This is why you can still recover pictures from a formatted CF card using appropriate software. Undelete utils won't be able to do the job as the FATs are indeed cleaned out but the data on the rest of the volume is still there.

So in that respect deleting ALL files from a healthy CF card and formatting it basically leave you with the same situation regarding fragmentation - there won't be any.

The caveat is that just about every implementation of the FAT file system is prone to errors, so a format is preferable because any errors in the FATs are zapped in the process - just deleting all the files on a FAT volume already suffering from problems could well leave the problems in place.

A CF card that is suffering serious problems is better dealt with by formatting out of camera via your operating system (just make sure it's FAT/FAT16 rather than FAT32 and no 'quick format' option is selected).

[autoflavour]

so if i am to be reading this last post correctly,
by using the in camera delete all function on a canon 300d, means
that the data is still on the CF card if that card hasnt been used?

I am using OSX, Iphoto and a Canon 300D. The thing i am having trouble
with (apart from the missing files) is that my CF card has never showed on the
desktop on the mac.

Is this just because i am running it through the camera to mount it?

[Jon]

Yes it is, if you can find a file recovery program. Does your Mac show the camera on the desktop? If so, the card info will be there (except for deleted files; you'll need some way to make the card appear as a disk drive to recover them).