(Need to recover lost images) PLEASE HELP ME!!

[jenirose3]

I have a Canon 20d. I did 2 portfolio building sessions today. I shot a bunch of pictures. After I left the first shoot I reviewed the pictures in my camera...deleted a few....everything looked fine. After the second shoot, same thing. Reviewed all of the pictures in my camera, looked great. I get home and put my CF card in my computer and the first group of photos show up but the rest are all jumbled up.. All that shows up is a file folder with Russian type letters. I tried to access through my Canon Software Viewer utilities, I tried rebooting , I tried Adobe bridge.

Please someone tell me what to do. Please someone tell me there is a way to fix this!! ACK!! I am crushed!!!


Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!!


HELP!!! http://ilovephotography.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif

Jeni

[cgratti]

1. Did you try the CF in a different reader/computer?
2. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO WRITE TO/FROM THE CARD!
3. Is it possible to connect your camera to your PC and download the pictures this way?

[jenirose3]

I put the CF card back in my camera to see and the pictures don't show up there either.

[lostdoggy]

Check the Pins!!!

[woffles]

There is recovery software for this. I don't remember names off the top of my head but a search here or on google should show them up.

[evilmichael]

Is it possible you pulled or accidentially disengaged the card while it was being accessed by the PC? If so, that can corrupt the data on the card. Also if the card wasnt seated all the way, this can corrupt the data also. I have seen this happen on PDA's, never from a camera though. Lastly on my trail of doom and gloom....be sure your anti-virus is up to date. I hope you can recover your shots.

[evilmichael]

These guys have a free trial http://www.cardrecovery.com/?rid=google&kid=cr0104
Googled CF Card recovery software.....good luck!

[joeseph]

If the photo's don't show in the camera then either the files, or file structure may be damaged. All is not lost - firstly get yourself some file recovery software. I use a couple but PCinspector seems to work as well as any. See: http://www.pcinspector.de/smart_media_recovery/uk/welcome.htm

The software is reasonably easy to use, if you've got a spare card - do some trials with the spare one first to see how it works. Take a few shots on the spare card then delete them, take a few more then format the card. Install then run the recovery software on your P.C. and see what it all does. Once you're confident you know what to expect then run the software on the card you've had problems with.
Be a little wary of using that card again though, there is usually only a few reasons that corruption happens. One is opening the CF door while camera is still writing, another is a low battery. It could be a faulty CF card (I had one corrupt only one or two per cardful and was quite hard to identify where the problem was)

Let us know how you get on...

[evilmichael]

Joeseph, Read your horror story with the 20D. I am NEVER opening up!

[William Russell]

Maybe this can help! I use Photo Rescue PC and have recaptured photos from cards that were even formatted. Hope this helps Bill

[kram]

Sandisk cards come with a software or discount code for an image recovery software. Its recd. some good reviews from people who were in similar despair. All the best and let us know how it went.

[Mike_Canon5D]

Hope you can recover your work. Also would like to know how it went.

[joeseph]

Joeseph, Read your horror story with the 20D. I am NEVER opening up!

Don't wanna put folks off cleaning their sensors, just wanna let them know the pitfalls of getting it wrong... ;)

[jenirose3]

If the photo's don't show in the camera then either the files, or file structure may be damaged. All is not lost - firstly get yourself some file recovery software. I use a couple but PCinspector seems to work as well as any. See: http://www.pcinspector.de/smart_media_recovery/uk/welcome.htm

The software is reasonably easy to use, if you've got a spare card - do some trials with the spare one first to see how it works. Take a few shots on the spare card then delete them, take a few more then format the card. Install then run the recovery software on your P.C. and see what it all does. Once you're confident you know what to expect then run the software on the card you've had problems with.
Be a little wary of using that card again though, there is usually only a few reasons that corruption happens. One is opening the CF door while camera is still writing, another is a low battery. It could be a faulty CF card (I had one corrupt only one or two per cardful and was quite hard to identify where the problem was)

Let us know how you get on...


This WORKED!!!

It's weird though it recovered my latest pictures and pictures I took last summer (many pictures in between including one from a couple of days ago that it didn't pick up). I don't care though. I really did not want to redo that PB session.

THANK YOU!!!!

[overclock]

I use Photo Rescue PC and have recaptured photos from cards that were even formatted.

It's weird though it recovered my latest pictures and pictures I took last summer (many pictures in between including one from a couple of days ago that it didn't pick up).

Formatting a card doesn't delete the pictures it just marks them as "not available" and the space as available. Even deleting a file on a flash memory card doesn't neccessarily delete them. Data on a flash memory card or thumb drive can be recovered until that sector is written over with other data.

So if you fill a 4 GB card with pictures of your vacation to Hawaii and afterwards format the card and then only take 1 GB of shots at any given time then the other 3 GB of Hawaii shots will more than likely be available for recovery.

jenirose3, there is a program called CardWiper that will do a low level format of the card and test it for errors. I would definitely use it to see if your card has any problems. I had a 4 GB Sandisk Ultra II crap out on me. It was literraly one day old. It took all day on the phone with Sandisk to get an RMA. I sold the replacement and will never own another Sandisk product again. Not because the card was DOA but because the support was horrible, like Dell.

[CyberDyneSystems]

My way of helping was to change the title of this thread to actually include the subject matter at hand..

Glad to see you got your images back! :)

[joeseph]

This WORKED!!!

It's weird though it recovered my latest pictures and pictures I took last summer (many pictures in between including one from a couple of days ago that it didn't pick up). I don't care though. I really did not want to redo that PB session.

THANK YOU!!!!
Excellant! gotta love a happy ending.... actually I think file recovery is something every photographer should do - before they really need it. :)

[LithiumNitrate]

Formatting a card doesn't delete the pictures it just marks them as "not available" and the space as available. Even deleting a file on a flash memory card doesn't neccessarily delete them.

Right. Whenever you delete files on a card, the files themselves are not erased. Everytime a file is stored, billions of micro-switches are thrown into either an on or off state to record the picture. Those switches are designated in memory address lines that track where data (bits) are stored. When you delete something, what really happens is the address lines to where the data is are erased, thus allowing the old data to be "steam rolled" over by new, the next time a burst comes along. It amazes me, really, considering the trillions of switches that are being flipped in a microsecond.

I religiously format any card before i go out to insure that all memory address lines are clean and "open."

[Lightstream]

Right. Whenever you delete files on a card, the files themselves are not erased. Everytime a file is stored, billions of micro-switches are thrown into either an on or off state to record the picture. Those switches are designated in memory address lines that track where data (bits) are stored. When you delete something, what really happens is the address lines to where the data is are erased, thus allowing the old data to be "steam rolled" over by new, the next time a burst comes along. It amazes me, really, considering the trillions of switches that are being flipped in a microsecond.

I religiously format any card before i go out to insure that all memory address lines are clean and "open."

You do know that a quick format won't re-zero out all them little bits, right? :) (and a quick format's what's happening, unless you are using something different to format it)


However.. as a preventative measure, I do recommend formatting cards IN CAMERA before a critical shoot. The camera erases and rewrites the file allocation table (FAT). If the FAT gets scrambled, you get the 'garbage text' effect. And the FAT16 system, used in these cameras, is very, very vulnerable to breakage... lots of things can corrupt it, I know, spent too many years doing data recovery in DOS, which used the same file system. It's fragile. So just re-format in camera to know you are starting out on a clean slate. This is a quick format, it will not zero out all the addresses, but it is enough.

Data loss can be heartbreaking. Glad to see you got your pics back.

[LithiumNitrate]

You do know that a quick format won't re-zero out all them little bits, right? :)

Yes, right-o. I think "clean" wasn't good word choice on my part. Now where's my 10 pound iron magnet, again?

[Lightstream]

Yes, right-o. I think "clean" wasn't good word choice on my part. Now where's my 10 pound iron magnet, again?

Ahhh! Fear the degausser! :D

[LConley]

I have a Canon 20d. I did 2 portfolio building sessions today. I shot a bunch of pictures. After I left the first shoot I reviewed the pictures in my camera...deleted a few....everything looked fine. After the second shoot, same thing. Reviewed all of the pictures in my camera, looked great. I get home and put my CF card in my computer and the first group of photos show up but the rest are all jumbled up.. All that shows up is a file folder with Russian type letters. I tried to access through my Canon Software Viewer utilities, I tried rebooting , I tried Adobe bridge.

Please someone tell me what to do. Please someone tell me there is a way to fix this!! ACK!! I am crushed!!!


Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!! Dang it!!


HELP!!! http://ilovephotography.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif

Jeni


Try "Zero Assumption" Recovery Software the photo recovery version is free it worked for me.

[tcrank]

Ahhh the 10 pound magnet Trick! I had one from an old radar in the Navy, put in under my cabin mates collection of Country 8 tracks (this was waaaaayyyyy back) - two days and I had peace and quiet the rest of the cruise!! Not sure what sort of damage one of those would cause today!

[John T]

Ahhh the 10 pound magnet Trick! I had one from an old radar in the Navy, put in under my cabin mates collection of Country 8 tracks (this was waaaaayyyyy back) - two days and I had peace and quiet the rest of the cruise!! Not sure what sort of damage one of those would cause today!
Very good :lol: I wish someone would find a way to do the same to ringtones :evil:

[Jon]

They have - it's a cell phone nullifier, which is illegal in most jurisdictions.