Corrupted RAW Wedding Files

[dsze]

:cry:

My first wedding yesterday went very well and I was even hired for 2 more weddings during the reception! Very pleased so far. I came home late last night and viewed all of the RAW photos. Then, this morning I came back to view them again (on my CF Cards) and one of the cards has all of the RAW files on it corrupted!!!! The 5 JPGs on the same card are fine.. The RAW files are still there and appear to be normal file sizes, but no thumbnail is available, nor will they open in any of the programs I've tried (PSCS, BB, EVU, FVU).

I'm currently letting "Zero Assumption Dig. Image Recovery" software run on it (very, very slow) and it tells me that it is recovering files as JPG's, but I kind of have my doubts.

These aren't the most important shots, but they certainly are worth recovering. Does anyone have any experience with recovering Corrupted RAW Images themselves or with using a recovery service?

thanks,
daniel

[sGu]

never had problem with RAW with 10D or 1D, can't really offer much advice, but be sure to transfer all data to your computer or other third party storage device once you shoot a card full, never leave them on the card for too long or view from the card.

[msvadi]

I had a similar problem once. I tried several programs, but only photorescue was able to recover RAW files.

Let me guess, did you use Breezebrowser and a card reader to view pictures directly from CFs?

[dsze]

No, I used Pixort to view directly from a card last night. I haven't tried photorescue yet, but nothing else has been able to recover the RAWs, only the jpg thumbnails...I'll try photorescue now.

-daniel

[dsze]

msvadi,

did you try the demo version of photorescue and then buy the download once it told you it could recover your files? Did it correctly recover all of your RAW files?

thanks,

-daniel

[Malaxos1]

I had the same problem before, and this was after I was flown from Portland Oregon to Dan Fransisco to cover a wedding. I was freaked out about it and didn't know what to do. Anyway, after re booting my computer all problems were gone. Wierd, because I thought the problem was with the card, but it was with the computer...Dean

[timmyquest]

It's reasons like this i will never do weddings. Good luck :(

[msvadi]

yes, first I tried the demo version. It detected all RAW files. Then, I purchased the full version.

msvadi,

did you try the demo version of photorescue and then buy the download once it told you it could recover your files? Did it correctly recover all of your RAW files?

thanks,

-daniel

[dsze]

Ahh...Photorescue is my hero! Finally, after spending all day trying to recover these files, photorescue has done it on its second attempt. I tried about 6 programs and even paid for one called Octane, which claimed it could recover my RAW's, but didn't.... Photorescue has worked!!!!

thanks,
daniel

[Ballen Photo]

Ahh...Photorescue is my hero! Finally, after spending all day trying to recover these files, photorescue has done it on its second attempt. I tried about 6 programs and even paid for one called Octane, which claimed it could recover my RAW's, but didn't.... Photorescue has worked!!!!

thanks,
daniel

I love a Happy ending. ESPECIALLY for the Wedding photog. :D
..........Bruce

[dsze]

:D :D :D :D I think I've just taken my first breath today... In fact, I don't think I was even breathing all night last night.... AHhhh.. There are some photos in there that I really would have been upset to lose, though I'm sure the couple would have been very understanding, I probably would have refunded a large portion of the payment.

Photorescue will be kept on the hard drive for sure. Looking at the recov. files, there are about 3 that didn't get fully recovered...odd colors and very dark...all of the others seem to be spot on. WHew!

NOw, anyone have any idea why this happened to just this one card? I want to minimize the chance of it ever happening again, obviously. I did run out of space at the end of the night and so I played back some cards and deleted a couple of photos to make room for some candids at the reception...might this have caused the corruption? The thing is, I viewed the files once perfectly fine, but the next time I put that card in, it was corrupt. Anyone have any ideas on how I messed up?

thanks
daniel

[Jon]

Just a hunch based on oddities noticed with one of my cards. I think that the camera really prefers to write files out in contiguous blocks. When you delete a few files, there may be room for some new images to get written out, but others may be slightly biggger than the space available and you get these problems. Or, it could be a bad card. Mark it with a felt-tip and see if it misbehaves again.

[Ballen Photo]

I think that the camera really prefers to write files out in contiguous blocks. When you delete a few files, there may be room for some new images to get written out, but others may be slightly biggger than the space available and you get these problems. Or, it could be a bad card. Mark it with a felt-tip and see if it misbehaves again.

I was going to mention marking the card and shoot a lot with it on non important shots.
Jon, What you said about deleting shots in the middle of others makes perfect sense to me, although I had never thought of it in this respect before. :shock:
I do make a habit of formatting my cards after I have confirmed successful downloading to my PC.

I wonder if it might be a good idea to start a thread monitoring failed cards, or cards people have had trouble with? You know, sort of a tally keeping track of cards and their brand when they fail for whatever reason. Which brings me to ask dsze(Daniel) what make card was this you had trouble with?
-Bruce

[msvadi]

I'm glad that Photorescue worked for you. From my experience, it's one of a few programs that actually does what it claims it can do. There are some free programs that can recover jpegs, but, for some reason, RAW is a different story.

Regarding the cause of the problem, I don't think that anything wrong with your CF. I believe that it happened because you used some software to view the pictures directly on the CF. The same thing happened to me some time ago. I used BreezeBrowser (slide show) to view the pictures on the CF card, and, probably, I ejected the card from the card reader before BreezeBrowser finished writting some files to it (some programs do that, you never know). The directory on the CF card got corrupted.

Another thing, I think that you have to format a CF card if you modify it outside the camera (in a card reader for example). This can be another reason for what happened.

Since then, the first thing that I do, when I put a CF card in the card reader, is to copy all files to the hard disk. I really hope that I would never have to use Photorescue again.

[dsze]

Yes, I think the culprit was viewing files in Pixort and then possibly removing the card before I should have. I try to format on my computer at least once/month, and then everytime I put a fresh one in the camera, so I don't think thats it, and I don't really think it was deleting files on camera and then shooting more because I was able to view them once, and the camera gave me no errors with the card in.

The guilty card: Sandisk 256MB standard card.

-daniel

[dn7elson]

You might also want to modify your workflow so that you copy your files first to a storage device and then view the images. I always dump my CF directly to the PC and then view, prune, modify and print. Even then, with something like a wedding or paid assignment, I would not do much without saving the original files to a CD-R/DVD as a go-to archive in the case the files on the HD have a problem or become corrupted.

[msvadi]

The guilty card: Sandisk 256MB standard card.

-daniel

same for me, Sandisk, standard, 256MB

[dsze]

dN7: Typically, my first step is also to dump everything on the CF cards onto a HD before doing anything else. However, this wedding was out of town and I wasn't staying at my own house. I know, I know, I shouldn't even have tried to view them on someone else's computer, but I just couldn't resist getting a look at them....and I've pretty much set up all the multi-media aspects of this person's computer, so I trusted it...but I should have just waited. Even though everything worked out OK, I might have avoided spending an entire day trying to recover the files. :)

-daniel

[BobbyC]

The only time I've ever had a problem such as yours was when I, guess, viewed files from the CF card. Seems to be a common issue. I always copy to a hard drive, then immediately burnt to CD, all before I ever open one.

Glad to see you recovered.

[dgrasser]

I have a Sandisk 512 MB, Kodak CX6445, and an Easyshare Dock.

I have experienced problems transferring files only twice.

Once when I tried to use my computer's built in card reader and just today when using my dock and the Kodak Easyshare software.

Today, when I tried to transfer the photos, the software indicated that there were 21 pictures, but only showed 5 and two were only partially shown (mostly blocked out).

I then tried to put the card in my computer's card reader and it said that the files/card were corrupted.

I then unprotected the 21 files as I had protected them to delete other files but not them.

I then re-booted my computer, turned off all other programs, including Norton Antivirus and Microsoft Anti-Spyware.

I then put the disk back in my camera dock and this time all 21 pictures came up just fine.

So....I am not sure if it was just the rebooting, turning of the anti virus/spyware software, unprotecting them, or a combination of any of these, but I was able to get all of my photos.

I normally don't have problems transferring files from my camera, but it could have something to do with the fact that I had protected the 21 files, then deleted all of the other ones (from my last transfer), then tried to transfer the protected files.

Anyway, I am glad that I got all the files off the disk.

Oh, and lastly, the fact that I could review all of the pictures on my camera, even though my computer said they were corrupted, lead be to believe that they were still there and that there was a solution.

My advice, try doing any or all of the steps I did before deleting the files or re-formatting your card.

[elbirth]

Glad to hear you were successful at reccovering the files. I cringe everytime I hear stories of people losing photos, and I pray I never have the issue... but just in case, I'm definitely bookmarking the website for Photorescue in case I happen to ever need it

[TonyKInTexas]

My standard workflow is to download the images to HD first. Create my folder structure and move the original images (RAW and JPG) to an "Original" folder. Then I copy all of this to 2 other hard drives. If it is a wedding, I will also burn a DVDRW for insurance (DVDRW media is great for temporary stuff).

Then I can start processing. I cannot remember directly viewing images from a card on a computer. Macs are bad about corrupting cards if the card is not ejected correctly (I've been warned by those who know).

I'm glad the OP was able to recover the shots.

You might also want to modify your workflow so that you copy your files first to a storage device and then view the images. I always dump my CF directly to the PC and then view, prune, modify and print. Even then, with something like a wedding or paid assignment, I would not do much without saving the original files to a CD-R/DVD as a go-to archive in the case the files on the HD have a problem or become corrupted.

[PhotosGuy]

directly viewing images from a card on a computer
SInce you generally can't write to a RAW file, I doubt that they were corrupted. Some software will write a file to the card to make the 2nd time you view faster, & that may be your problem. I've never had a problen like you had, but I've never viewed pics on the card, either.
I have several 512s & doubt that I'll get any GIG sized cards - no point in putting all my eggs in one basket.
I always COPY, not Move the files, & then put that card at the end of the line for reuse. Only when I'm going to use a card do I reformat it in the cam.

[neebo]

I had a similar problem once. I tried several programs, but only photorescue was able to recover RAW files.

Let me guess, did you use Breezebrowser and a card reader to view pictures directly from CFs?

Uhm, what photorescue program you meant? There is couple manufacturer, example. Datarescue and Objectrescue. So what program you exactly mean?

[PhotosGuy]

I have several 512s & doubt that I'll get any GIG sized cards... Update two years later: I've been using 1 & 2GB cards for a year without any problems. Still, I switch cards to get images on both for important jobs. ;)

[glowie]

never view ur files directly from the card..back up the files right away and view the backed up files instead...well that's what my grandma always tell me anyways.

[ed rader]

Yes, I think the culprit was viewing files in Pixort and then possibly removing the card before I should have. I try to format on my computer at least once/month, and then everytime I put a fresh one in the camera, so I don't think thats it, and I don't really think it was deleting files on camera and then shooting more because I was able to view them once, and the camera gave me no errors with the card in.

The guilty card: Sandisk 256MB standard card.

-daniel

it has happened to me....tho i use irfanview.

ed rader

[RgB]

I try to format on my computer at least once/month, and then everytime I put a fresh one in the camera

-daniel

I woould skip formating it on your computer all together only do it in camera this could be the issue or like you said you could of removed the card altogether.

The best thing to do is use software that automaticatly copies the files to a folder of your choice then takes you to them. I use Image Capture (Mac) though Canon's utility does the job just as good perhaps a little to slow.

Glad it turned out great for you I have never had a corrupt card but I have accidentally deleted all instead of one photo and I used RescuePro that I bought separately which worked marvelously.

[AJSJones]

Don'tcha hate it when that happens?! I had a problem once and "Picture rescue" got mine back. The problem was during download. Card reader to laptop, laptop charging cord showed green (i.e fully charged) but the laptop battery died during the transfer - the charging cord was faulty :( Anyway, losing power during the transfer screwed the directory on the card but apparently not the files. They came back (they were shot in raw) as .tif but ACR could open them!