Did I just lose 500+ vacation photos?

[motoyen]

I've been traveling through Europe the past month and today I went to use Image Capture to move about 500+ photos to my MacBookPro from my Verbatim 16GB SD card. About half way an error message popped up that said the card was disconnected.

Now when I insert the card into the MBP it doesn't mount on the desktop and also now doesn't work in my camera. The error message on my camera suggests I reformat the card but I don't want to do that and lose the rest of my photos. Any suggestions on how I can get to the rest of my photos?

[CosmoKid]

so the computer isn't recognizing the card at all? did the card come with a recovery program? did you try the card in a different reader/computer?

try Recova - free recovery software.

[cicopo]

Don't use that card for anything new. Read this & go from there.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=670801

I just recovered 150 photos a couple of days ago for a relative after another relative foolishly deleted them. I used the Sandisk program which I already have.

[Lowner]

I had a similar issue with an upload from camera. The upload failed but when I retried it absolutely refused to do it.

Canon bailed me out. Apparently the system refused to re-upload because it found files already uploaded with the image idents on them, presumably the upload starts by producing a list of some kind. Canon explained how I should overcome this. I've forgotten what I did, but they will explain it to you.

[motoyen]

so the computer isn't recognizing the card at all? did the card come with a recovery program? did you try the card in a different reader/computer?


yeah the computer isn't recognizing the card at all. I'm running Mac 10.6 and I also have VMWare fusion installed with Windows XP so I tried that but no luck. I looked at a few data recovery programs but they all require that the card be recognized before they can do their work.

I don't have access to a different computer right now but putting the card into both my camera and camcorder both fail to recognize the card.

Now that I think back on it I've been having some issues with this card for the past few days. I noticed that when viewing the images back on my camera some would have a question mark on them saying this image couldn't be viewed. I'm guessing those files were corrupt and during the transfer process everything went fubar when it came time to transfer those files.

The irony is on my last trip I had 2 1gb cards and I was always downloading them everyday because they would fill up so fast. So on this trip I bought the 16gb card thinking I could let it fill up a bit more and now it turns out all it means is that I'm going to lose more pictures than if I had just kept the 1gb cards.

[FLiPMaRC]

Hope you recover your photos. Good luck!

I never leave files on my memory card especially when I travel. To me, these are once in a lifetime events that may never happen again. I always unload my card at the end of the day even if it's not full. Before, I was using my old iPod to back up my photos when I travel. I just recently purchased a Dell 10v netbook for this purpose. It worked well two weeks ago when I was shooting a sporting event near the Boston area :D Half way through the event, my 8gb card was full :lol: I switched to shooting in JPGs before the break.

[dovaka]

not that this helps the current situation but i cant say enough about a device like the hyperdrive. whenever i shoot anything anywhere as soon as the cf card comes out of hte camera it goes into the hyper drive to copy it then back into its case upside down so i know there is data on it. then at the end of the day/shoot i copy the hyper drive to my laptop and go home. i dont delete the hyper drive or format the cf cards until all the files are in my storage system at home at which point there as safe as they will ever be and i delete all other copies of them and do it all over again.

[Tbirder]

yeah the computer isn't recognizing the card at all. I looked at a few data recovery programs but they all require that the card be recognized before they can do their work.


I had the same problem. To retrieve my images I got a cheapo USB card reader that I plugged into my PC, used RecoverPlus software (purchased online, inexpensive) and pointed the program to read the card in the card reader. It was a slow process (500 pics) but it worked. But whatever you do, until you attempt a recovery do not do anything with the card. Good luck.

[quijibo69]

This might help

http://store.lexar.com/imagerescue3/download.cfm

Free Download ;-)

[Cathpah]

Sandisk RescuePro can be found pretty easily (online, and the extreme cards come with a disc) and works like a charm. I'd imagine you'll be able to recover all (or at least the vast majority) of your photos.

I'd get a new CF card before shooting anything else though....I imagine that card is taking its final breaths.

[tvphotog]

not that this helps the current situation but i cant say enough about a device like the hyperdrive. whenever i shoot anything anywhere as soon as the cf card comes out of hte camera it goes into the hyper drive to copy it then back into its case upside down so i know there is data on it. then at the end of the day/shoot i copy the hyper drive to my laptop and go home. i dont delete the hyper drive or format the cf cards until all the files are in my storage system at home at which point there as safe as they will ever be and i delete all other copies of them and do it all over again.

I think you'll be able to recover the photos, and I must say that I argree with dovaka. I use a Hyperdrive to back up my shots, it's an invaluable piece of equipment.

[motoyen]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've tried various software apps both on Mac and PC but none seem to work as they all can't find the card. I'm going to try and external card reader and see if they helps. My other option is to send it to these guys in Germany. I'm still on holiday in Europe until the 28th so this might be a good option. Anyone heard of them? http://card-recovery.biz/.com/

[Jon]

That'll cost you. Most file recovery programs want the card to be in a card reader, not in the camera, so I'd get a reader (and a new card) before handing the old one over to a recovery service.

[dovaka]

when your card is in hte camera the laptop is talking to the camera which talks to the card so if hte camera wants to format it then theres not a chance of a recovery program working
more then likely if you get a external reader then it should see it