Format/Recovery of Cf card - need advice

[dash_x]

I've had a 2gb CF card fail on me for the first time, and i'm not sure how to proceed.

Suddenly yesterday morning i turned my camera on and got a message that
saying that the card is not formatted.

Using a reader, similarly my pc is telling me the card is not formatted, and is asking do you want to format now? yes/no.

I had 125 images on the card when it failed - if i format the card, seeing as thats the only options i'm being given, are those images recoverable?

What software is the most reliable for recovery?
Should i format in-camera or via pc? Should i format myself at all?

(I'm going to throw the card away as soon as this is sorted, I have no intention of using the it again - does this increase my options in what i'm able to do?)


thanx in advance

[Jon]

Check this sticky (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=670801). Since you haven't yet formatted the card, don't, and try some of the listed software. Only if you can't find anything that works under those conditions would I reformat the card, but since it only rewrites the FAT and root directory structure, most files should be recoverable (if you've regularly reformatted it instead of just deleting files when you fill it up).

[dash_x]

great, photorec was a complete success. Thanks for the help.