Powershot A80 - lost pictures - how to get them back?

The other day we were at someone else's place and had taken lots of pictures. That person had a card reader and asked to have the pics copied to his computer. Unfortunately this erased the memory card and all the pics were gone on our card. So I tried putting them back from the PC to the card. That did work, but now the camera does not recognise them anymore.
The problem is that we do not have a card reader, we always use the camera and USB cable to download our pics. I can see from the amount of free memory on the card that those pictures are there, but I can't seem to download them at all.

Has anyone encountered this problem and how can I get those pictures back? There's way too many to email them over, and I don't think that person has a cd writer either.

We have Windows XP, have tried all kinds of different programmes to get the pics, but it never shows up anything.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

The pictures normally live in \DCIM\###CANON on your CF card, where the ### is the folder number. If you didn't copy them back to there, I don't think you'll be able to see them from the camera.

Card readers are pretty cheap, starting at around $9-10. Sandisk has a USB 2 one which I got for under $25. It's much faster than the camera-based file transfer, and will work with Zoom Browser, if that's your preferred image manager.

If you don't want to, or can't use a card reader on your PC, you'll have to find someone who has a card reader, or a laptop with a CF adapter, and move the files into the aforesaid \DCIM\###canon directory.

Well, when I used the guy's card reader, all I could see on the CF card was a directory called "MISC", but I tried that as well while we were still there and the camera still couldn't see anything.

I read something on the Canon site though:

Why can't I see the images on the TFT-screen of my digital still camera after changing them by using a card reader or through a WIA driver?  
  
Solutions
 
JPEG compression is a standard used to compress images into a manageable size. Part of this standard is also an area where manufacturers can enter manufacturer specific information about their products. Canon cameras recognize images through this specific information. 
Most software programs do not support this information. They change / replace / delete this information. When so, the image is not recognized by the camera as an image made with it and as such will not be displayed by it. For more information do check following URL: http://ww2.canon-europe.com/products/ca​meras/notices_dig_cam_​users.html

Card readers are generally faster than going through the camera's reader, as well as more flexible (can read the whole disk, too).

If the images were shoved into a \MISC directory, the camera won't see them. Could you see the images while the card was on the other person's card reader? If you couldn't, and the card shows it's got something on it somewhere, you may need to resort to using a file recovery utility (which will also want you to be using a card reader rather than the camera). I use File Rescue Plus from Software Shelf. There are others out there, maybe better, but that just happens to be the one I use.

So does this mean that it is impossible - even with the right software - to read any other files from the CF card through the camera with the USB cable?

I think if you use XP Window Explorer you should be able to see and copy the photos over to you HD.
The camera will be listed beneath your hard drive...

No, XP still only recognizes (through the camera) the image files in the DCIM directory and its subdirectories. This is a camera and driver limitation as much as anything. If I connect an Olympus Camedia 2040, I have access to the entire SmartMedia card, not just the DCIM directory through Explorer. I even tried this on an XP computer I hadn't loaded Canon's drivers on. The camera was recogfnized as a Canon A80, and all photos in the DCIM subdirectories displayed, but I couldn't go up to a higher level of the card from there.

Rats... I guess it's a trip back to the buddies house to get the pictures put on the card in the right directory.

looks like it yeah... bugger!!!

Does the folder number have to be anything in particular or is this a free choice?

I think you are safe to put it in any directory number you want. There camera creates the directories according to a set of rules, (so one directory does not get overloaded.)
The directory rules are in one of the manuals...

What you can do is get your friend to off load the images into an empty directory onto his hard drive. Verify the images are there. Format the card and take an image. This will format the card and set up the directories... Copy the images to the same directory as the new picture. Turn off and on the camera. You should be able to see all the pictures... Proceed home... If the camera only sees the new image, then... take your friends hard drive home!

I think you are safe to put it in any directory number you want. There camera creates the directories according to a set of rules, (so one directory does not get overloaded.)
The directory rules are in one of the manuals...

What you can do is get your friend to off load the images into an empty directory onto his hard drive. Verify the images are there. Format the card and take an image. This will format the card and set up the directories... Copy the images to the same directory as the new picture. Turn off and on the camera. You should be able to see all the pictures... Proceed home... If the camera only sees the new image, then... take your friends hard drive home!

Canon creates folders starting at \DCIM\100CANON\IMG_000​1.JPG, \DCIM\101CANON\IMG_010​1.JPG and so on. IOW, the first 2 digits of the image number correspond to the last 2 of the folder number. You'll probably want to do the same.