Really not possible to retrieve lost images after formatting?

It seems like you really didn't care too much about the images. Lesson learned.

HuePhoto wrote in post #10062774
It seems like you really didn't care too much about the images. Lesson learned.

Agreed. The first 3 or 4 replies all stated not to use the card again. If it was filled anywhere near capacity, the images will be lost.

Puddy Gum Drops wrote in post #10062273
Hello everyone,

Thanks for all the replies and sorry I didn't get back earlier. I am in India at the moment in the himalayas and not having access to internet most of the time...

I have used the card quite a lot since, as I havent had a chance to get a new one!

So there's mention of 'low level format' and 'quick format'. I accidentally hit ok on the format option on the camera itself, so which level format is that considered?

Thank you!!

Without special utility software, its not easy to LL Format CF cards. The in-camera format is a quick, high-level format only. Cameras that take SD cards have a LL format option but your 30D doesn't fall into that category.

If you've used the card since formatting it, then chances for recovery of any lost images is getting pretty slim. Sorry, but if you had simply put the card away and not used it again, data recovery would have been fairly simple. As of now, you've started to write over the old image data on the card. Some of them might still be there, it's now a crap shoot at best.

HuePhoto wrote in post #10062774
It seems like you really didn't care too much about the images. Lesson learned.

Ummm READ my 1st post - I already stated there that I'd used it since because I didn't realise that it would affect my chances of recovering data ....so more like 'don't know the technical ins and outs of how formatting works' than 'didn't care too much about images' thank you very much....

I will still give it a shot and will not use it again even if chances are slim, because I do care very much about the images!

Puddy Gum Drops wrote in post #10066007
Ummm READ my 1st post - I already stated there that I'd used it since because I didn't realise that it would affect my chances of recovering data ....so more like 'don't know the technical ins and outs of how formatting works' than 'didn't care too much about images' thank you very much....

I will still give it a shot and will not use it again even if chances are slim, because I do care very much about the images!

Well, I'm just saying next time something like that happens it's best not to do anything until you know the consequences. Deleting pictures that you haven't backed up and you know is important is already careless. To just start using it again without checking immediately if what you're doing will have any effect on the recovery process is also careless. I apologize for sounding rude, but it is the truth. I hope nothing like this happens again.

HuePhoto wrote in post #10066048
Well, I'm just saying next time something like that happens it's best not to do anything until you know the consequences. Deleting pictures that you haven't backed up and you know is important is already careless. To just start using it again without checking immediately if what you're doing will have any effect on the recovery process is also careless. I apologize for sounding rude, but it is the truth. I hope nothing like this happens again.

Fair enough. But I really had no idea that it was possible to recover anything at all after formatting (says it's not in the manual), if I did there is no way I would've continued to use it... Someone told me to search out a possible way, this was after I'd used it already

Also, I didn't delete them without backing up - I was checking how much space was left on my card, and by complete accident hit 'ok' which then formats the card!!! I know it was stupid but surely it should be a bit harder to do this, maybe a warning saying 'are you sure?' - as it does when you delete images....

Puddy Gum Drops wrote in post #10066091
Fair enough. But I really had no idea that it was possible to recover anything at all after formatting (says it's not in the manual), if I did there is no way I would've continued to use it... Someone told me to search out a possible way, this was after I'd used it already

Also, I didn't delete them without backing up - I was checking how much space was left on my card, and by complete accident hit 'ok' which then formats the card!!! I know it was stupid but surely it should be a bit harder to do this, maybe a warning saying 'are you sure?' - as it does when you delete images....

Are you on vacation and were they vacation pictures? Could you go back and take the pictures?

Try file scavanger, it worked wonders for me a few times.

Since flash memory devices tend to spread out the storage, to even out the wear on the memory cells, it may not necessarily be so that if you take 100 photos, format the card, then take another 100 photos, that the second set actually overlaps the first. It could very well be in another place on the card.

DC Fan wrote in post #10044202
One of the best image file recovery programs is available for a free download.

http://www.z-a-recovery.com/digital-image-recovery.htm

Thank you, this program saved my files from last nite. Was trying out my new 50D at a concert for first time and was very very happy with the results and performance compared to my XT until the CF card stopped working but i have them now with the help of this program

This is a great lesson to learn... I first learned about the way electronics flag partitions of space on media as "empty" rather than truly deleting them a few years ago, and it blew my mind. Take home lesson: accidental formatting is not the end of the world! Just don't use the card. Hard lesson to learn for the OP, though I suppose if he/she had been able to recover their images after writing over them, we could all just think of our memory cards as double capacity... hmm...

Even if you formatted your hard drive, you could still recover data. So recovering the images from your CF card should be very easy. However, now that it's used, it makes things a little bit more complicated. The amount of recovery depends on how much you've used the card since formatting. If you have a 16GB card and you've used 15GB since formatting, then chances are, you won't have anything left. If you use only 1GB, then you still have a good chance of recovering. Granted, there will be some images that will be overwritten (you'll get half image and half black box).

I may be wrong, but my understanding is that contained in every card, there's a small "table" (sort of like a spreadsheet) that the camera uses to keep track of each images' filename, location within the memory card, and size. When you "delete" an image, all the camera is doing is marking the table where the image is located as "empty" and will use that space when needed. When you format the card, all it's really doing is marking every cell on the table as "empty", but you're really not deleting anything.

Every image file will have a "file header" at the beginning of the file. WIthout going through the technical jargons, the file header basically indicates, "hey, I'm a JPG file".
With a recovery software, all it does is go through the entire memory card from the very first sector to the very last sector and find these image "file header" and piece them out. It will not be able to figure out what the original filename is because the table is overwritten after formatting and ocassionally it'll make mistakes. For instance, an image file could be written in non-sequential manner. In other words, the first half of the image is written in one location of the memory card while the second half of the image is written in another location of the memory card. In this instance, the software will not be able to piece out the entire image and hence, you'll get half of a good image and half black image.

Hi -

PC Inspector
http://www.pcinspector​.de/
is the best I have found, I have tried most, and it's free. Give it a try, you have nothing to lose and you will probably get at least some images back. As others have said, if you're ever in this position again (and don't despair, you're not alone), don't use the card until you can do the recovery. You can still recover after a "low level format". I have done exactly this for several friends, and once for myself with a failed card that no other program could read.

In film days, the equivalent was opening the back before rewinding the film. Images were gone forever of course! That was why Canon developed a system where the whole film was wound onto the take up spool, and during use was wound back into the cassette - very clever, Canon! Until someone even cleverer (like me) decided to use half the film in my OM1, then the other half in the EOS - result, half a film of double exposures!

Holy thread revival Batman...
I reckon since the last post prior to the one above was in Septembet 2010, I reckon the OP and anyone else posting in this thread might just have figured it out.

^ you don't think there just might be a link between a) reviving an old thread, b) being a first post & c) linking to some pay-for software, that might indicate a spammer-at-work?