Compact flash card photos

Hi there,

I have a few compact flash of 8 GB size full of photos.
I fill up with photos ( round 1 ) , download it, and format it using my 5dm2 and reshoot until full with photos again ( round 2)

No error what so ever. I wanted to know if there is any way to recover the set of photos ( round 1) i downloaded from the CF card prior to formating and reshooting to fill to card with photos ( round 2)

I am thinking I cannot, since I have already formatted the CF card with the camera and on top of that I shot and filled up the whole card with another round of photos.

Thanks for your insight.

I know you can recover after formatting or deleting, but since you shot over them, I don't believe the images you're trying to recover can be recovered. I remember reading something about being able to recover a few "layers" down with computer hard drives, but hard drives work completely different than flash memory. I hope someone here knows of a way to help you out. Good luck!

I recovered some photos from a card from three games back using Sandisk RescuePro that came with a card I bought. You might be surprised in what you find.

MT Stringer wrote in post #10450096
I recovered some photos from a card from three games back using Sandisk RescuePro that came with a card I bought. You might be surprised in what you find.

Hi there, thanks so much . Where do you get this, is it free to download ?

Just formatting or deleting does not really distroy the information. However overwriting it does. Had you not used it again they would be fully recoverable.

Now over writing is not just useing it again. Say you fill the card, all 8 gigs. Then format it, and use it again, but only 1 gig worth. The 7 gigs of space that were not re-used are still easily recoverable. The 1 gig that was used... it is possible, but not too probable.

dennisatmph wrote in post #10450119
Hi there, thanks so much . Where do you get this, is it free to download ?

When you buy a Sandisk card, you get a serial number to activate the software, which you have to download from Sandisk.

There are probably others that will work also.
Good luck.

MT Stringer wrote in post #10450337
When you buy a Sandisk card, you get a serial number to activate the software, which you have to download from Sandisk.

There are probably others that will work also.
Good luck.

oh no!!!! I threw away all the boxes

The number is on the card, not the box. ( I think)

It's on a slip of paper in the box now. Used to be they'd ship a CD along with the card, and the s/n was on the envelope. But only with the Extreme family, IIRC.

i see the sn on the card now, but where do you download this software, i went to the website but there is no such program. i have sandisk extreme IV UDMA card, but i have thrown everything away, only got the card with me.

The s/n you need is not the CF card's s/n, but a separate Product Key that, I fear, you threw out with the box. (Let's See Your Boxes - suddenly not quite so silly!)

I will have to be more careful with the next card! I have never even looked at the materials that come with the card. I will have to keep one " Just in case".

Fyi.. CF cards don't always write @ sector 1 and go sequentially to the last sector.
ALL solid state drives use a leveling algorithm to ensure all sectors are used equally. This is why some people can get some pictures back after shooting multiple times.. and why you should never low level format a solid state drive "just for the heck of it".

If you totally filled up the card on the second pass.. then you're sol. If you only partially filled it up; then you may get some pictures back.

Good Luck!