Oops, recovering memory cards

MountainmanMountainman Registered Users Posts: 2 Beginner grinner
edited February 3, 2004 in Technique
Howdy Folks,
Got a buddy of mine building a house.
He's been taking a photo a day from a marker, witha Nikon 5400.
It uses compact flash cards.

Well, he tried to download his pics, and thought he had, so he erased the card and started to re-use it. He's wanting to know if there is any chance at all of recovering the erased files off the card?

Comments

  • DoctorItDoctorIt Administrators Posts: 11,951 moderator
    edited February 2, 2004
    Mountainman wrote:
    Howdy Folks,
    Got a buddy of mine building a house.
    He's been taking a photo a day from a marker, witha Nikon 5400.
    It uses compact flash cards.

    Well, he tried to download his pics, and thought he had, so he erased the card and started to re-use it. He's wanting to know if there is any chance at all of recovering the erased files off the card?
    I'm thinkin thats one of the major drawbacks of solid state memory - if it goes bad, there's not much in the way of recovery. We lost one here in the lab the other day, only a small 64mb, so we just tossed it. Tried everything including direct camera to pc connection. nothing. I did some quick research, and found some fancy recovery services, but they cost more than a new 1gb card!

    If there is a good solution (from some of the pros), I'd like to hear it too.
    Erik
    moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]

  • patch29patch29 Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,928 Major grins
    edited February 2, 2004
    Lexar has a program called image rescue. Check here, I only see it for Mac OS X. I also think it is restricted to certain Lexar cards.

    Photorescue is a recovery program for both Mac and Windows for $29/soon to be $39.
    PLEASE try the demo before ordering the full version. If you are unable to use the demo or if the demo doesn't at least claim that it can recover your pictures, the full version will not help you

    That is all I can think of at the moment. I am sure a search at versiontracker.com could lead to more programs.
  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited February 2, 2004
    patch29 wrote:
    Lexar has a program called image rescue. Check here, I only see it for Mac OS X. I also think it is restricted to certain Lexar cards.

    Photorescue is a recovery program for both Mac and Windows for $29/soon to be $39.



    That is all I can think of at the moment. I am sure a search at versiontracker.com could lead to more programs.
    I had a Sandisk Ultra 1 Mb card that failed after one use and used Photorescue to retrieve the pictures - It worked for me. Sandisk replaced the card with an Ultra II model which has worked flawlessly.
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
    edited February 2, 2004
    Just a note... Mountaineer doesn't appear to be describing a card failure, simply an error in using the card.
    Sid.
    Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
    http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
  • MountainmanMountainman Registered Users Posts: 2 Beginner grinner
    edited February 2, 2004
    Not a card failure, but an error in using it.
    He thought he'd copied everything off the card, and erased the card.
    Ends up he only copied a few of the pics, and lost the rest.
  • zero-zerozero-zero Registered Users Posts: 147 Major grins
    edited February 2, 2004
    Either way, the apps Patch pointed out should work. Not a big deal unerasing the data.
  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited February 2, 2004
    zero-zero wrote:
    Either way, the apps Patch pointed out should work. Not a big deal unerasing the data.
    Erasing a card is like erasing a hard drive - the data is not destroyed unless it is written over - just the addresses in the FAT are wiped - so unless he has written new data over the old, the old data is still there and pcrescue should be able to get it...... Like you said z-z I
    If he reused the card enough to begin writing over the older data then he may be out of luck.
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,938 moderator
    edited February 3, 2004
    Speaking of failed memory cards. My understanding is that most cards
    "fail" because they are not properly formatted prior to use. When you get
    a new card, it's best to format it in the camera before you use it.

    ian
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
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