Any chance of recovering 114 photos?

[Aplmac]

Back in Nov.2007, I bought a new SanDisk 1 Gb. SD card at Price Smart,Trinidad

to use in my Canon Powershot A630.

(I've just noticed that it has a number 2 enclosed in a C-shaped semicircle

if that means anything)

 

Previous to my cruise I shot many photos on the card

but made sure to delete all photos, to make room for cruise-pics.

My mistake was that I didn't FORMATthe card...duuhh.

 

Right up to the very end of the cruise I was taking pics

and seeing them okay on the camera's screen, via Playback function

so it came as a big shock when I got back home and downloaded them to My Documents

and found they wouldn't open - with anything!

Not even thumbnails, within the My Documents folder.

File sizes look a bit on the small size, but most are on the order of 500k.-700k.

so there's data in there.

 

When I first got back home and opened the disk to view the contents

there were a few weird folders showing, with peculiar "Japanese" titles

as well as one or two of those problem icons assoc. with no program.

That's when I knew something was up!

I put the card back in the camera

and again I could view them just fine, via the Canon's playback!

 

 

Photoshop 7 won't open the 114 problem files, nor will Paint!

Firefox gives me an error message

and Windows Picture and Fax Viewer tells me No Preview Avaialable!

- I'm stuck!

 

There are 114 such photo-files that I've now placed in a separate folder awaiting salvation!

On one occasion a single one of the problematic files showed...it was a Cabin shot

so I immediately transferred it to a folder of other Cabin shots

- to discover that, despite its quite-different file number

it was an identical copy of a non-problem cabin shot

- so this was a COPY?? What's with THAT, I'm thinking?

 

I tried running XP's Disk Check on the card, but that didn't help.

Things got worse and worse on the card

to the point where I was forced to format it, to clear all errors.

I still have copies of the files in My Documents.

 

Does anyone have any bright ideas how I might open and recover these files?

Save them to a different format? What?

 

Needless to say, I now appreciate the value of formatting a card every so often!

Deleting doesn't necessarily wipe the info from the card

and I reckon my voluminous cruise-pics started to encroach on residual deletion-data on the card

and aahh...'things clashed', am I right??

[pierces]

Take a look at this thread. There are several recovery packages out there, but I like the RescuePro that comes with Sandisk Extreme III and IV cards.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=652252&highlight=recovery

 

Good luck!

 

Dave

[Aplmac]

Take a look at this thread.

There are several recovery packages out there,

but I like the RescuePro that comes with Sandisk Extreme III and IV cards.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=652252&highlight=recovery

Many Thanks for the pointers.

 

Okay.. so I keep an eye out for a Sandisk ExtremeIII SDcard

that comes with recovery software

 

In the meantime I might try PhotoRescue's free trial demo

to see if they think the files are recoverable.

 

Thanks again.

[fligster]

I was just wondering if you had tried copying the pictures directly from your camera via USB cable, rather than removing the card and inserting into computer to transfer?

 

If not, can you put the pictures on a card, put back in camera and try that? (assuming the pictures are still viewable on the camera).

[Aplmac]

I was just wondering if you had tried copying the pictures directly

from your camera via USB cable, ===> no..via card-reader

rather than removing the card and inserting into computer ===> into card reader

to transfer?

 

If not, can you put the pictures on a card, put back in camera and try that?

(assuming the pictures are still viewable on the camera). ===> no,sir!

I wiped the 1Gb. SD card about 2 wks. ago and formatted it

..it was that bad after I tried defragging, Disk Check and other tricks.

 

What I have now(in My Documents)

are the originally-transferred files when I first got back from the cruise,on Jan.9th.

 

Still, based on your suggestion, I transferred the files from My Documents

back to the freshly formatted 1Gb. SD card -they went-

 

but NO... camera tells me No Image when I try to look at them.

 

 

Also, trying to view the files on the card, via XP computer,

= same story. No preview available.

 

Seems fairly clear I'll have to go the recovery route

and I've alerted a friend here on the island as to my need for recovery software.

 

Thanks for the suggestion,though - it was worth a try!

[Aplmac]

Okay.

So I downloaded the PhotoRescue demo and ran it.

 

Up comes a bunch of visible thumbnails, a few Rendering failed's,

and a few Embedded thumbnail ignored's,

but I'm seeing an awful lot of repetition, files three and four times over.

 

I'm seeing nothing that I haven't already got safe viable copies of already

so I think I haven't lost anything much

other than maybe a few topless shots(dammit!) ;)

 

 

Much weird artefaction.. pictures written incorrectly in wrong quadrants,

bottom half of the pics either red or green, disjointed like crazy..

but I can recognize them all

and I'm missing just about nothing, fortunately.

 

 

I'm not about to ditch the 79 Megs. of files just yet,

since I'm still waiting on my island contact to see if he has the SanDisk recovery software,

but I feel better to have seen what files are screwed-up, even if only thumbnails.

 

 

WHY do I have all this repetition?

Why did the camera go bonkers on me

and start writing triplicates and quadruplicates?

Is the camera faulty?

Is the card faulty?

Should I trust neither? both?

Will formatting the card thoroughly(in the camera) make the card reliable?

Should I keep the card for less-important day-to-day shots?

but not for holiday shots where I'll be away from the computer for maybe 1-2 weeks

with no hope of downloading, or checking to see if my files are viable on XP?

[jerseyjk]

Most likely the card is faulty. Unfortunately, your best bet would have been trying to manipulate the card directly with the rescuepro software early on and not trying to use it on the copied files.

 

The scandisc and chkdsk and defrag utilities are not really viable tools when dealing with a corrupt memory card (yes they seem like they should be since the cards are formatted FAT, but they're just not). Defrag in particular is moving around blocks and is doing so under the specific assumption that the disk is not corrupt.

 

It's not normally like me to be a doomsayer, but I think your pics are gone. I personally would keep trying a few more things anyway ... all the while knowing the ultimate outcome. What those things are though, I don't know since you wiped the card.

 

My only real good piece of advice is throw the card in the trash as soon as you finish reading this. I would be suspicious whether a card purchased in Trinidad were a real SanDisk card or a knockoff.

[Aplmac]

I'm no longer worried about the picture files

I'm pretty sure I have all the ones I want.

the 'problematic' ones are duplicates and triplicates..weird!

 

Think I'll keep the card around for awhile and use it for day-to-day stuff

since I only just bought it 2 months ago, if that...(cost me about US$25)

does that sound right?

but thanks for your comments and analysis.

[derrick22]

I had my computer reformatted a while back and everything was backed up. So I thought. I couldn't locate pictures of my DH's surprise 60th birthday party in Florida. Any other pictures and I wouldn't be upset. I could always take another cruise. :D

The compact flash had been deleted and I had used it again. I started searching and found a free program that recovered the pictures. Recover my photos is the name of the program and it worked for me.

 

Denise

[cruisingbooboo]

WOW!!! I feel so out of the loop, what does it mean to " format' the memory card? I just open mine, put it in and use the camera, am I missing a step?

[pierces]

WOW!!! I feel so out of the loop, what does it mean to " format' the memory card? I just open mine, put it in and use the camera, am I missing a step?

 

In all current cameras, the camera can use a card right out of the package since they come pre-formatted. Usually, you can go on forever just deleting pictures off the card and shooting over again. Buried in your setup menu (usually on the menu that appears when you are in viewing mode and press menu, but not in all cases) is a "Format Card" command. This erases the FAT (file allocation table) at the beginning of the card's storage area and creates a new, empty one. If you don't have a "Delete All" choice on the menu or your download program doesn't clear your card when you're done, this is a quick way to delete a bunch of images without going through them one by one. It's also not a bad idea to format a card once in a while to sort of "reset" it and clear the FAT.

 

BTW, formatting the card deletes the FAT, effectively emptying the card, but until you write new files to the sectors on the card, the old photos aren't really gone. Picture the FAT as the old Dewey Decimal card file in the library. The cards (FAT records) tell you where to find the books (images). If you removed all the cards, the books are still in the library, but very hard to find. Recovery programs work by scanning the sectors on the disk (walking up and down the aisles) and finding the images. Recovery programs can not only find and restore pictures from a card with a corrupted FAT (the most common form of card error), but from an accidentally erased or formatted card if it hasn't been used since it was formatted.

 

Dave

[Aplmac]

"Format Card" command. This erases the FAT (file allocation table) at the beginning of the card's storage area and creates a new, empty one.

It's also not a bad idea to format a card once in a while to sort of "reset" it and clear the FAT.

 

BTW, formatting the card deletes the FAT, effectively emptying the card,

but until you write new files to the sectors on the card,

the old photos aren't really gone. ===> ah SO!

 

Recovery programs can not only find and restore pictures from a card with a corrupted FAT (the most common form of card error),

but from an accidentally erased or formatted card if it hasn't been used since it was formatted.

Thanks for all that info stuff. I learned much from it.

 

Always assumed a formatting wiped the whole card not just 'the directory'

didn't realize the files are still there, just "not connected"

 

Thanks again.

[pierces]

Thanks for all that info stuff. I learned much from it.

 

Always assumed a formatting wiped the whole card not just 'the directory'

didn't realize the files are still there, just "not connected"

 

Thanks again.

 

Just imagine what a photo processing lab could do with recovery software and a card dropped off for prints!

 

The RescuePro software I mentioned earlier has a "Wipe Disk" mode that will remove ALL data from the disk should you want or need to. This is a low-level format that writes and erases every sector and leaves the disk with nothing on it. You then format it normally.

 

If more celebrities used this utility, fewer of those risqué photos would pop up on the internet!:D

 

Dave

[Aplmac]

Took 70+ shots on the same("problematic"?) 1 Gb. SD card yesterday

see them at

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28899&l=5aa48&id=682113168

 

and everything worked OK.

 

Got back home and did the usual transfer from card-reader to My Documents

everything opened with Photoshop and all is well. So far.

 

As indicated earlier, I shall get my money's worth out of this card

by shooting local,day-to-day stuff on it(nothing of any importance)

[donaldsc]

I'm no longer worried about the picture files

I'm pretty sure I have all the ones I want.

the 'problematic' ones are duplicates and triplicates..weird!

 

Think I'll keep the card around for awhile and use it for day-to-day stuff

since I only just bought it 2 months ago, if that...(cost me about US$25)

does that sound right?

but thanks for your comments and analysis.

 

Two things.

 

1 - keeping a card that you spent $25 for for anything just because you spent $25 on it is totally crazy. What if you grab it by mistake and shoot some important pictures. Just toss the card.

 

2 - Your major mistake was trying to fix your problem w/o analyzing it. Every time you did a "fix" you made the problem worse. If you had used the rescue program at the very beginning, you would probably have been OK.

 

DON

[Aplmac]

Some weeks later.........

 

 

Although I don't doubt the SD card in question is faulty,

I'm now also beginning to doubt the camera itself.

 

Recently, I shot a quick series of four pictures

and noticed that they got written to the card in two different-sized formats.

 

Without my altering settings between shots

how is that possible without having a faulty processor on board?

 

------------------

 

I bought this Canon Powershot A630 because the Canon Powershot A 40 before it was so nice

until the A40 started screwing up by writing (small file-size) meaningless black-picture files -all of a sudden one day

- on any focal-length setting other than the default widest-angle setting.

(Another processor malfunction? in the A40 this time??)

 

 

I still reckon the A 40 has better optics than the A 630

and if it was worthwhile(is it?) having the A 40 fixed

I'd do so, and sell the A 630.

 

 

Thing is..my next digi-cam has to rack that wide-angle back to 28mm. equivalent

or even wider if anyone makes such!(anyone know?)

and it may cost too much to fix the A 40 to be worthwhile

- just toss it (like the danged card which, incidentally, I'm still using

for average everyday stuff, even though it's done the same dumbass trick twice again

especially when shooting lots of stuff in a short time) = processor overloading? getting too hot?

 

I'm wondering if the fault isn't as much a malfunctioning processor on board the camera! (cameras)

 

-----------------------

 

I guess the question now is..

Has anyone else had processor problems with any Canon Powershot's

or is this all in my own imagination?