CF card image recovery(not software)

Ricky91t

[Rant]I've just found out my CF memory card with 600 or more images from today had died,A week after getting it,I really wanted to email these to magazines and papers as I had an advantage over other photographers with living locally,Now I'm left with the probability of never seeing these photos again let alone emailing them to publishers.[/Rant]

I need a company that recovers images from memory chips in the CF card as i have a feeling my compact flash reader has damaged it(both from the same company too)does anyone know where,And a price?

Cheers

soccerc

www.easyrecovery.ie are quoting €149.

Valentia

Don't panic. Recovering stuff is easier than it seems. Did you get a recovery programme with the card? I've noticed too that using another reader or the card slot in your monitor or laptop can read cards that look dead. Try a few things. You may not get the jump regarding getting the stuff to the papers but you should get the shots back. There are a load of recovery programmes out there.

Have a look here: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm

Fajitas!

Ricky, have a look through Cabaal's recent twitters, he posted up some freeware he uses for recovery. I'm afraid I use the Sandisk software, so am no good to you.

There shouldn't be too much hassle getting them back though

padocon

:eek: Sorry to hear Rich! That is so annoying! Hope you can restore your pictures! Unfortunetly I can be of no help

I just ordered a CF card of mymemory a few days ago!:eek:

Borderfox

I used the Sandisk software once on a card that failed to read and recovered around 95% of all images both Raw and Jpg

Cabaal

Fajitas! wrote: »

Ricky, have a look through Cabaal's recent twitters, he posted up some freeware he uses for recovery. I'm afraid I use the Sandisk software, so am no good to you.

There shouldn't be too much hassle getting them back though

As long as the card can be seen by windows in anyway the software I use should restore files off of it, even if windows shows the file system as fecked (not FAT32 for example),

Feel free to IM me I have the software in question on my USB drive with me

The software I use works with any brand of mem card, usb drive or hard drive, my dad's mem card got corrupted and even though I deleted 60 or so images off it last week I got all the corrupted images and the 60 I deleted last week back when I restored stuff yesterday :pac:

Previously I've been able to restore over 500GB's of data from old harddrives, ok fair enough maybe I'm bigging it up but its worked a threat for me to date

[EDIT] Actually you can download it and find out more info from - http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Ricky91t

Right cheers for the replies,I have a feeling this isn't just a corrupt card as when i put it into my camera my camera won't turn on and will only turn on when i've removed the card and took the battery out and out it back in.

@Fajitas:You sure it was cabaal?Been through almost a month of his tweets and couldn't see anything.

When i ordered these cards(refurbished EXtreme III with 1 year warranty from sandisk) the site said they come with

Advanced features:
- Designed to meet the critical speed and performance needs of serious professional photographers—lets you quickly capture, view, upload and transfer large image files
- Ideal for demanding photo shoots under severe weather conditions—heat, cold, wind, rain, snow, etc.
- Built to perform in the most extreme environments and temperatures—from
-13º F to 185º F
-25º C to 85º C
- Min 20MB/second sequential read and write
- Durable, reliable and thoroughly tested—temperature tested (heat and cold); shock and vibration tested (industrial-grade RTV included for CompactFlash)
- Data recovery software—ensures your photos will always be there (even if you delete them accidentally)
- Dedicated, priority technical support hotline for direct customers of SanDisk Extreme products
- Included travel case keeps your memory cards organized

(this is also why i know really dislike mymemory.co.uk,I don't get the stuff they list on their site and to top it all off there memory card reader wrecks my card

When it arrived i got a receipt and two memory cards thrown in and envelope,I'd assume you can't download the recovery software from sandisk?

Will try and pick up a new card reader soon and try some software,thanks all!

Ricky91t

Cabaal wrote: »

As long as the card can be seen by windows in anyway the software I use should restore files off of it, even if windows shows the file system as fecked (not FAT32 for example),

Feel free to IM me I have the software in question on my USB drive with me

The software I use works with any brand of mem card, usb drive or hard drive, my dad's mem card got corrupted and even though I deleted 60 or so images off it last week I got all the corrupted images and the 60 I deleted last week back when I restored stuff yesterday :pac:

Previously I've been able to restore over 500GB's of data from old harddrives, ok fair enough maybe I'm bigging it up but its worked a threat for me to date

[EDIT] Actually you can download it and find out more info from - http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Thanks for that caball i'll try that first!

I'd thank you but i've run out

ThOnda

I have used some free recovery software that was posted here in photography forum before Christmas.. One way could be using camera as a reader when connected to the PC via cable.
I hope and wish you to recover all pictures.

Ricky91t

Tested card on our printers CF card reader and it couldn't read any images off it(won't open on the pc till it's found images so couldn't try recovering anything)

Would this card be covered by the one year warranty?

Ricky91t

ThOnda wrote: »

I have used some free recovery software that was posted here in photography forum before Christmas.. One way could be using camera as a reader when connected to the PC via cable.
I hope and wish you to recover all pictures.

Camera won't even turn on when the card is in it..Will pick up a card reader at some point and hope that works

Fajitas!

Ah - Yes - You'll definitely need a card reader to get them off. If you were any bit closer to Dublin, I'd give you a hand!

Cabaal

You'll need a card reader alright, Rich if you want any help with that recovery software drop me a IM or something

Alun

Personally I'd be very wary of "refurbished" memory cards. There really isn't anything serviceable inside, they either work or they don't, and given the price of them it'd be financially prohibitive even if they could, so I suspect that what they are are cards that were returned to them by customers with faults that they couldn't reproduce, so they just re-sell them on as "refurbished" goods.

Fajitas!

Alun wrote: »

Personally I'd be very wary of "refurbished" memory cards. There really isn't anything serviceable inside, they either work or they don't, and given the price of them it'd be financially prohibitive even if they could, so I suspect that what they are are cards that were returned to them by customers with faults that they couldn't reproduce, so they just re-sell them on as "refurbished" goods.

That was always my thinking too.

Ricky91t

Alun wrote: »

Personally I'd be very wary of "refurbished" memory cards. There really isn't anything serviceable inside, they either work or they don't, and given the price of them it'd be financially prohibitive even if they could, so I suspect that what they are are cards that were returned to them by customers with faults that they couldn't reproduce, so they just re-sell them on as "refurbished" goods.

Was refurbished by sandisk,and warranted by them.So I had no issue,I've opened up my card reader and some of the pins are longer and shorter than others

ThOnda

Ricky91t wrote: »

...some of the pins are longer and shorter than others...

It is like one tire on my car has different thread than others. That is scary (talking about memory cards).

Ricky91t

Good news,Found an old Silvercrest(lidl) card reader and it's currently importing the 910 images over to my laptop,Thank God!!

Cheers all for the help

Fajitas!

Great - Good to hear!

BFassassin

Hopefully that works for you Ricky.
It would be extremely dissapointing to lose all those shots.

Ricky91t

Next question i've copied over and backed up the images,Would i just format the card on xp and should it then work in my camera?

Blazer

Are you mad? After nearly losing all your photos?
Dump the card and your card reader and get brand new ones.

And do yourself a favour...stop buying refurbished cards.
Spend the extra few pound and get a new one.

see below...i got the 4gb 40meg read/write for only €36..nothing wrong with that.

www.shop4memory.com

Ricky91t

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

Are you mad? After nearly losing all your photos?
Dump the card and get a brand new one.
It's only a matter of time before the card goes again.
And do yourself a favour...stop buying refurbished cards.
Spend the extra few pound and get a new one.

see below...i got the 4gb 40meg read/write for only €36..nothing wrong with that.

www.shop4memory.com

It seems it was my memory card reader more so than the card,I just want to check it's now working again before sending it to sandisk to get a replacement,I'd just like to explain my whole story and why I don't want to use these cards.

You see if I send the card with out testing prior to returning it I'm going to get an email,"Dear Richard,We have tested and repaired these cards and they are now working fine"

Where as all they've really done in put them into a card reader and formatted them

Also couldn't afford to buy new cards at the time,Your suggested card is an Adata would rather stick with sandisk,As for mad?No not really

Just to add more,I will be getting a card reader the Adata card posted can be got cheaper on other sites and as the cards are only a few weeks old I'm not going to "dump" them

Fajitas!

To be honest, cards corrupting are just another part of using digital mediums, it happens to us all sometime. It's just a matter of finding out what caused the card to corrupt - and it's not always a nessicary measure to bin the card after it corrupts.

Rich, see if your camera will turn on if you format on XP, if it does, then format it again on camera. I would say stop buying refurb cards though. There's a reason they're refurbished, and it's just not worth the stress a corrupt card can cause.

padocon

Glad to hear your photos are back! That SilverCrest reader always works for me too! I've had mine for a good while and had no problems. Using it to upload all my camera pics!

CabanSail

I see CF Readers at work which don't work quite regularly. If there is a bit of debris in the slot, or the pins don't line up then that pin can be pushed back into the socket.

You could try a Format on the PC & then see if it will format in the camera. If it were me then I would always be wary of that card & wondering if it will let you down. The fact that it will not work in camera is a worry, maybe send it back for a refund under the warranty & replace it with a new one.

Let's face it the cost of Cards now is much cheaper than buying film used to be. I look at Cards & Batteries to be semi-disposable. They are also the most likely things to let you down.

Ricky91t

Well i got the card working on the camera again but i'll still be contacting sandisk about it,In the view of getting a replacement

Mycroft H

Ricky91t wrote: »

Well i got the card working on the camera again but i'll still be contacting sandisk about it,In the view of getting a replacement

just curious ricky, did you not get recovery software with your card?? I did with my sandisk Ex III.

glad to hear you got the photos back though!

Ricky91t

landyman wrote: »

just curious ricky, did you not get recovery software with your card?? I did with my sandisk Ex III.

glad to hear you got the photos back though!

I don't know,there was nothing mentioning on the site,So I assumed I was going to get it,Annoyed I didn't I'll be emailing mymemory about that too :pac:

Nforce

I bought a 4gb Sandisk Extreme III 30mb/sec CF card from Amazon recently (on special offer for ~£17.99 + shipping at the time). I'd completely forgotten about the card until now as it was thrown in the back of a press!
The card came boxed and there's a voucher inside with a link to the recovery software and a serial number to activate it...did you get this with your card,Ricky?

PS....you can have my voucher if you want as I won't be needing it.

Stray Cat

Hi Ricky
First thing is get a card reader! It sounds like you may have a corrupted file in there somewhere,you're images should be fine as long as you have not written more data over them.

Data recovery by its nature is expensive if they cant get results through their dedicated software so they then will go the clean-room(lab) route which will require a internal look at the drive if this can be done as i have only heard of hard drives going down this route.
For recovery software you should try this company www.diskinternals.com as i had great luck with them.

It should bring you a thumbnail preview of the corrupted files(these are distinguised by partial image showing).These are missing the headers of the J-pegs/Raw file and are sometimes retrievable.

Should you wish to use this card again i would suggest dont!...or format it!
Best of Luck!

Ricky91t

Nforce wrote: »

I bought a 4gb Sandisk Extreme III 30mb/sec CF card from Amazon recently (on special offer for ~£17.99 + shipping at the time). I'd completely forgotten about the card until now as it was thrown in the back of a press!
The card came boxed and there's a voucher insise with a link to the recovery software and a serial number to activate it...did you get this with your card,Ricky?

No,Mine came in an envelope with two cards at the bottom,

http://www.mymemory.co.uk/Compact-Flash-Cards/SanDisk/SanDisk-Extreme-III-Compact-Flash-Card---20MB_s-(Refubished)

Could anyone read this?And tell me if it specifically says no recovery software etc will be provided,Cause I was under the impression I'd be getting it

Nforce

Every SanDisk Extreme III CompactFlash card comes with RescuePRO® so you can recover images, documents, mail, video, music – just about any digital file, with ease. Built with leading-edge media recovery algorithms, RescuePro lets you preview recoverable data before you try to retrieve it. With RescuePRO’s unique recovery algorithm for MPEG audio and MPEG video recovery (MPEG-1/2/3) what you see, and what you hear, is what you can recover.

It certainly does imply that you'd be getting the recovery software. They most likely used the blurb for the full retail CF card.

CabanSail

This seems fairly clear

Every SanDisk Extreme III CompactFlash card comes with RescuePRO® so you can recover images, documents, mail, video, music – just about any digital file, with ease. Built with leading-edge media recovery algorithms, RescuePro lets you preview recoverable data before you try to retrieve it. With RescuePRO’s unique recovery algorithm for MPEG audio and MPEG video recovery (MPEG-1/2/3) what you see, and what you hear, is what you can recover.

padocon

Ricky91t wrote: »

I don't know,there was nothing mentioning on the site,So I assumed I was going to get it,Annoyed I didn't I'll be emailing mymemory about that too :pac:

Rich,
Not so long ago I purchased a CF card (Scandisk) off amazon and it did not come with a recovery cd.

Got my Scandisk CF card today from mymemory, it came with a bag & the recovery software too. I would deffenatly contact mymemory & get them to send you out a cd.

Nforce

@ Padocon.......was your's the full retail or a refurb? I'd reckon that the software is most likely only included with the former.

Ricky91t

I sent an email of complaint,Either way they list it on the site i should get one..

CabanSail

Nforce wrote: »

@ Padocon.......was your's the full retail or a refurb? I'd reckon that the software is most likely only included with the former.

The quote I have above is from their description on the Refurbished Cards.

padocon

Nforce wrote: »

@ Padocon.......was your's the full retail or a refurb? I'd reckon that the software is most likely only included with the former.

It was not a refurb it was 4gb new.

Morrisseeee

Glad to hear you got back your data. These memory devices (USB sticks, CF cards etc) were a great invention, storage & portability wise, but I suppose they are prone to the ODD error ! eeek ! The error can be caused on a write or a read (or can be a physical error, pin etc) to the card and then can cause an error like you saw today. I wouldn't use THAT card for important shots in the future, but would have it as a 'marked/dodgy' spare. I have a USB stick that has no top cover but its been thru the mill and it still works, ie. it once went thru the washing machine/tumble-dryer :eek: and still had the data on it !!! but then on occasions I'd have a bad write/read and I'd have to format the stick.

CabanSail

In days of olde (when photographers were bold) you would have the same issue with a ruined film, either by light leaking (changing film when slightly merry) or from an error in processing. It was rare back then & I think it's still rare now. The difference is that if you lost a film it would be 24 or 36 exposures, now you can have a few hundred images on a card.

Fajitas!

On the upside there, 99% more chance you'll get the images (Some if not all) back from a card, wheras a roll of film, if gone, is gone for good.

Nforce

CabanSail wrote: »

The quote I have above is from their description on the Refurbished Cards.

Yep...my quote is from the same source . Like I said earlier, they've probably just copied and pasted the item description from the full retail item........not that that's any excuse for not sending the software/voucher code.:)


BTW Ricky....my offer is still good if you want my voucher.:cool:

Morrisseeee

Just a thought hopped into my head, do the Pro cameras have 2 memory card slots ? I know mine (Oly E510 has a CF slot and an xD slot) has 2 but......wouldn't it be a good idea to have 2 slots where data is written to both at the same time........oh wait.......:o
Ahem, I just checked on dpreview and yes the D3X has this functionality anyway, it kinda makes sense :pac:

pixbyjohn

Ricky91t wrote: »

[Rant]I've just found out my CF memory card with 600 or more images from today had died,A week after getting it,I really wanted to email these to magazines and papers as I had an advantage over other photographers with living locally,Now I'm left with the probability of never seeing these photos again let alone emailing them to publishers.[/Rant]

I need a company that recovers images from memory chips in the CF card as i have a feeling my compact flash reader has damaged it(both from the same company too)does anyone know where,And a price?

Cheers

Have you tried reading the card with another card reader???? or straight from the camera?

Ricky91t

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Just a thought hopped into my head, do the Pro cameras have 2 memory card slots ? I know mine (Oly E510 has a CF slot and an xD slot) has 2 but......wouldn't it be a good idea to have 2 slots where data is written to both at the same time........oh wait.......:o
Ahem, I just checked on dpreview and yes the D3X has this functionality anyway, it kinda makes sense :pac:

My MKII has a CF slot and a SD Slot i was planning to buy a 16gb SD card as a back up for my smaller CF cards but havn't decided if it's a good idea yet..AFAIK you can write too both or one...

@Nforce,Thanks might take you up on that

Will see what my memory reply(if they do) and drop you a pm when i know

Fajitas!

Ricky91t wrote: »

My MKII has a CF slot and a SD Slot i was planning to buy a 16gb SD card as a back up for my smaller CF cards but havn't decided if it's a good idea yet..AFAIK you can write too both or one...

Of course it's a good idea. And if there was three memory card slots, it'd be an even better idea to use three memory cards!