Data Recovery: Hi everyone. I need to recover about 9 gigs of photos from my SD card, that somehow got deleted. Not sure how it happened, but I'm sure it was my fault. The strange...

Mikeazz Loc: I live in Northport, NY

Hi everyone. I need to recover about 9 gigs of photos from my SD card, that somehow got deleted. Not sure how it happened, but I'm sure it was my fault. The strange thing is that most of the images were there and I was able to process them, but about 40 images wouldn't open, and then weren't there at all! I've tried everything I know to retrieve them, but they are not there.

Is there some free software that can be used to recover this much data. I downloaded some programs, but they are not good for that much data unless you purchase it, which I may have to do. I thought I would post it here first.

Thanks, and Happy Holidays.

DaveMM Loc: Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Mikeazz wrote:

Hi everyone. I need to recover about 9 gigs of photos from my SD card, that somehow got deleted. Is there some free software that can be used to recover this much data. I downloaded some programs, but they are not good for that much data unless you purchase it, which I may have to do.

Try Recuva by Piriform. http://www.piriform.com/recuva

It's free, it worked for me and many other hogs also swear by it.

BTW, don't do anything with the SD card except try and recover the files. Otherwise you could overwrite some of them and, although Recuva can find the file name, the contents are gone forever.

Mikeazz Loc: I live in Northport, NY

Thank you. I will give it a try.

Mikeazz Loc: I live in Northport, NY

I downloaded it and tried it without success. It recovered 2 files, but I couldn't open them. It said it was an unsupported file.

I am now trying a deep scan.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

DaveMM Loc: Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Mikeazz wrote:

I downloaded it and tried it without success. It recovered 2 files, but I couldn't open them. It said it was an unsupported file.

I am now trying a deep scan.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Sorry, I have no further ideas.

It sounds like the SD card has failed, in which case the data has been totally lost. In this case Recuva, or any similar program, will not work as it basically looks for deleted files on a sound card or disk. It also works even if the disk has been formatted.

Mikeazz Loc: I live in Northport, NY

I've shot hundreds of thousands of photos and have never had a problem like this. I learned a very valuable lesson. My camera has two cards, and from now on, I'm going to backup on both as I shoot. If one card goes bad or if I screw up, I'll still have the images.

Fortunately, I can go back and re-shoot, but will have to suffer the consequence with the client.

Thanks again for your help.

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

Mikeazz wrote:

I've shot hundreds of thousands of photos and have never had a problem like this. I learned a very valuable lesson. My camera has two cards, and from now on, I'm going to backup on both as I shoot. If one card goes bad or if I screw up, I'll still have the images.

Fortunately, I can go back and re-shoot, but will have to suffer the consequence with the client.

Thanks again for your help.

Software you download from the web unless specific for that card brand and even then will often damage the files beyond repair or recovery. Contact the card manufacture, or pay a computer recovery expert. Or if they are not valuable to pay someone for, take a chance. But just know that most of the time efforts to recover do more damage than good.

Mikeazz Loc: I live in Northport, NY

Thanks. I did probably do more damage by trying to recover the files with web providers, but this is new territory for me. I just brought it to a computer guy who has professional recovery software, and he will let me know tomorrow.

Thanks again.

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

Mikeazz wrote:

Thanks. I did probably do more damage by trying to recover the files with web providers, but this is new territory for me. I just brought it to a computer guy who has professional recovery software, and he will let me know tomorrow.

Thanks again.

Good luck, recovery can get expensive depending on the level they have to go to, hopefully not to hard for your case.

Mikeazz Loc: I live in Northport, NY

It's my friend's son, who has helped me out with computer problems, in the past. He either charges a nominal fee or nothing at all. Hopefully, this will be the same.

Thanks again.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

When shooting for a client, I would advise to always have at least 2 copies of your shoot results before you leave and call it a day.

On architecture and product shoots, I tether to a laptop, and have backup to the laptop in addition to the dual cards in camera while shooting.

Just because... you never know what gremlins are active and watching you.

Mikeazz Loc: I live in Northport, NY

You're right. These were interior shots of a home, and so I can re-shoot them, but I am going to be backing up from now on, especially since my camera holds to cards.

Murphy's Law is always there-ready to pounce. As the expression goes-"Fool me once-shame on you-Fool me twice-Shame on me!

Thanks.

lateron Loc: Yorkshire, England

Mikeazz wrote:

You're right. These were interior shots of a home, and so I can re-shoot them, but I am going to be backing up from now on, especially since my camera holds to cards.

Murphy's Law is always there-ready to pounce. As the expression goes-"Fool me once-shame on you-Fool me twice-Shame on me!

Thanks.

As I understood it, Murphy's law stated that IF something COULD go wrong it would!

Mikeazz Loc: I live in Northport, NY

You are right-and it did!!!

Waiting to hear from my computer guy, to learn if he was able to recover the images.

Thanks.

James R. Kyle Loc: Saint Louis, Missouri (A Suburb of Ferguson)

I have used "CARD RECOVERY"

Worked great for me....

It costs... $40.00

http://www.cardrecovery.com/order.asp

I have used it twice and the first time that I used it - it saved my butt - and I got the shots I needed for a client.