Katiem93

My husband got the SD card from the camera and was goofing off and "edited" a few photos straight from the card. Is there a way to retrieve the original from the card some how? The pics were only shot in jpeg. If I were to shoot in raw + jpeg.... Could this prevent the pics from being lost/ruined in the future?

RacerDan Loc: Virden Illinois

I think not, I have been viewing, deleteing,ande even editing on the memory card before down loading to my desktop with no problems.

EstherP

If he saved the edited image to the SD card, no.
If he saved it to the computer's HD or saved it with a different name to the card, yes.
And yes, if you shoot RAW + jpg, and edit the jpg, the RAW will still be there.
EstherP

Katiem93

Thanks so much Esther! I guess that's what I'm going to have to start doing... Shooting in both and just cleaning my card more frequently!

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

YES you can retrieve even when formatted as the MBR does not get deleted.

Pandora recovery

http://www.pandorarecovery.com/

EstherP

Looking at that website, they talk about recovering deleted files. Katie is asking about files overwritten by editing them. Can pandora recover those original files as well?
Just curious.
EstherP

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

But shedidnt say ther were re saved to the card, its free so try it.

Others can try simply by putting a recently formatted card in and run recovery !

Here is a lesson in always sving files to the PC

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Goofing off? What a goof off. Tell him not to do dat again! Sounds like a tough lesson learned.

saichiez Loc: Beautiful Central Oregon

To actually answer Esthers question... No. I've been doing computer consulting for 25 years, and I know of no software that will retrieve a file that has been overwritten by a "file">"save as" or "save" without a name change. It's not the same as delete, or format where the file name still exists in a non viewable fashion until eventually overwritten. You overwrote the original file with the "save" using the same name.

Recovery programs for both formatting and deleting work because the file name still exists on the FAT table, and only the first character is changed to make it non viewable. The recovery software works by looking at all the files on the disk, including those with changed first character and rebuild the table to show those files (but only the ones that have NOT been physically overwritten by continued use of the card or disk) making them accessible. It is very important to attempt recovery on the disk/card as soon as one determines files are missing.

But back to the original query. If you overwrite a file, the system does not retain a non-viewable file name with a changed first character. You simply used that file name again for the save of the edit.

????

Now, to avoid confusion, that does not take into consideration that with some applications like Word, possibly Excel, and perhaps some others, one can set a save function on files to intermittently save an intermediate document as one edits, and saves. However, that is not recovery, that is a save to recapture previous edits, and is an integral part of the application in use.

Recapture of original versions of the same file name, outside the capacity of a program designed to do such as a routine that you control in an application.... I think not.

Beercan31 Loc: Lost & Found

Sorry for your misadventure

In the few photography class I have taken the one things the teacher was adamant about was “never edit or delete* photos on the card” its self in the camera or otherwise. One would think the filing process would be to store photos and information in a orderly manner in most cases it’s not so, the card can become corrupt to a point no program out there can retrieve the information or formatting can be done again… its toast.

As a personal note I never move photo files from where they are saved. Most all my photos are saved to a external hard drive fresh from the card itself,
this way if for reasons unknown I lose a computer I don’t loose everything.
I never alter or edit the original file. I copy the original and edit that file. This way I always have a clean starting point no matter what I do to the copied file, This includes RAW and JPEG.

It’s a OCD thing

* cleaning or formatting a card only after photos are safely stored.

EstherP

That is a clear and understandable explanation. Thank you!!!
What I normally do, is copy the images (RAW + jpg) from the SD or CF card (my camera holds both), to two external hard drives. Since recently also to the second HD on my laptop. Where first one of the external drives was my "working drive", now I use the second HD on the laptop for that. Also, I always "Save As" so that the original file does not get overwritten. Once I'm happy with the PP'd RAW file, I may delete the jpg - they are a small size anyway, just to satisfy family who can't wait for "good" pictures.
Just this past week, I was very happy to have two externals for back-up: My desktop was in the process of shutting down, when the power went off. Something went seriously wrong and I can't boot into Windows. I can get into Setup, but not into BIOS, makes me think something with the motherboard went wrong rather than the HD. One of these days I will take out the HD and see if I can access it from another computer or with one of those gadgets you can buy especially for that purpose.
OK, I won't bore you with any more details, because of back-ups I have lost very little ;-))
EstherP

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

EstherP,
It sounds like your computer has lost all reference to it's internal components like HD, FD, CD/DVD if it doesn't allow you access to BIOS and doesn't bootup. I hope you have a recovery disc handy. First though, you will have to resolve the CMOS before the BIOS. I suspect that your computer has corrupted it's CMOS settings as well as your BIOS settings since you can't access them. I guess you have an older computer that needs to have a flash program to reinstall these files. Newer computers are able to store them on flash memory and have a special plug on the rear of the computer called "UEFI BIOS" and a graphical interface for altering the settings.
A few things you need to do ASAP are:
1. Change your CMOS battery if it hasn't been changed in a few years. When this disc battery dies, your computer loses CMOS settings when the power is shut. Many computer owners forget about this little disc battery located on the motherboard. It needs to be replaced every few years or so. The typical indication of it going bad is when your clock starts to lose time or change drastically.
2. Reinstall your CMOS settings.
3. Reistall the correct BIOS settings when the system finally does function (check for updates that can be flash downloaded from your computer manufacturer's website), boot from your Emergency Boot Disc and then check your OS for corrupted files. You may need to install your System Backup Disc to reboot if the boot strap files are also corrupted. When you finally get it running again, it will automatically rewrite these files when it shuts down.
4. To avoid shut down corruption cause by power glitches and momentary power outages in the future, may I suggest having a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply)connected so when there's a power outage, you have sufficient time to shut down properly from battery power. It's only a $30 - $50 or so piece of insurance equipment (depending on the size needed) that can save you lots of headaches in the future. Desktop computers are not like laptops and can become easily corrupted in the event of a mistimed power outage.
Good luck.

EstherP

Wow! I will be printing out these instructions, as well as place a copy on each of my external hard drives.
You may have noticed from the tone of my "complaint" that I was not too upset about the whole thing.
Yes, you are are right, it was an "older" machine, 5 years.
I used it mostly for e-mail, internet and word-processing.
Two years ago, my husband bought me a video camera for Christmas, and I quickly discovered that the XP machine was inadequate for processing video with Elements Premiere.
So saved my pennies, pop bottles and income tax refund, and bought a brandnew machine!
And just because I spend a lot of time (including "sleep-overs") at our son's place to babysit, I also got a new laptop this summer.
Back to the XP Machine: Yesterday afternoon, I dragged the tower into the livingroom, and took the two hard drives out.
I have a gadget called a "Conversion cable" - with it I was able to access both those HDs as well as the Iomega external that quit on me some months ago. All for $20 - instead of the $100 the computer store wants for diagnostics.
I've decided I will not be (trying to) fix the old machine, and carry on with the two Win7 ones.
But, singleviking, thank you for that explanation, and like I said, I will be saving that!
EstherP