Volume analysis STILL in progress

[jen.pisciotto]

I accidentally selected Format on my Olympus FE-230 digital camera. I have a 5 month old son, and have lost pictures from two months of his life! I'm desparately trying to salvage these pictures.

I downloaded ZAR last night and let it run overnight. The Volume Analysis has now been running for 10 hours and 42 minutes ++. The results listed under "Recovery Run Progress Information" say "Post Processing" and "Located 1 File in 1 Directory".

My camera battery is now dead.

Where do I go from here? Is the program not finished running? Please advise ASAP!!

Thank you!

[Alexey V. Gubin]

First of all, I suggest that you retry in simple volume mode.
Close ZAR if still running and reboot (http://www.z-a-recovery.com/reboot.htm) the system.
Start ZAR. On the first screen, click "Proceed" and it will prompt for a processing mode.
Select "Recover files from a simple volume...". In the lower part, select "Recover both "current" files and files normally deleted...". Click "Proceed" for a device list.
Select your card from a device list, then click "Proceed". You have already done it successfully, so I think identifying the card would not be a problem.
One last prompt will appear, for a volume on the card. There will be only one volume entry in the list (and a "Define manually" which you do not need). Select it and click "Proceed" again for a scan.If this does not work, I would then need a sample of a file. Please copy one of the files you did not delete, or some archive shot (preferrably taken with the same settings) and email it to development@z-a-recovery.com
Sometimes subtle variations between camera models may affect the recovery. However, without the sample picture I cannot investigate the problem.

[jen.pisciotto]

Thank you for your reply. I tried again in simple volume mode, but the analysis froze at just 46 minutes this time. I don't know what is supposed to happen once the analysis is done. The "Next" button is never active for me to click...?

I walked through the 6 steps you advised, but I never got that last prompt (#6) for a volume on the card. After I selected my camera from the device list the analysis started running.

This is a brand new camera, so I don't have any sample files to send you ~ I deleted them all... I don't want to take new pictures because I'm afraid this will ruin all chances of recovering what was on the card.

Please let me know how I should proceed.
Thank you!

[Alexey V. Gubin]

We've started looking for a sample ourselves. Will be back to you soon.

[Alexey V. Gubin]

Sorry, but no good news.

Checking the reviews indicates the FE-230 does not use RAW format, so the images should be JPEG. The sample setup we crafted using (JPEG) images from the Internet was recovered successfully. So ZAR should be able to identify similar files on the card. In your case, only one file was identified, which suggests the files are damaged beyond recognition.

Although typically the deletion does not damage image files this way, there is nothing else I can suggest.