SD card - Photo Recovery

[DaveJ]

I have a Lexmar 4GB SD memory card which was full of photos and some video. My son tells me that the camera was low on battery and while attempting to take a video clip that the camera shut off. The camera now tells us that there are no images on the card.

I have an internal card reader on my computer that also does not recognize the card. I found your product ZAR, and tried it a few times however I keep getting the message that ZAR is unable to process the device because it's size appears to be zero. I have also tried changing the disk access mode in "advanced configuration" but with the same result.

Any suggestions?

Thanks you
DaveJ

[DaveJ]

I should add that...

He was trying several near-dead batteries when this occurred. The camera shut down while he was trying to take one more video clip.

And, the camera is a Canon Power Shot A1000

If nothing can be done, would there be any harm in attempting to format the card? Also, in the event that this is a worse case scenario, would a data recovery service (I know that they can be expensive) be of any value in your opinion?

Thank you very much for your time and any advice you can provide.

DaveJ

edit: Attempted "Simple Volume Recovery". Still no luck.

[Alexey V. Gubin]

if it complains "device size is zero", in both "Advanced Config" disk access modes, then there are two options.

• Send the card to the lab for a recovery.
• Try to format memory card (using Quick Format mode in the computer, NOT in the camera). This would most likely fail. If format is successful, try ZAR again. Otherwise, send to the lab.

Provided that content is valuable enough to justify the pricing, I suggest you just send it for recovery straight away.

[DaveJ]

Thank you Alexey.

The photos and video are irreplaceable and I am looking into sending them to a lab. They are extremely important to me. I'm just sick over this as I purchased the card and camera specifically for this use and only did a bit of testing with it prior to nearly filling the card.


I contacted Lexar support who responded:

"We would like to inform you that, the Image Rescue software will only work if the card is connected in an external card reader, it will not work with an inbuilt card reader."

I tried the Lexar Image Rescue 3 software which also failed to recognize the card. Do you have any suggestions for a particular model of external reader that would suit this purpose best? Or are there certain specifications that I should be looking for? Purchasing a reader is going to be a lot less expensive than sending the card to a lab so I think I may give this a try.

Lexar also responded:

"Also you have an option to take this card to any third party data recovery shop like Wal-Mart or Best-Buy and try recovering the data. Lexar don’t provide data recovery service for non-professional cards."

Do you know any labs that are reputable for data recovery? Or are Lexar's suggestions good options. I live in Canada but shipping internationally is not a problem.


Thank you so much for your time and assistance, I really appreciate it.

DaveJ

[Alexey V. Gubin]

Generally, any "dumb" (standalone - i.e. not integrated into, say, printer/cell phone) card reader should work. The reports indicating difference between different card readers are few and far between. I recall we get one or two of these per year, and most do not reference any recognizeable model. So chances of encountering a "bad" standalone card reader are minimal.

As far as labs are concerned, we are an affiliate of www.drivesavers.com, so, sure I suggest you call them and ask for a quote. Although they are listed as "drive"savers, they are pretty good with flash too. However, be warned that they are not cheap.

[DaveJ]

Thank you again Alexey. I'm going to purchase an external card reader, cross my fingers and give it a try. They aren't very expensive so it's worth a try. Failing that, I'll begin looking for a quote. I'll let you know how I make out with the reader.

DaveJ

[DaveJ]

Alexey, you are my hero!

I picked up an external card reader and when I ran ZAP I was very excited when it recognized the memory card. The program was running all day and I am now viewing the pictures I thought were lost forever.

There are a few that won't open and these seem to be files that either way too big or too small. They may not be salvageable. I also haven't been able ope the video files but they are there, and I can work on those.

I want to tell you that these pictures were taken on our first family holiday outside Canada. We went to Cuba and spent a lot of time off the resort mingling amongst the locals and visiting some homes, both in towns and in villages. We made some really great friends who we may never see again. It was an incredible experience, especially for my two children.

We have been just sick about the loss of these pictures and now we have the majority of them back. Thank you for your product and for your personal support in helping me with this. You have really put a big smile on our faces! I am toasting you now with a shot of very good Cuban rum. Cheers amigo!

[DaveJ]

I have managed to recover 80-90% of my photos.

Still having trouble with the video files (avi)
Ran them through G-Spot which tells me that the files are truncated. Any chance of fixing these or are they lost?

DaveJ

[Alexey V. Gubin]

I'd say lost. Larger files are more vulnerable in such an event. "Truncated" means the first block of the file is available (recovered), but the rest of the file (tail) is lost. This is one of the photo recovery limitations applicable to the video files; also the fact that video files are larger than stills aggravates the problem.

You should try both "recover digital images" and "recover simple volume" modes. If neither of those works, then there is nothing else I can suggest.

[DaveJ]

I tried "recover simple volume" again and managed to recover 2 avi files. (I thought I had done that already) So, thank you. 2 out of ~8 isn't bad I guess.

I'm about done now and very happy with the results I was able to achieve.

Thank you so much for your assistance and I'll be sure to recommend ZAP. Hope I never need it again, but's very nice to know your product is there if I do!

Cheers!
DaveJ