Damaged Files - How to recover

sabarrett · 10-30-2008, 10:35 AM

Alright - here goes. I have a bunch of files I just shot from one of my daughters Halloween party at preschool. The files view fine on the camera - I can zoom and everything. However when I transfer them or view them with Picassa, Irfan or Cam2pc, they won't load. Irfan says it can't read the header. A quick search here did not turn up any obvious messages with a solution, and I am on my way to work. I have another halloween party tomorrow and I would like to have a bit of trust in my camera. Any thoughts on what this may be and if I can recover the images? Like I mentioned, I can view them on the camera just fine. I am going to stop and get a new card a reader to try those out.

skyredoubt · 10-30-2008, 12:03 PM

Use Photorec - it save me just last week!
PhotoRec Step By Step - CGSecurity

*Nowhere Matt* · 10-30-2008, 01:15 PM

Were you using your K10 to take the photos and none of your software will transfer either using the USB connection or from off the memory card?
Roxio came with some newer computers and it has a data recovery program. Just be sure to not use that memory card until you have solved the issue.
What card were you using? Is this your K10? I want to go home. I'm scared.
Signed,
Interested in the outcome

sabarrett · 10-30-2008, 02:48 PM

I had the camera connected off the USB cable and tried to transfer by direct file copying, and by transferring with Cam2PC (uses direct copy). Neither worked. Some files say the header is incorrect and just won't work, and some load, but only show the first little bit at the top of the picture. Oddly, also most have the thumbnails available, but some don't even have that.

Again, the files were not deleted, I was just copying them over to my computer.

Yes, that was the K10D and I could see all the pictures on the camera, even the ones that show bad on the computer. This made me think that possibly (hopefully) the issue lie in my home system.

sabarrett · 10-30-2008, 02:53 PM

Here is another update: I was able to copy the files using my work system and the files are all fine - no header issues or nothin'. Makes me think it is a computer issue, as I had the same issue using camera direct connect to the desktop as well as using my card reader in my 6700 printer.

Just to be safe, I am going to get a extra card and use it tomorrow

In case of other issues, I am still interested in knowing if others have had corrupted picture files resolved thru software. From what the files look like, it seems that the file sizes are correct, however the header is just messed up.

I have not looked at photorec yet, but if there is other software that someone may know about that can fix a bad jpg, it may be a good piece of software to have in the trick bag.

sabarrett · 10-30-2008, 02:56 PM

I just had another thought... Does anyone know of a flash card memory test utility to see if there is bad memory on my SD card? Since I could read the files here, I doubt that is the case, but just in case...

**Damn Brit** · 10-30-2008, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by sabarrett

I just had another thought... Does anyone know of a flash card memory test utility to see if there is bad memory on my SD card? Since I could read the files here, I doubt that is the case, but just in case...

This is just a thought but have you tried using you're sytems disk utility program.
I have no clue whether that would work or not but it would be great if it did. If it doesn't it would be a great thing to be included in the future.

*Nowhere Matt* · 10-30-2008, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by Damn Brit

This is just a thought but have you tried using you're sytems disk utility program.
I have no clue whether that would work or not but it would be great if it did. If it doesn't it would be a great thing to be included in the future.

Are you suggesting running a disk clean up or defragmentation on the sd card while it is in the pc? Now that would be neat to try on my neighbor's computer.

sabarrett · 10-30-2008, 05:23 PM

I know that flash cards have to have randomization built into the system, as the way they work there is a limited number of write cycles that the memory can do. The technology just "wears out". so the cards actually randomize where they write to their memory so use balances out. I am just wondering if there is a way I can test whether all of the card is working. I know spinrite can do this to a hard drive, but they warn against doing this with flash, because of the lifetime issue.

sabarrett · 10-30-2008, 05:24 PM

"This is just a thought but have you tried using you're sytems disk utility program. "

Yeah, I will give that a run. I guess I wish it would give some feedback on whether it found anything or not. Although I consider myself an advanced user (on some sort of PC since 1983) I am only a windows user, so that is the toolset I have right now.