[kenny47]

Today I was taking some photos and everything looked good, but when I turned off my camera and turned it back on, the photos were missing - only the new ones, the ones from yesterday are still visible. I don't have computer with me so I can't check the photos are recorded, but the counter of available space suggests they are there. It only happens wit one of my cards and I tried it several times. The new photos are there until I turn off the camera. Did anyone encounter similar behavior? What might be an issue here?

I will be unable to load photos to pc until monday. Thanks for any suggestions.

[mechmike10]

I can't explain what might have happened, but I would stop using that card until I had a chance to put it into a computer. If you can't see and copy the pics with Windows Explorer or your favorite file manager, you might try one of the many card rescue utilities (e.g., Photo Rescue or RescuePro or similar) to see if you can recover the photos that way. Was the card used in another camera? That could create problems, although I have used the same card in Pentax k-5, k2000 and WG-3 without any issues. I would avoid using it in another brand without reformatting it in whatever camera you will be using it in next.

[kenny47]

I would avoid using it in another brand without reformatting it in whatever camera you will be using it in next.

I use this card exclusively in my K-5. I was able to reach pc a little bit sooner, but the photos are not there I tried to do some test shots today, and these are on the card. I have no idea what happened. Is there any way how to check if the card is corrupted or something, ideally in linux?

[Ron_Man]

What brand is the card? I've had that happen to me with a Transcend. Never again..

I forget now but I used a rescue software from download.com. Plenty of choices

[rawr]

Photorec or recuva are the tools I'd use to search the SD card for some lost files.

..software from download.com

Ugh. They have become a very suspicious site nowadays. Too many of their downloads are now packed with all sorts of unwanted installers.

[sterretje]

Linux has the badblocks command; badblocks(8): search device for bad blocks - Linux man page

[kenny47]

Linux has the badblocks command

Thanks! badblocks didn't find any bad blocks..

What brand is the card? I've had that happen to me with a Transcend

Yes, unfortunately, it is Transcend. But I haven't had any problem with this card before..

I don't need to rescue the photos (because they were really just test shots) but I would like to ensure this will not happen again. Should I throw the card out, just because of this temporary failure? I guess I will need to..

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Update:

Photorec or recuva are the tools I'd use to search the SD card for some lost files.

Thanks to you too! I was able to recover the lost photos (and many more, some of them from 2013) using Photorec. It was pretty simple I still don't know what was wrong with the card (or the camera) though..

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Last edited by kenny47; 05-12-2015 at 12:26 PM. Reason: Update

[kenny47]

There can be many reasons for not finding the photos on the location.
May be this link can help to bring awareness

Retrieve pictures from Pentax K-3 and K-5 digital cameras | Dealing with all Photographic Affairs

Interesting, but out of the major causes of photo loss mentioned in the text, I believe none happened. Mainly because the photos were viewable until I turned off the camera. (I took some photos, went to presentation mode, reviewed them, they were there, as photos from the previous day, turned off the camera, and the photos disappeared..tried it repeatedly..)

Another interesting thing - photorec recovered pef files. Which is wierd, as I shoot DNGs, and I (perhaps mistakenly) thought PEF!=DNG.

[sterretje]

Another interesting thing - photorec recovered pef files. Which is wierd, as I shoot DNGs, and I (perhaps mistakenly) thought PEF!=DNG.

As far as I understand it:

The program scans for 'signatures' in its attempt to find the beginning of files. Both PEF and DNG start with the same information. So it might have incorrectly determined the extension and (if the file formats are significantly different) might not even have recovered the files correctly.

[kenny47]

As far as I understand it:

The program scans for 'signatures' in its attempt to find the beginning of files. Both PEF and DNG start with the same information. So it might have incorrectly determined the extension and (if the file formats are significantly different) might not even have recovered the files correctly.

I opened them in darktable without any problems. It still says they're PEFs, though. Maybe darktable decides how to interpret the file regardless of the extension? Not that it matters a lot, I am happy there is a way to recover the photos in the first place.

[C_Jones]

Today I was taking some photos and everything looked good, but when I turned off my camera and turned it back on, the photos were missing - only the new ones, the ones from yesterday are still visible. I don't have computer with me so I can't check the photos are recorded, but the counter of available space suggests they are there. It only happens wit one of my cards and I tried it several times. The new photos are there until I turn off the camera. Did anyone encounter similar behavior? What might be an issue here?

I will be unable to load photos to pc until monday. Thanks for any suggestions.

Depending on how much time span there was between you taking the pictures and turning the camera off might have been the factor. If there was not enough time, the camera might have been still been trying to process the images you were shooting during the time you powered off. If so, the images may not have been recorded at all, or might have started to record, but not fully due to lack of power. That may not have been your situation, but if so that could be the reason. You might want to test with the card by taking multiple shots of random images that are not important, then turn your camera off and back on several times, and check for the images each time you turn it back on. I have been using Transcend cards for years and have never had that problem. If there is a contact on the card or in the camera SD slot that is not clean or has been damaged that could also be the reason. Testing with your camera and SD card(s) and making sure that the card has been formatted in the camera you are using is the best route. That way you see if you have performance issues or not.

[kenny47]

Depending on how much time span there was between you taking the pictures and turning the camera off might have been the factor. If there was not enough time, the camera might have been still been trying to process the images you were shooting during the time you powered off. If so, the images may not have been recorded at all, or might have started to record, but not fully due to lack of power. That may not have been your situation, but if so that could be the reason. You might want to test with the card by taking multiple shots of random images that are not important, then turn your camera off and back on several times, and check for the images each time you turn it back on. I have been using Transcend cards for years and have never had that problem. If there is a contact on the card or in the camera SD slot that is not clean or has been damaged that could also be the reason. Testing with your camera and SD card(s) and making sure that the card has been formatted in the camera you are using is the best route. That way you see if you have performance issues or not.

There was enough time for the camera to write the photos to the card - I have actually reviewed them and they were there. Indicator of writing to sd card was already off. So time was not an issue there. Besides, I recovered the images with PhotoRec, so they were on the card. I too didn't have any problem with Transcend cards up to now. (And as I mentioned, I still don't know if this is a card issue) The card works fine now, I had no problem with it afterwards. My biggest problem is uncertainty now - I don't know what the issue was, if I can trust my card (or camera)..so I check the images in camera more often than before..

[C_Jones]

There was enough time for the camera to write the photos to the card - I have actually reviewed them and they were there. Indicator of writing to sd card was already off. So time was not an issue there. Besides, I recovered the images with PhotoRec, so they were on the card. I too didn't have any problem with Transcend cards up to now. (And as I mentioned, I still don't know if this is a card issue) The card works fine now, I had no problem with it afterwards. My biggest problem is uncertainty now - I don't know what the issue was, if I can trust my card (or camera)..so I check the images in camera more often than before..

That is good you were able to recover your images. Good luck and happy shooting!