[allie181]

I just got back from a month long overseas trip. Just before I left I decided to replace my K100D with a brand new K-5.

I bought all new SD cards (Sandisk Ultra) of various sizes from 8gb to 32gb. I formatted them all in the camera. They took photos fine (JPEG+RAW).

When I got back I put them in my laptop and lightroom automatically imported the photos, although I got error messages saying not all photos could be imported. Before I inserted the last card I closed lightroom and stopped it automatically opening and I inserted the SD card to just look at the files, however they all looked bizarre and couldn't be opened.

All the corrupted files have the bizarre names, the dates have gone nuts and the file sizes are crazy and indicate they are much bigger than is possible for the SD cards! When I put the cards back in the camera I can preview and see the pictures, so they are still there.

Attached are screenshots of the bizarre files.

I never had this problem with my K100D and I am really

Any ideas what caused this and whether there is a way to fix the files?

At the moment I'm trying the free version of rescuepro which seems to work, but I can only get 10 files using that and I don't want to pay $90 to purchase the program if there is another way. More importantly, I don't want this to be an issue every time I use my camera.

Attached Images

 

[p38arover]

I've used this free program to recover corrupted images from cards.

PC Inspector File Recovery Trusted Freeware download and reviews - SnapFiles.com

[elliott]

Were all of the cards from a reputable supplier?

[Na Horuk]

Try putting those cards in a different card reader and different computer. Do NOT format them
You can also try using recovery software, like p38arover mentioned. I like to use Pandora recovery. Try it if the first one doesn't work. Pandora is simple to use, and has worked well for me, but I only had to use it a couple times.
If all of this fails, there might be a specialist recovery store that can help you out.
Are the cards still under warranty? Because those cards, if they are genuine (like Elliott mentioned, sometimes you can get low-quality fakes if you are buying from an online store, for example), should work great.
It could also be computer software. Make sure you have all the updates for modern SD cards to work (SD HC, SD XC) and a compatible card reader.
Hope it all works out for you

[Raffwal]

Well, if the camera still shows the pictures intact, I suspect you have a bad card reader. Have you tried another one?

[Rondec]

Can you view the images on your camera? If so, then the files are fine and most likely it is your card reader that is the problem. Even if not, there are recovery programs that can help -- I like Recuva, but there are others available too.

[JinDesu]

Why not plug you k-5 into your computer? That's how I read my k-x's cards.

[Tanzer]

To elaborate on what JinDesu is suggesting, in case it wasn't obvious, try using a USB cable to connect the camera to your PC. Since the camera doesn't seem to have a problem reading the images, you can at least save the existing images. That will take a while to read 6 cards over USB, but still better than hacking around and further worsening the situation.

After that is complete and you have saved your images, then you have more time to figure out if the problem is your card reader, or whatever.

[Not a Number]

If transferring directly from the camera via USB make sure the batteries are fully charged. If the batteries run out during transfer the card can get corrupted. I agree with the others, try a different card reader.

[dadipentak]

Also, too, take a deep breath ;~)

[tuco]

Perhaps your last name triggered a super-duper, extra strength scan at the airport and your gear got zapped!

[teogin]

I would like to tell you two important things:
1.Do not buy any SD card by ebay Chinese sellers. Prefer the photo stores of your neighborhood and the original products! Maybe ebay is good for batteries, but not for SD memory cards! This is my experience and I would like to share it!
2.Do copy the images from your SD cards to your PC and after the copy you can delete them from the card. Avoid using third parties programs, especially when they move the files from SD cards to the PC without ensuring the security of the files' transformation.

[allie181]

Thanks everyone. All cards were purchased from reputable places, not ebay, including Radio Shack when I bought an extra one while overseas, and it happened to that one too. So it must be the reader, not the cards.

I'm locating my cord now and will try and get the photos directly from the camera. If that doesn't work, I'll try the other programs suggested above. Thanks again!

[Na Horuk]

Just remember that it could be either a hardware issue (the actual reader) or a software issue (the computer not reading the cards correctly). If you use recovery software it won't be able to help you if the problem is in the hardware.