[Rakester]

I have a K200D that I bought new and have looked after. I recently went on trip to Hawaii and brought that camera. I was using a micro SD with an adaptor. I do remember reviewing a number of my photographs during the trip to make sure things were ok. On the last day I took some photos, saw the instant review; however, when I hit the play button the camera would say "no image" or "image cannot be displayed". As I said I was looking at photos I took earlier the days before, however now nothing. I put the SD card into my computer and there is nothing except some photos I took with another camera and had transferred to the card months earlier.


I understand that a corrupted card can allow something not to be recorded to, but what about the photos I saw there before? Can a corrupt card erase photos that are ok? Why would the camera not tell me that there is something wrong with the card until I hit the play button? If I take a photo now with the same card it works ok until I hit the play button


Any help you can give me would be much appreciated as I would love to get my photos back.

---------- Post added 04-23-18 at 10:55 PM ----------

Update:


There is a file on the card under 102PENTX that name IMGP., no date, is a "file" and a size of 398,547 kb. Nothing will open it and if I try and copy it onto my computer it says it could not find the file. Any ideas? I would expect about 400 mb for the all the photos I took. Other cards record fine in my camera.

[Alex645]

Any help you can give me would be much appreciated as I would love to get my photos back.[COLOR="Silver"]

There is a file on the card under 102PENTX that name IMGP., no date, is a "file" and a size of 398,547 kb. Nothing will open it and if I try and copy it onto my computer it says it could not find the file. Any ideas? I would expect about 400 mb for the all the photos I took. Other cards record fine in my camera.

Is the microSD card a SanDisk? Iʻve been able to recover files before using their recovery software:

https://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4985/~/data-recovery-for-memo...d-flash-drives

There are also brick and mortar that will charge for this type of recovery.

[Adam]

I have a K200D that I bought new and have looked after. I recently went on trip to Hawaii and brought that camera. I was using a micro SD with an adaptor. I do remember reviewing a number of my photographs during the trip to make sure things were ok. On the last day I took some photos, saw the instant review; however, when I hit the play button the camera would say "no image" or "image cannot be displayed". As I said I was looking at photos I took earlier the days before, however now nothing. I put the SD card into my computer and there is nothing except some photos I took with another camera and had transferred to the card months earlier.


I understand that a corrupted card can allow something not to be recorded to, but what about the photos I saw there before? Can a corrupt card erase photos that are ok? Why would the camera not tell me that there is something wrong with the card until I hit the play button? If I take a photo now with the same card it works ok until I hit the play button


Any help you can give me would be much appreciated as I would love to get my photos back.

---------- Post added 04-23-18 at 10:55 PM ----------

Update:


There is a file on the card under 102PENTX that name IMGP., no date, is a "file" and a size of 398,547 kb. Nothing will open it and if I try and copy it onto my computer it says it could not find the file. Any ideas? I would expect about 400 mb for the all the photos I took. Other cards record fine in my camera.

You should run Recuva (a truly free program) to see if it can extract the files. It sounds like that single ~400Mb file hides all your photos. Be sure not to modify anything on the card- it might be a good idea to image the whole thing before proceeding.

Here's how to image a drive on Windows:

http://blog.thestateofme.com/2012/05/28/making-an-image-file-from-an-sd-card-on-windows/

[Not a Number]

Try PhotoRec. Hands down the best free file recovery tool that I tested out of 6 or 7. It's written to specifically recognize photo image files, include PEF. Works like a charm with my K10D.

PhotoRec - Digital Picture and File Recovery

PhotoRec is character based without a fancy GUI but the operation is very straight forward from the options on-screen.

If read that Micro SD cards can be unreliable. Perhaps from heat dissipation problems or just working loose in the adapter. I've had no problems when I've used them in my K10D. Maybe I'm just lucky so far.

---

Last edited by Not a Number; 04-24-2018 at 12:59 AM.

[spinno]

To the OP, my concern is that you can see images taken with another camera, did you format the card before using in your K200D?
It has always been my practice to Format cards when using them for the first time in any camera or indeed any other device.

[Jonathan Mac]

Firstly, as others have said, don't modify anything on the card or put it in another device. Your photos may be recoverable - you'll need to look into the options for recovery programs such as those already recommended by others here, to see if they can get the photos back.

At least some Sandisk cards come with a year's use of a recover program called Rescue Pro Deluxe, I have a recently bought 64 gig card here so if you're in the market for a new card maybe you could get one and use the program. I've never used it myself but it's another option to try.

In the future, it may be an idea to stick to SD cards rather than micro-SD with adapters. I've never had a card fail but the smaller size and relative fragility suggests to me that micro-SD cards are less durable, plus the adapter brings another complication and potential source of problems. Always buy cards from reputable brands, and buy them from reputable retailers who are less likely to have fakes in their stock.

All the best and please let us know how you get on.

[aslyfox]

To the OP, my concern is that you can see images taken with another camera, did you format the card before using in your K200D?
It has always been my practice to Format cards when using them for the first time in any camera or indeed any other device.

I was advised to do the same by the experts at my local brick and mortar store since their recovery program cannot recover part of what is on a memory card but will recover all and you are charged for each file recovered.

so if you have more than the missing photos on the card in question, you pay for getting photos you have already copied to your computer months before

I have not had problems using micro sd cards but who knows

this article might be worth a review

Comprehensive SD Card Guide for Photographers - Articles and Tips | PentaxForums.com

[newmikey]

So you used a type of card which is not recommended for use in any camera (micro SD) and consequently it failed. Why is this thread titled "Lost photos with K200D"? You didn't loose photo's with your camera, you lost them by using the wrong memory card.

From the K200D manual:
"This camera uses either an SD Memory Card or an SDHC Memory Card. (Both
cards are referred to as SD Memory Cards hereafter.) Make sure the camera is
turned off before inserting or removing the SD Memory Card "

It may very well be that some people have had some success with using a MicroSD card in an SD-sized adapter but there's just too many ways that can go wrong for anyone to rely on such a setup. SDHC cards are cheap and plentiful, no excuse to use micros.

[Adam]

So you used a type of card which is not recommended for use in any camera (micro SD) and consequently it failed. Why is this thread titled "Lost photos with K200D"? You didn't loose photo's with your camera, you lost them by using the wrong memory card.

From the K200D manual:
"This camera uses either an SD Memory Card or an SDHC Memory Card. (Both
cards are referred to as SD Memory Cards hereafter.) Make sure the camera is
turned off before inserting or removing the SD Memory Card "

It may very well be that some people have had some success with using a MicroSD card in an SD-sized adapter but there's just too many ways that can go wrong for anyone to rely on such a setup. SDHC cards are cheap and plentiful, no excuse to use micros.

To clarify, per the SD standard there is no technical difference between standard and micro SD card apart from the form factor, so from a compatibility standpoint there are no issues.

However, I agree that the use of micro cards in cameras should be strongly discouraged. The small form factor is prone to physical and heat damage, and thus more likely to end in data loss compared to full-size cards.

I will add that most sandisk cards have lifetime or 10-year warranties, so if you suspect the hardware is at fault, you should contact sandisk for a replacement (after you've recovered your photos of course). Good luck!

[leekil]

Is the microSD card a SanDisk? Iʻve been able to recover files before using their free recovery software:

Free SanDisk Recovery Software Recovers Lost Sandisk Data - EaseUS SanDisk Recovery

There are also brick and mortar that will charge for this type of recovery.

That software is not any sort of official SanDisk software; it is third party software that is just attracting attention by calling themselves SanDisk Recovery Software.

[E-man]

Just for curiosity, what firmware are you running on your K200? I updated mine as soon as I got it last year and if I recall correctly, one of the things the update was supposed to address was an issue with reading and writing to certain types of cards. I have a similar problem with my Samsung GX20 (K20D clone). It won't write to cards greater than 16GB unless they're of the super fast ~90mb/second variety. Pentax addressed this issue for the K20D but Samsung had already abandoned support for the GX20 by the time it came out. Before I figured out the issue, the camera would deceive me by showing the image I had just shot on the rear screen for a second or two while it was still in buffer before the write attempt failed. If I looked away from the screen too quickly, I would miss the write error message.

[Alex645]

That software is not any sort of official SanDisk software; it is third party software that is just attracting attention by calling themselves SanDisk Recovery Software.

I've corrected the link. The SanDisk Recovery software has a free trial version so you can test if it works, and then there is a fee if you want the full version.

Data recovery for memory cards and flash drives

[Rakester]

Thanks for all the input. I will try them tonight. It definitely makes me feel better and more confident that I may not have lost my photos.

[madbrain]

You didn't mention the capacity of the card you are using, the brand, and where you bought it from.

I don't think using a microSD to SD adapter is anything to be concerned about. I have been doing it for years with no issues.

However, there have been tons of fake SD and microSD cards on the market in recent years. The fake cards are not just counterfeit in terms of brand, but actually don't have the capacity they claim. The SD controller pretends that the card is a 128GB for example, when the real capacity may only be 8GB. Since you are using a K200D, it only support SDHC cards, which means you can only use a card up to 32GB. Larger cards will not work. So, the good news is that you are less likely to have a fake card. Those are generally of higher pretend capacity.

For more details, read :

HappyBison.com: tech, research and bison

Unfortunately, if you have a fake card, your data will really be gone. And the symptoms are similar to what you describe - the card seems to work at first, but then when you fill it up - by taking more pictures, it becomes corrupt, and the camera (or PC) can no longer read it correctly.

I now run h2testw on any storage media that I purchase - be it an SD card, USB flash drive, hard drive or SSD, so that I know before the return period is up if the device has the capacity advertised.

[MarkJerling]

I would suggest you try the program Adam suggested earlier - Recuva. It's free and works really well.