[catastrophe]

Hi guys,

I just returned from my trip to Iceland and my SD card was fine until I finally start to import the photos to LR. It was readable the previously but this time, it says the card is not formatted, I inserted back into the camera and it says the same. So I tried different recovery programs like Recuva, photorec and ICare data recovery, only Icare works. Photorec somehow only recovered 4 text files which seems to be wrong as the card has only been used to take photos...

Anyway, I recovered some PEF and some DNG. But after importing into LR, it started being fine with all the thumbnails displaying properly, then all the PEF will have the weird pink lines and streaks as shown like the attached, and DNGs all turn blank white....Any idea on how I can fix this? My guess is that the files have become corrupted. Is there other programs that I should try and would it be better to format the SD card then use recovery programs? Although I used this as a spare card and only had like 50 images but I still don't want to lose anything...

Thanks

Aaron

Attached Images

 

[glennbp]

You will need a file recovery program. There are a lot of them out there, but this one has worked for me.
SD Card Recovery Software - Software to Recover SD Card Photos
Give it a go and good luck!

[todd]

I am skeptical about the ability of that software to recover damaged files like these, although I hope I am wrong. I have had quite a few of these results and my assumption has been that it's because I bought two of the cheapest 16GB class 10 SD cards I could find when I bought my K-5 in June. My files are fine for most part but once in a while I get these what seem to me to be partial and corrupted recordings... I haven't tested enough, but I am pretty sure it's just with one of my cards in particular..

[UnknownVT]

I am skeptical about the ability of that software to recover damaged files like these,

Ths may be right -
however since there are numerous even free recovery software out there - there probably is no harm in trying as many as necessary to see if any recover better.

I posted this over a year ago in Post #7 of SD Cards/Recovery Sofwares?

Recuva (Wikipedia link) is by Piriform who also produce cCleaner - one of the very top Freeware that I use on a more than daily basis on my PC - so I am very interested in Recuva.

PhotoRec (Wikipedia link) may seem to have less of a pedigree - but I visited the site and I was very impressed with the Wiki- type layout and the way its documented - this speaks very well for the product.

PhotoRec seems to bundled with TestDisk - which also seems to be a very useful tool - note: according to the Softpedia review TestDisk may be hard to use - but PhotoRec is supposed to be very easy....

I have also used with good results MjM Photo Recovery - however this is for JPGs only, so is not applicable in this case.

[Franky2step]

This may not be the case for you but whenever I upload into LR4 directly from the K5 via USB, almost every single file is corrupted. It either looks like your example or there is a notation "there was an error when working on this file". This has been the case since day 1 for me. However, if I upload my files to a folder on my desktop then import from there, everything works as it shoud. Just a thought, you might want to try the upload to a folder, then import. I threw out the first SD card when this happened a few times.

[Fl_Gulfer]

Looks like a bad card but I'm not sure what brand that card is. I learned the hard way and now ONLY buy SANDISK Extreme HD Video Cards and haven't had a problem since then.

[L33tGreg]

Just a reminder to everyone, always format the card in camera after you download photos from it. It just takes one cosmic ray to wipeout the filesystem like this (there could be many reasons the fs is corrupted, I just mention this one because people don't think of it). Once the filesystem itself is corrupted, writes to the card can potentially overwrite certain data structures and the problem gets worse. Also, if you computer crashes with your card mounted or the camera battery dies while writing to the card, immediately run a file system check on the card before modifying the filesystem!

[catastrophe]

Well, the problem is that the computer says the card is not formatted and therefore can't access the card. Even though Icare recovery which is the only program that can retrieve the files, all DNG files and blank white once imported, while PEF have the pink lines all over it, although they appear normal before the import.

Would really appreciate some help as I don't want to lose my photography tour photos...

[adwb]

Lexmark the card mfg have a card recovery program which will see a card plugged in to your PCM even if your PCM says it needs formatting
Go learns web site contact support and tell them you had the software. But lost it they usually send link to new version.
It works really well and has got me out of trouble more than once

[UnknownVT]

Well, the problem is that the computer says the card is not formatted and therefore can't access the card. Even though Icare recovery which is the only program that can retrieve the files, all DNG files and blank white once imported, while PEF have the pink lines all over it, although they appear normal before the import.

Would really appreciate some help as I don't want to lose my photography tour photos...

Lexmark the card mfg have a card recovery program which will see a card plugged in to your PCM even if your PCM says it needs formatting
Go learns web site contact support and tell them you had the software. But lost it they usually send link to new version.
It works really well and has got me out of trouble more than once

I would try using s/w suggested by adwb -
however could that possibly be "Lexar" the memory card manufacturer
instead of Lexmark the printer manufacturer?

In the meantime please take a look at this:

Photo Recovery

It's your call.

I believe my one time only experience, seems to show that one can recover files successfully after a "Quick" format -
since a quick format appears only to re-write the system files/headers and doesn't seem to touch the actual data.
(Warning: do NOT use any form of Full format - that will erase almost all traces of your files)

However if one can recover from a memory card that is not recognized by the computer, without any formatting -
that is well worth while trying first.

[catastrophe]

Would that be Lexar image rescue and does it work for DNG and PEF? I tried putting the recovered images from Icare to a working SD card and put it in my K-5. It can read the PEF files without lines, but it won't zoom, no histogram info and can't develop in camera to jpeg...while DNG is totally unreadable. It seems like the files are either corrupted or the recovery program did not fully recover them. Would at least want them saved as jpegs if I can't get the raws, better than nothing...

Would formatting then recover be a better option then?

[adwb]

Would that be Lexar image rescue and does it work for DNG and PEF? I tried putting the recovered images from Icare to a working SD card and put it in my K-5. It can read the PEF files without lines, but it won't zoom, no histogram info and can't develop in camera to jpeg...while DNG is totally unreadable. It seems like the files are either corrupted or the recovery program did not fully recover them. Would at least want them saved as jpegs if I can't get the raws, better than nothing...

Would formatting then recover be a better option then?

Pm me with your email I will send software to you

[adwb]

Would that be Lexar image rescue and does it work for DNG and PEF? I tried putting the recovered images from Icare to a working SD card and put it in my K-5. It can read the PEF files without lines, but it won't zoom, no histogram info and can't develop in camera to jpeg...while DNG is totally unreadable. It seems like the files are either corrupted or the recovery program did not fully recover them. Would at least want them saved as jpegs if I can't get the raws, better than nothing...

Would formatting then recover be a better option then?

And do not format or touch your card in way till you try the Lexmark card software

[Hoggy]

I haven't had the displeasure of a corrupted card - yet, at least.. But I do wonder what I'd do..

Would using Windows CHKDSK and checking the 'fix FS errors' option do anything helpful with the card?? I might try that, if possible.

[UnknownVT]

From Post #6 of Photo Recovery

Here's the description that gave me the hint to use Quick Format on my SD card -
source: Recuva on formatted disks

Recovery from damaged or formatted disks
The dreaded hard drive crash. The file you forgot to backup before you reformatted a drive. The camera memory card with your holiday snaps that no longer works. Recuva can handle them too.
Windows (and other operating systems) uses a hidden index on hard drives, USB drives, and memory cards. Instead of having to search through the entire drive for a file you request, all it has to do is look it up in the index -- a much faster process.
Unfortunately, if the index is damaged, Windows can no longer find your files, even if the files themselves haven't been corrupted. That's where Recuva comes in.
Unlike Windows, Recuva scans all parts of a drive, looking for the bits that make up your files. If a drive's index has been damaged, chances are other parts of the drive may have been damaged too. Recuva will show you a list of files it has found on the drive, and give you an estimate of the likelihood of success of recovering them.
Similarly, when you format a drive (especially if you use the Quick Format option), Windows erases the hidden index but does not overwrite the existing files until you start saving new data to it. Recuva can still scan the drive's contents to find your files.

This is what I believe happened to my SD card - the "hidden index" probably got corrupted - so that my camera gave memory error and could not use it - and my PC would not even recognize the SD card -
so I was "forced" to format the SD card so that my PC could "see" the card.
Obviously once I had read the above - I knew to use only the "Quick Format" -
and was successful in recovering my photos.

Well, the problem is that the computer says the card is not formatted and therefore can't access the card. Even though Icare recovery which is the only program that can retrieve the files, all DNG files and blank white once imported, while PEF have the pink lines all over it, although they appear normal before the import.

BUT the question that needs to be asked - how was LR3 even able to display those thumbnails in its library/gallery as shown in your opening post - IF the card isn't even recognized by your PC?

Just to be clear you are talking about the original card that was used in your camera to take those photos
- or are you talking about some separate backup/copy?

EDIT to ADD -
don't know if this might help
(have used this - but not on memory cards) -

ISObuster
claims to be able to recover files -

All device access, media access, data gathering and interpretation is done exclusively by the software. It does not rely on Windows to provide or interpret the data and so can work completely independent from Windows' limitations.

so might not require any formatting for recovery?