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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> HELP! I need a recovery specialist
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06/21/2009 09:35:37 AM · #1
Hi folks, I just got back home a music festival with the most awsome pictures but...

My folder (on the compact flash) is corupted and unreadable.

It all got messed up when I filled my Sandisk Extreme III to it's full capacity... The camera (Nikon D70s) went bezerk with the hourglass.

In properties, it says the folder is empty (0 files, o bytes)... But it also shows the card being fulled.

I used the sandisk recovery mini CD, It recognizes all the files being there (after a scan of a few hours), but still unreadible.

Help, I haven't slept in 48 hours and I cannot go to bed without knowing if they are lost forever or not...
06/21/2009 10:03:58 AM · #2
Maybe this thread can provide some options.

Link
06/21/2009 01:48:06 PM · #3
I so know how you feel but as a specialist I have the solution, The rescuepro that comes with the sandisk works perfect for this, but you have to do a quick format then run the program on the disk, works everytime. I have an extra key if you need it. just PM me
06/22/2009 02:45:11 PM · #4
It's all fixed now thanks to Sandisk's RescuePro. Thanks to all espsecially Chris!
06/22/2009 02:49:59 PM · #5
Originally posted by csolomon1:

I so know how you feel but as a specialist I have the solution, The rescuepro that comes with the sandisk works perfect for this, but you have to do a quick format then run the program on the disk, works everytime.

Will that work on other brand cards or just SanDisk? I have a couple of their cards so I might already have the software, but I recently had an off-brand card fail, and PC Inspector couldn't find the files.

PS: GM: Congrats on the successful recovery!

Message edited by author 2009-06-22 14:51:02.
06/22/2009 03:15:03 PM · #6
Its the best program out there I have found, I have tried Iola aka sys mechanics and crunch crunch they were all currupted during the process, this program is not made by Sandisk but is given to anyone who purchases the cards. So if your like me I bought 8 cards I have several keys hint hint
06/22/2009 04:00:14 PM · #7
I am so happy you were able to recover your pictures, just remember for future reference, if the card or hard drive or computer drive, disk what ever device you use with this program, its ok if it says no file system, the best start is to do a QUICK format this will change the file system to the one you choose, dont worry nothing has been deleted at this point yet, it is only invisible, do NOT fill up the card or this will erase all data, run the program and recover the files after you do the quick format. Happy Recoveries
06/22/2009 04:53:10 PM · #8
OK, I found RescuePro v3.2 DEMO already installed (on a Windows 2000 machine). I see buttons to recover files, recover photos, and wipe disk, but nothing (so far) for the aforementioned quick-format step.

I have a couple of SanDisk 512MB SD cards -- is there a key on there? Is there a newer version which will still work on this computer?
06/22/2009 04:59:43 PM · #9
Originally posted by GeneralE:

OK, I found RescuePro v3.2 DEMO already installed (on a Windows 2000 machine). I see buttons to recover files, recover photos, and wipe disk, but nothing (so far) for the aforementioned quick-format step.

I have a couple of SanDisk 512MB SD cards -- is there a key on there? Is there a newer version which will still work on this computer?


I'll try and check back later tonight- if you need a key I have an extra couple lurking around in my software box too.
Also, having never had to use this software, I'm wondering what the quick format is as well.
06/22/2009 05:14:34 PM · #10
Originally posted by spiritualspatula:


Also, having never had to use this software, I'm wondering what the quick format is as well.


There are three kinds of formating generally available for storage media:

[0] Low-level
[1] High-level
[2] Quick

There is only one real difference between simply deleting files from the card and performing an in-camera format. Deleting files does not recreate the folder/directory structure and index file on the card whereas in-camera formating does. Note that the index file is not the FAT. FAT modifications is handled as part of a lower level filesystem operation.

If you format from the computer, do not perform a high or low level format. In Windows, there's a "Quick Format" option. You should be using that on flash media because truly formating can be rather traumatic to media and flash has a fairly low write-erase cycle life. A true format will reconstruct the filesystem which effects every sector on the media. This can unnecessarily exercise the write-erase cycles and wear the card faster.

In-camera formatting falls into the "quick Format" category and doesn't actually format the card. It simply performs a mass-delete which is not the same thing as reconstructing the filesystem from scratch. To do a true format, you'll need to format it from your computer. As mentioned, you don't want to do this often... only when odd card issues crop up or initially if you want to change block sizing and filesystem type for performance reasons.

A high-level format on the computer in Windows is similar to doing a newfs in unix. It's not exactly the same because of differences between FAT and UFS/FFS/Ext2FS and other types of unix filesystems. What happens is that the entire filesystem is rebuilt from scratch including any changes you might want to make to block/cluster sizes. And yes, every bit will be reset. This type of format is in contrast to a "quick-format" which is an option in Windows. The camera performs a "quick format" although it adds a couple of extra steps to create the special index file. It however does not rebuild the filesystem.

Note - for the sake of being pedantic, there is such a thing as a low-level format. A true low-level format will erase and rewrite the servo mapping, sector layout and defect table of the media. That requires special utilities that intimately understands the media geometry and is specific to that exact media. The high-level format (or regular format) option in the Windows operating system will only rebuild the FAT table and perform a read-write-verify on each sector. Some CF card manufacturers may in fact supply low-level formatting utilities.

A variation of this type of utility is actually not meant to format the disk at all but is instead used to recover data. CF is an ATA device and its onboard controller tries to make it appear as an emulated disk. Most CF cards have some sort of logic to abstract the lower-layer storage media from what's presented to the host controller. This is typically used to level the wear on the memory cells. And while recovery of data (after inadvertent delete or corruption of the FAT) is easily possible on disks that are direct-mapped to their geometry, it's a little harder when there's a wear-leveling mechanism in between. The utility would need to know exactly how that wear-leveling is performed and that's something that's specific to the make and model of the media. This is the same knowledge as is used during a low-level format.


From Flckr ( //www.flickr.com/groups/d300hdr/discuss/72157607484903087/ ), guy seems to know what he's talking about.

R.

Message edited by author 2009-06-22 17:15:46.
06/22/2009 05:22:35 PM · #11
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:


Also, having never had to use this software, I'm wondering what the quick format is as well.


There are three kinds of formating generally available for storage media:

[0] Low-level
[1] High-level
[2] Quick

There is only one real difference between simply deleting files from the card and performing an in-camera format. Deleting files does not recreate the folder/directory structure and index file on the card whereas in-camera formating does. Note that the index file is not the FAT. FAT modifications is handled as part of a lower level filesystem operation.

In-camera formatting falls into the "quick Format" category and doesn't actually format the card. It simply performs a mass-delete which is not the same thing as reconstructing the filesystem from scratch. To do a true format, you'll need to format it from your computer. As mentioned, you don't want to do this often... only when odd card issues crop up or initially if you want to change block sizing and filesystem type for performance reasons.

Note - for the sake of being pedantic, there is such a thing as a low-level format. A true low-level format will erase and rewrite the servo mapping, sector layout and defect table of the media. That requires special utilities that intimately understands the media geometry and is specific to that exact media. The high-level format (or regular format) option in the Windows operating system will only rebuild the FAT table and perform a read-write-verify on each sector. Some CF card manufacturers may in fact supply low-level formatting utilities.

A variation of this type of utility is actually not meant to format the disk at all but is instead used to recover data. CF is an ATA device and its onboard controller tries to make it appear as an emulated disk. Most CF cards have some sort of logic to abstract the lower-layer storage media from what's presented to the host controller. This is typically used to level the wear on the memory cells. And while recovery of data (after inadvertent delete or corruption of the FAT) is easily possible on disks that are direct-mapped to their geometry, it's a little harder when there's a wear-leveling mechanism in between. The utility would need to know exactly how that wear-leveling is performed and that's something that's specific to the make and model of the media. This is the same knowledge as is used during a low-level format.


From Flckr ( //www.flickr.com/groups/d300hdr/discuss/72157607484903087/ ), guy seems to know what he's talking about.

R.


So is the post earlier referring to the in-camera quick format or using the potentially present quick or low level format that may or may not be present in rescuepro, since it's a hardware specific utility?

ETA: Almost forgot, thanks for the help as always, Bear_Music

Message edited by author 2009-06-22 17:23:12.
06/22/2009 05:26:21 PM · #12
The quick format I am speaking of is, find the drive or device in my computer, do a right mouse click and choose format, this menu shows quick format, i most stick with fat 32 cause you will still want to format this in your camera once you have made all attempts, if this doesnt work your chances are slim to none unless you wanna pay big bucks for a pro and send it off for recovery
06/22/2009 05:28:27 PM · #13
OK -- that makes sense. Do I need a newer version of RescuePRO or should I try with the version I have?
06/22/2009 05:43:44 PM · #14
Originally posted by csolomon1:

The quick format I am speaking of is, find the drive or device in my computer, do a right mouse click and choose format, this menu shows quick format, i most stick with fat 32 cause you will still want to format this in your camera once you have made all attempts, if this doesnt work your chances are slim to none unless you wanna pay big bucks for a pro and send it off for recovery


Basically, what happens when you quick format is all reference to the files is deleted from the disk but the files are still there until they are overwritten subsequently. The purpose of doing a quick format before running the rescue utility is to do precisely that, remove all references tot he files on the presumption that it's the "cataloguing" that's screwed up, not the images themselves. Then the rescue utility identifies and recatalogues the files, effectively. That's the way I understand it, anyway.

Now, the in-camera formatting does exactly that, so I'd presume it is safe to use the camera itself for the quick formatting.

Am I understanding all this correctly? I'm curious to know, I've never actually had to deal with this problem.

R.
06/22/2009 05:48:29 PM · #15
I would say you are safe to format it in the camera, and I think 3.2 would be good enough even tho mine is 3.4....
06/22/2009 05:51:16 PM · #16
Originally posted by csolomon1:

I would say you are safe to format it in the camera, and I think 3.2 would be good enough even tho mine is 3.4....

OK -- I'll try that. I was figuring the card was now a prop anyway, and I've re-taken the only uncopied shots, so there's really nothing to lose but some time. Thanks!
06/23/2009 04:52:46 AM · #17
I thought I'd show at least one picture that was recovered.

06/23/2009 05:50:35 AM · #18
RescuePro works really well. I can't follow most of what you guys have been talking about, but my D70s has been having some issues with cards. RescuePro has worked perfectly for me about a half dozen times.......basically every time my D70s has had a hissy. I understand that if you have an Extreme III, you get to download it for free......I only have the Ultra IIs, so I had to pay $39.95 for it. I had 800 images from my Honduras trip on the one card, so it was a no-brainer......I'd spend it again in a heartbeat knowing how well it works.

Message edited by author 2009-06-23 05:51:02.
06/23/2009 06:33:44 AM · #19
Originally posted by csolomon1:

The quick format I am speaking of is, find the drive or device in my computer, do a right mouse click and choose format, this menu shows quick format, i most stick with fat 32 cause you will still want to format this in your camera once you have made all attempts, if this doesnt work your chances are slim to none unless you wanna pay big bucks for a pro and send it off for recovery

I tried this and the one CF card I have that has been REALLY wonky seemed to fight this process. I finally got it formatted after about three tries.

Use it or ditch it?
06/23/2009 06:37:14 AM · #20
Originally posted by NikonJeb:

Use it or ditch it?

Ditch it.
06/23/2009 05:15:56 PM · #21
Originally posted by NikonJeb:

RescuePro works really well. ... I understand that if you have an Extreme III, you get to download it for free......I only have the Ultra IIs, so I had to pay $39.95 for it.

Yeah, my RescuePro DEMO found lots of files, but wouldn't let me open or save them. However, after performing the "quick-format" in-camera, PC Inspector was also able to find a lot of files and save them; only maybe 5% were corrupt, though it seemed to save one image several times ...

If anyone wants to PM me an "extra" RP key I'll try again and see if I get a different result; I don't think I'll use the card any more except as a photo prop ...
06/23/2009 05:56:00 PM · #22
I sent that PM with the KC let me know if that works, i have several but cant remember which one i used....
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