Unreadable CF Card - DPChallenge Forums

05/01/2006 03:08:38 PM · #1

I have a CF card with some really needed photos that I took for a client's client. After deleting a few files from the card, for some reason, the card reader and the camera are now unable to read it.

I reeeally need these photos. Is there any way to recover them?

I have a 4GB Microdrive card and a SanDisk 4-slot card reader.

PhantomEWO

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

05/01/2006 03:18:13 PM · #2

Originally posted by Cyndane:

Ok download for free PC Inspector Smart Recovery by Convar. Do a google on it. I used it on a Microdrive and recovered over 3 gb of pics that I had deleted. It will take a while but worked great for me.

05/01/2006 03:54:28 PM · #3

Thank you thank you... will do that now. :)

05/01/2006 06:07:12 PM · #4

That's not working, because the card is unreadable. Any other suggestions? I can't get the camera or the computer to read the card at all... The camera just says, 'Error 99' and I have to remove the battery to turn it off at all. The computer just shows it as busy.

Canon EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

05/01/2006 06:19:05 PM · #5

That doesn't sound good at all, but recovery *might* still be possible. If the computer cannot understand the file system, it may just continue to display busy. It shoulld still be possible to get the software to investigate the disk. Start the software and point it to the drive letter assigned to the card.
If the recovery software is not able to access the disk at all, it may have outright failed. Unfortunately, microdrives are somewhat more prone to this than solid state cards, though failure with solid state cards is surely not uncommon. Hope you're able to recover the files!

I Enjoy Ham

Canon EOS-30D

05/01/2006 06:21:05 PM · #6

i beleive error 99 is a format error.

I'm ot sure if unformated images are able to be read??

maybe someone else will know :(

-Dan

05/01/2006 06:26:54 PM · #7

Originally posted by I Enjoy Ham:

i beleive error 99 is a format error.

I'm ot sure if unformated images are able to be read??

maybe someone else will know :(

-Dan

Error 99 is pretty much a "catch all" error code, so it's not really possible to tell from that what the problem is. It *is* indicative that the problem is more than just corruption on the card, but it is not a certain indicator.

05/01/2006 09:17:58 PM · #8

I can't format it because it's unreadable.. I'm wondering if it's just trashed now or something. If I can't read it, can't format it, can't use it.. is there anything I can do?

PhantomEWO

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

05/01/2006 10:32:54 PM · #9

Originally posted by Cyndane:

I can't format it because it's unreadable.. I'm wondering if it's just trashed now or something. If I can't read it, can't format it, can't use it.. is there anything I can do?

call Hitachi or who ever the manufacturer is. I called Hitachi when I had a question about a 2 Gb microdrive and the replaced it free with a 4Gb microdrive. If the recovery program didn't work the manufacturer may be your only chance. Sorry ;(

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

05/01/2006 10:38:32 PM · #10

Originally posted by Cyndane:

I can't format it because it's unreadable.. I'm wondering if it's just trashed now or something. If I can't read it, can't format it, can't use it.. is there anything I can do?

Calling Hitachi is probably your next step. Perhpas they can recommend a detailed procedure that may give more success. If that fails, and the photos have significant financial value, you might consider a data recovery service. I'll bet they will get data off there, but for a rather steep price.

Edit for typo

Message edited by author 2006-05-01 22:51:10.

ericwoo

Nikon D800

05/01/2006 10:49:28 PM · #11

Also check with your local photo store. Most around here advertise that they can recover data from damaged cards.

05/03/2006 01:05:44 PM · #12

Thanks for the advice everyone... I'm taking it to a Ritz tonight to beg for help. :)

05/15/2006 08:02:33 PM · #13

Were you able to recover the data?
I just experienced for the first time "corrupt data" on my 1gb card.
I was getting error 99 and 02 errors prior to the corrupt data display.
Any hope for recovering?

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

05/16/2006 10:10:51 AM · #14

Thanks for the tip on pcrecovery. It recovered 13 files. Took it all night long but one of the 13 was what I needed. :)
I'm worried about using that card now. Should I delete the corrupt files and then reformat? I think I'm the one that messed it up. I was shooting in raw + jpeg and was trying to view them too quickly. Any input would be appreciated.

UNCLEBRO

Canon EOS-30D

05/16/2006 10:23:25 AM · #15

This site has a free downloadble demo that will scan your card and show thumbnails of what it can recover.
You can then download the full version if you want.
I think it was $25 when I bought it a couple of years ago.
But the free software will show you what you can recover.

05/16/2006 10:27:27 AM · #16

That makes more sense. I was wishing that I could view them prior to recovery. Thanks.:) I'll check it out.
But what about the card. Is it still usable?

gigasquid

Panasonic DMC-FZ7

05/16/2006 11:05:03 PM · #17

PhotoRescuePro

R-StudioFAT

PC File Recovery

Message edited by author 2006-05-16 23:06:36.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

05/16/2006 11:21:50 PM · #18

Originally posted by Marjo:

That makes more sense. I was wishing that I could view them prior to recovery. Thanks.:) I'll check it out.
But what about the card. Is it still usable?

There are two possibilities:
1.) A hardware or user error caused corruption during a write.
2.) A physical problem has cropped up in the card. Could be due to bad cells in the flash memory, or a controller problem.

You really don't know which is the case, without some rather involved testing. Best practice would be to:
a.) Reformat the card in-camera
b.) go out and shoot like heck with the card, non-critical stuff. Fill the card. Verify that it all can be read. Reformat. Do it again. Perhaps a third time.
If the results of (b) are all positive, it was probably an externally induced problem. The card should be safe to use.

awpollard

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

05/16/2006 11:35:00 PM · #19

There is a demo of BadCopy Pro that would tell you if it could in fact recover the files before buying it. I have used the prog to recover files from everything from CF to Corrupt CDs, has worked well for me.