Digital Camera pictures stuffed~!?! (1 Viewer)

[Lord Ac]

Im trying to copy the files from the SD card to my computer and many of the pictures are, like, corrupted or something!? It says:

"Windows cannot open this file" and gives me the option of finding a prgram or letting the internet find me one. Neither is successful. There are also some folders in there now that look something like: "53jpg .qx;" ??!?!?!?! I am sure I did not name it as such!?

The files themselves are called stuff like: "33jpg" or "58avi". When I right click/properties it says that the files are ZERO bytes?!

Ok, pleeeeease is there anyway i can SAVEMY PICTURES!?

Thanks,

Ac

 

[sunny]

It sounds at some point the card's memory became corrupted. Try using scandisk to scan the SD card (if you've got the equipment to directly connect the SD card to the computer).

If your SD card is directly connected to your computer, try looking at the card's properties and see if any space is actually used up in the card.

 

[Lord Ac]

Norton Scan refused to work

See here what I see: it shows that there is space taken up by these things, and you can see the files themselves as well.

http://home.iprimus.com.au/ac111ca/Ac.htm

???

Ac

 

[sunny]

Can you try and copy those files and open them from another location? Are all the files 0 bytes?

If thats the case, I think theres very little that can be done. Theres a good chance the data is all still on the disk, but conventional ways of accessing the data won't work. Try get your hands on some data recovery software, which might be able to help you.

 

[Lord Ac]

Cant copy, and yes, there are all 0 bytes

These pictures (from overseas holiday) are very important and I would go far to retreieve them. Can you tell me more about "data recovery software" and where i can get some, who might have some, price, etc?

thanks,

Ac

 

[Winston]

HAHA i got some data recovery software lieing around very nice...

 

[sunny]

Windows has certain ways of accessing the data on a disk - it reads the File Allocation Table (FAT), which has information about the files themselves and where to find them on the disk. When the FAT becomes corrupted you can very easily loose the "tags" of where files are. I think this might be the case, as Windows can no longer see your files properly.

Data recovery software usually doesn't use Windows to read the disk, and directly reads the data on the disk, trying to make its own mind of whats on the disk - so if the data is there and the FAT is sufficiently intact, they might be able to get your files back.

That said, theres always the chance it won't work either.

You should first ask around and see if anyone can give you hand with trying to get the data back, as data recovery software can be quite expensive.

 

[Winston]

Originally posted by sunny
Windows has certain ways of accessing the data on a disk - it reads the File Allocation Table (FAT), which has information about the files themselves and where to find them on the disk. When the FAT becomes corrupted you can very easily loose the "tags" of where files are. I think this might be the case, as Windows can no longer see your files properly.

Data recovery software usually doesn't use Windows to read the disk, and directly reads the data on the disk, trying to make its own mind of whats on the disk - so if the data is there and the FAT is sufficiently intact, they might be able to get your files back.

That said, theres always the chance it won't work either.

You should first ask around and see if anyone can give you hand with trying to get the data back, as data recovery software can be quite expensive.

Ahuh basically that's how windows delete files, the file is actually tagged with some form of element which renders that specific space writable...

 

[Lord Ac]

Winston, why do you hate me?

And where did you get that recovery software ?

Ac

 

[mitochondria]

Originally posted by Lord Ac
Winston, why do you hate me?

And where did you get that recovery software ? *waves* at Winston

Ac

lol.. I don't think he does.. anyways, I've recently lost 117 important photos because.. well, I'm not going to repeat the story - but it wasn't my fault Guess what? I got them back from my CF card - all 117 of them anyways.. that's not relevant..

Ummm.. corrupted files do happen sometimes, just last Saturday I was taking some pictures of roses in my backyard and when I connect my camera to the computer I found one of them is corrupted (can't see anything, just a grey square).. okay.. that doesn't sound very relevant too..

oh yes, check this out:
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm
and look at the smart recovery one

as sunny mentioned (*waves* at sunny), it only works if you have a card reader OR if you could set your camera as a card reader (I know some Nikon cameras can do that).. just check it out first.. ooh. and it's free

and if you can't recover the pictures.. the situation looks pretty bad.. consider paying some money for hiring someone who specialises in file recovery (some small companies which specialises in digital photos recovery do exist in Australia) if your photos are really really really important.. *I hope you haven't deleted all files/formatted the card AND fill it up with pictures again (otherwise the chances you can recover the photos easily is pretty bad..)

One thing to remember: always format your SD card before you take a new set of photos (provided you have backed up the photos that were originally on there of course)

Good luck!

 

[Lord Ac]

Thanks for the advice mitochondria!!

I got that program and after 3 hours of shitting around I managed to scape up around 110 files! 60-70 of these were pictures that worked fine! There were several pics that didnt work, some only in thumbnail view, and NONE of the movie clips worked

Thanks though, very happy with what I got.

Ac

 

[freaking_out]

Originally posted by Lord Ac
Thanks for the advice mitochondria!!

I got that program and after 3 hours of shitting around I managed to scape up around 110 files! 60-70 of these were pictures that worked fine! There were several pics that didnt work, some only in thumbnail view, and NONE of the movie clips worked

Thanks though, very happy with what I got.

Ac

yep- better than nothing.

 

[mitochondria]

Originally posted by Lord Ac
Thanks for the advice mitochondria!!

I got that program and after 3 hours of shitting around I managed to scape up around 110 files! 60-70 of these were pictures that worked fine! There were several pics that didnt work, some only in thumbnail view, and NONE of the movie clips worked

Thanks though, very happy with what I got.

Ac

that's okay I thought you were only recovering photos.. in that case you might want to do a search on the net for other softwares which supports video recovery. I've tried one before and it actually supports recovery of all photos/videos that are stored on your memory but I just can't remember which one it is on top of my head... do some hunting

Also, if you have the time to find another recovery software, you might probably want to, too. That is because different *may* use different way to recover your files, so if this software couldn't get certain photos, others might be able to do it. However, as I have said before, if you already used the memory card again before you recover the files (i.e. take more photos/format/delete... etc) then those files you couldn't recovery were probably corrupted.. Good luck

 

[Lord Ac]

Do you reckon you might remember the program? Cause I cant seem to be able to find one for video specifically.

Ive allready d/l a few programs, but most have a file size limt, or only find it and you have to pay for the real thing. Dont want to do that.

Ac

 

[t-i-m-m-y]

some private places can retrive ur data for about 10 grand

 

[Lord Ac]

LoL. Yuep trying to avoid that one.

Ac