What happened to my photo files?!!!!!

joyojoy

Not all there...
Joined
10 Mar 2005
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250
While visiting my inlaws over the holidays, I tried to upload some photos from my camera to their e-machines computer, using the slot on their machine for my SD card. I had taken a lot of really cool hi-res TIFFs of a trip to the mountains, as well as your usual family holiday shots in not-so-high res JPEG format. When I tried to copy some of the photos to their hard drive, I kept on getting this annoying pop-up about the door to the drive being open (there wasn't one). I clicked it at least 500 times between file uploads and when I was finished, my best shots -- on my card -- were TOAST (see WTF below), and some of the JPEGs just aren't readable. And to rub salt on the wound, I can't delete the file (see the other screenie below). It's a good thing I hadn't yet made my resolution to give my kid $1 every time I swear, or she'd be rich by now.

I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that the photos are beyond recovery. But does anyone out there have any idea WHY this happened?:dead: And also, how can I get these files off of my card?
 

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simple question ..was the memory card brand new? If so ..did you format it? If yes ... was the card reader in the emachine an add-on or did it come like that? Did you put the card in upside down?

I know these might be dumb questions ... but a bad answer to any of those would lead to that.

If you put the card in upside down ..obviously it would toast the flash memory. If the card reader was installed improperly ..it would essentially do the same.

Ive seen some cheap flash cards lose their contents after a few hours just because they were ****ty and cheap.

I realize none of these are positive answers ..but could be a cause.
 
simple question ..was the memory card brand new? If so ..did you format it? If yes ... was the card reader in the emachine an add-on or did it come like that? Did you put the card in upside down?

Hmmm... the card is a relatively new (bought back in July) 1GB RiData brand card. The card reader came installed in the e-machine and the card would only fit in one way, so I couldn't put it in upside down.

So can my camera re-format the card, or can I reformat it on my computer? Since I can't just delete the files, I'm assuming that's the only way to get rid of them.:rolleyes:
 
wow ... thats a good solution zombie. Ill put that one in my typical trouble shooting for now on. vote for you.
 
Check if the camera still displays the pictures in memory before doing anything else!!!

You can reformat the card in most cameras or in a PC. Note if it is a high speed card it may need to be special formated in the camera. My Cannon can use special cards that record the image at full speed. I do not know if thses can be directly read in a PC. That might be the issue. Does the camera display the pictures ok? Also if the camera recorded in "RAW" format the PC won't read it without camera specific software. RAW is used for uncompressed, high resolution pictures.

It sounds like the emachine stomped on the smart card FAT. Could have been a software issue, low voltage from the power supply, dirty contacts on the card or reader, the reader may have still been accessing when the card was removed.

Things to consider:
-Did you use the safe removal function?
-Was the card brought in from the cold outdoors and read immediately? If so they can get water condensation on the inside which reeks havoc. Any electronics brought in from the cold should be allowed to temeprature stabilize for 2-4 hours before use.
-Did you ask the in-laws if the card reader had ever been successfully used?
 
May want to try Smart Media Recovery before you format.
WAHOO! SMR totally recovered my mangled files! (Below are some samples of some of the photos I was so upset about losing).
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
 

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Check if the camera still displays the pictures in memory before doing anything else!!! No, the corrupted files give me a read error message. All of the readable files have been removed.

...if it is a high speed card it may need to be special formated in the camera. My Cannon can use special cards that record the image at full speed. I do not know if thses can be directly read in a PC. I think this card is high speed -- it says its 150x... I haven't had any problems with my computer reading it. That might be the issue. Does the camera display the pictures ok? Also if the camera recorded in "RAW" format the PC won't read it without camera specific software. RAW is used for uncompressed, high resolution pictures. I shoot in RAW format qhite often, because I do a small amount professional photography -- one of the reasons I chose this camera (Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30).

It sounds like the emachine stomped on the smart card FAT. Could have been a software issue, low voltage from the power supply, dirty contacts on the card or reader, the reader may have still been accessing when the card was removed. It mostly smoked my high-res TIFF shots, with their duplicate JPEG previews. I was wondering if the fact that my inlaws don't have any software that can even view TIFFs was part of the issue...

Things to consider:
-Did you use the safe removal function? ALWAYS!
-Was the card brought in from the cold outdoors and read immediately? If so they can get water condensation on the inside which reeks havoc. Any electronics brought in from the cold should be allowed to temeprature stabilize for 2-4 hours before use. Now that you mention it, that may have been an issue... I had just come in from taking photos on a frosty morning.
-Did you ask the in-laws if the card reader had ever been successfully used? They're computer noobies... they didn't even know it had a card reader.

Thanks for all your input. You gave me some good info to keep in consideration for the future.:)
 
I'd upload from the camera or use your computer at home that has the right software from now on. Any computer not setup to read non-standard memory cards might end up trashing the files. And I'd only format the memory card in the camera. The high speed ones for cannon use a special formatting.

PS Excellent photo's I can see why you were so upset. I love the railroad track.
 
Amazing photos indeed, glad they were recovered. Nice to see you Joy ;)
 
Thanks for the support and compliments. As usual, you guys are awsome! :cool:
 

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