Camera memory card corrupted, fixable?

10 years ago

Today I'm just going through my camera memory card using my card reader and Windows Media Gallery and all of a sudden it freezes up. After a while, I close out the program. When I go back to try finishing up my photo deleting and editing, I get a screen telling me the drive cannot be read, needs to be "reformatted." I ejected the card reader and tried the memory card in my camera, same problem, needs "formatting." So somehow this card has become corrupted. I backed up a lot of what was on there but I would like the photos I was working on. Quite a few and I kinda need them. Any way I can recover these photos? I had only used about 1G of 4.

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Comments (5)

zep516
10 years ago
You maybe able to use recuva to get the photos.

http://recuva.en.softonic.com/download
User
10 years ago
There are lots of Free, Trail and Pay Programs out there that say they can get you files back for you. I've never had a problem like that so I've never tried one. I just Googled "SD Card says need to be formatted, any way to save my pictures"!
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Most likely, the format of the card has been corrupted. The images may or may not be recoverable. If you are lucky, extremely lucky, the only problem may that the last file written to the card is open (not properly closed) and the 'end of file' marker is missing. Depending on what the person at the resort photo desk did, the card may be unaltered, or permanently messed up. Your best bet is to take the card out of the camera and insert into a card reader connected to your computer. If you can view some of the files, copy these to your hard drive or CD. [That's 'copy', not 'move'] Do not perform any operation that writes to the card including delete. This could compromise the format. Many camera makers use a properitery format not understood by conventional PC equipment. To insure the card does not get written to, set its slide switch to 'lock' or whatever verbage they use. With the switch moved to lock, the card can not be written to, only viewed or copied. Be sure to move the switch back before inserting into the camera. After you have copied as many images as you can, clean up the card by formating in the camera. Make several shots and view these in the camera. Erase these shots and repeat. If the card performs well, it is probably ok. However, if it is the least bit flaky or you are not secure with it, discard it and go with a new card. Memory cards have come down in price. Things that can corrupt a card: 1. Pull it out of the camera when it is busy. 2. Pull it out of the camera with the camera 'on'. Many cameras likely provide a safety feature and keep the card closed until needed, but we can not be sure how the operating system si written. To be safe, never insert or pull a memory card when the camera is on. 3. Do not touch the card contacts. Static charges can harm. Also, a fingerprint on a contact may interfere with it making an electrical circuit. 4. Never allow a 'write' operation to the card while in other equipment. Writing to the card may comprimize its format. You might get by with a 'delete', but we can not be sure about this. 5. Old card. These cards do go bad with age. Many of these cards have an internal "keep alive" battery, usually a lithium cell good for maybe 10 years. A tiny amount of charge is required for the memory junctions to retain their state. When the battery dies, the card does too. When you buy a card, look for its date of manufacture or warranty expiration date to get a clue of how old the card is.
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chas045
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
I had a similar issue and was able to recover my pics. I tried three programs. I first checked one from SanDisk. It showed that it could recover some of my files but it was going to cost ~$32 to keep any, and I passed on that deal. I tried Recuva and another program (edit: it is called RescuePro). One worked and one failed with my card. I don't recall which one worked. I still have both on my then win 8.1 netbook computer, but I saved these recovered pics on an old Win xp computer.
l pinkmountain
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Yes, I can google it, but I posted here wondering if anyone had this happen to them and what their first hand experience was. It is a "PNY Optima S-something-or-other, HC 80x 60+ HD" card. I can't read the other figure next to the "S" it is worn off. I guess it is sort of lucky that this past weekend I downloaded about 2/3 of the photos onto my laptop because I wanted to do a little videoing. It's hard to believe it just went ptoooey like that. I wasn't doing anything unusual with it. I guess I need to come up with a good and reliable and easy way to save my photos. Even having them on my laptop is risky. I just lost my backup memory stick with all the stuff from my old broken laptop on it and if I don't find that, I am out a lot of memories too! Also I need the photos. Can I live without them, yes, but I was going to use them to illustrate a project for work. Also some rather priceless family stuff on there, although I also have a few copies saved of some of that stuff.

Not sure how to go with the backup memory, lots of options with lots of pros and cons. A "cloud" solution would suit my lifestyle right now, but I'd really like a combo of methods. Don't really have room for an external hard drive and am going to be moving a lot in the future so don't want just one more thing to pack . . . Anyway this is moot until I recover what I lost . . .

Post script: The "Recuva" didn't work. I still got the formatting message/window. Can't read drive, needs to be formatted. Oh bother!

Post, post script: "RescuePro" in the "Evaluation" mode could read the photos, but the process for buying it online was too cumbersome. It wouldn't accept my laptop serial number. So I guess I am off to try the local computer repair shoppe.
User
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
No form of Backing up your Photos is 100% reliable. First you have Floppies (IMO junk). Next you have Tape Drives (obsolete), well, enough said there! Next there are Zip and Jaz Drives (Obsolete), a little more reliable then a Tape Drive. DVD's, IMO a much better option then anything out there today, but DVD's do have their problems (they can Warp, Get Scratched, etc...). Flash Drives and Flash Cards (CF, SD, Mini SD, Micro SD, etc...) (for Cameras) tend to become corrupted (like the situation you're having).

I have my photos backed up on a Laptop Hard Drive that isn't plugged in. I only plug it in externally (USB) when I want to add photos to the Drive. This should help with the life of the drive not having power to it all the time. A External Hard Drive would be the same thing as what I'm using but I had a few spare Laptop Hard Drives Lying around! I use the laptop hard drive with a Rosewill SATA / IDE 3-in-1 (5.25", 3.5", 2.5") to USB Cable Converter Adapter to hook up the hard drive! I also do have them backed up onto DVD's.

Sorry, I just don't trust THE CLOUD for important things, and my Photos are important to me like yours are to you!

Camera memory card corrupted, fixable?

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zep516

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Camera memory card corrupted, fixable?

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zep516

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chas045

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l pinkmountain
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