Recover camera photos after SD card crash?

[JACK KREDO]

Hello, I have encountered an unpleasant event. My 64gb sd stick from my camera has failed and all my photos are gone. The card is no longer readable on the camera. When I connect the card to the PC it shows up as empty and asks for formatting.

After a bit of googling, I realised that you need special software to recover photos. I even tried a few, but did not achieve the desired result ......


Does anyone know how to help me?

[handrawn]

much depends on why the SD failed

if it is just the index files affected and the flle structure is intact it could be read by some recovery software, but there is no guarantee

I do not have any recommendations regarding recovery software, maybe someone else has

you can be sure there will be those asking themselves 'what happened to your backup?'

[JACK KREDO]

The card just stopped responding.
Yeah, if I had a backup...

[handrawn]

check the camera then - make sure the socket has not been damaged

but that does not address the faulty SD, no way of knowing then what happened to it; if the computer says it is empty and needs formatting then the index files are faulty/missing - in theory reformatting [the same format as before] only replaces these and will not erase the actual data, but it will remain unreadable

if it were me, and I really needed this data, i would be taking it into a computer shop for an expert to look at; still no guarantee, but the device needs to be examined physically

the more you mess with it the more likely you are to lose whatever may still be there

[Chris M]

I've had to recover a lot of files over the years, not all are successful. As with all software, you tend to gravitate to the familiar, and this is true of tools.

I find that if my top 2 fail, they're all going to fail. With that in mind, I start with Stellar (formally Stellar Phoenix). Failing a result, I go for EaseUS. Now, EaseUS has gone through some changes in the last few years, and I backed away for a while, moving to MiniTool. However, they seem to be more stable again. EaseUS uses a different read method to Stellar, which is why I use both. EaseUS is more user-friendly, but Stellar has the reputation and track record. Both have a limited free trial.

Stellar >>> Data Recovery Software Free Download – Stellar Data Recovery (stellarinfo.com) <<< Scroll down slightly for the specific photo recovery. I personally think it's the same as standard recovery with a sprinkle of marketing. The bottom of the page has testimonials from a selection of ethnic groups and a bearded tech type with a man-bun to prove their product is good.

EaseUS - >>> EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional | Reliable Data Recovery Tool <<< Be aware that EaseUS uses the god awful SAAS payment. It's also ridiculously high because they know everyone is going to cancel as soon as the job is done. Marketing dept, is hoping you'll forget to cancel, and they can squeeze another payment out of you before you rage at them for a refund. They also have a photo/video specific tool called Fixo...it works as badly as its name, don't be tempted.

[handrawn]

good to know chris

I remember EaseUS free disk imaging, way back when....

a piece of string, but how long might it take to do this

disk forensics, I know, can take forever...

[Chris M]

good to know chris

I remember EaseUS free disk imaging, way back when....

a piece of string, but how long might it take to do this

disk forensics, I know, can take forever...

64GB running through a card reader/USB2 adaptor? 2 to 3 hours, maybe.

I run recovery's (data or Windows system) on a dedicated machine while I wander off to do other stuff, so I don't really time them. It also depends on how many data blocks need to be read multiple times...in other words, the more blocks that are damaged, the more passes the software needs to do to rebuild the individual blocks.

[Chris M]

I should add that if I was doing the job, I would run both, and if still failing, I would format the card as Windows wants to, and then do a re-run.

[handrawn]

thanks, I have no practical experience of doing this, assembling a PC is my limit

how discontiguous [fragmented] the blocks are is going to be a factor ?

both in terms of how long it takes and how much can actually be recovered ?

[Chris M]

thanks, I have no practical experience of doing this, assembling a PC is my limit

how discontiguous [fragmented] the blocks are is going to be a factor ?

both in terms of how long it takes and how much can actually be recovered ?

You're beginning to head into the why's and wherefores beyond my comfort zone. Basically, the software looks at corrupted or missing data blocks and compares it to nearby blocks. It then attempts to reconstruct said blocks. Then it looks for fragmented data. So, yes, the more damage, the longer it takes.

In theory, the more data there is to compare, the better the chances of recover. So an SD card full of photos in the same format is (in a perverse way) a good thing.