HELP! my CF CARD CRASH!

[nlghtxx]

i bought a cf 8gb kingston 133x elite pro for a ntu production shoot.
half way through shooting, after around 150 shots, the camera suddenly read CARD NOT FORMATTED! and i can no longer shoot or view the photos in it!

i dont know if the pictures in it are gone a not. i really hope it's not.
HELP! anyone know how i can retrieve my photos!?

[pegasus1010]

does it comes with any cd for recovery?

[aryanto]

go to kingston customer service and ask them to recover for you.
after that just use lexar and sandisk

[felixcat8888]

Did you format the card in the camera before you started to use it? Most basic step must be done first.

[nuthead]

You can no longer access the card using normal access method. However, the data in the card is not totally lost, but chances of partial corruption is high.

You'll need to look for recovery tools that access the card by bypassing the boot sector and by mean access the sector directly.

You can pm me for help if you can find one.

[Andrew Tan]

Basically you can use any recovery software to recover your photos. It may not be 100%. I experienced the same problem with my Scandisk CF Card. Luckily it comes with a recovery disk. In fact, it recover almost everything that has been stored in the card. It also works on different types of cards. You can also download the software from www.download.com. or borrow from someone who has one.

[nlghtxx]

Originally Posted by felixcat8888 Did you format the card in the camera before you started to use it? Most basic step must be done first.

i need to do that? and how?
this is my first time using new cf card, have always been using 2nd hand one.

[nlghtxx]

Originally Posted by Andrew Tan Basically you can use any recovery software to recover your photos. It may not be 100%. I experienced the same problem with my Scandisk CF Card. Luckily it comes with a recovery disk. In fact, it recover almost everything that has been stored in the card. It also works on different types of cards. You can also download the software from www.download.com. or borrow from someone who has one.

sorry which one do i choose?
just search for recovery software and pick any one?

[Ah Pao]

Stop using the card if you still want to recover your images. Do not format or start writing to it at this point of time!

Chances are your pictures are still inside, but somehow the internal structure got messed up.

As others have said, use any photo recovery software to try saving your images. It doesn't really matter which one as long as it gets the job done.

Once the photos have been recovered (after you're sure your images recovered are the ones you want), do a full format using a PC.

After that , put your CF card in your camera, then do a format. PLEASE, read your camera manual. We don't know which camera you're using and different cameras have different ways to access the format function.

In fact, given a choice, I'll stop using the card. It may end up having the same problem again.

[nlghtxx]

thanks everyone for the help! dont think i got the time to go down to kingston to get them fix for me.

gotta edit and submit my work by tomorrow! i am so in deep ****.

[Andrew Tan]

basically you can pick anyone better those that indicate free to download not those free to try. Scandisk RescuePro or Pandora Recovery, etc. If you have problem borrow mine

[kkcharles82]

goto http://www.filehippo.com and download the program called Recuva from piriform software. That is one powerful undelete and file recovery software. I manage to recover files that were previous "securely deleted" using Norton shredder. Interesting.

[nlghtxx]

Originally Posted by Ah Pao Once the photos have been recovered (after you're sure your images recovered are the ones you want), do a full format using a PC. After that , put your CF card in your camera, then do a format. PLEASE, read your camera manual. We don't know which camera you're using and different cameras have different ways to access the format function. In fact, given a choice, I'll stop using the card. It may end up having the same problem again.

how do i use PC to format?
i know about the camera one.
ok i shall go check the manual again.
anyway i am using a d200

[Ah Pao]

(Lol...this is fast becoming a PC lesson.)

WinXP
1. Put your CF card into your card reader.
2. Open My Computer.
3. Right-click on the drive containing your CF card. (Don't choose the wrong drive!)
4. Click on "Format..."
5. Make sure "Quick Format" is NOT checked.
6. Click "Start".

You want OS X instructions too?

[nlghtxx]

Originally Posted by Ah Pao (Lol...this is fast becoming a PC lesson.) WinXP 1. Put your CF card into your card reader. 2. Open My Computer. 3. Right-click on the drive containing your CF card. (Don't choose the wrong drive!) 4. Click on "Format..." 5. Make sure "Quick Format" is NOT checked. 6. Click "Start". You want OS X instructions too?

haha.it is. sorry what if i dont have a card reader?
can i just use the usb cable with my cf card in my camera and format?

[nlghtxx]

sorry guys i face a problem. after downloading sevveral recovery programs, i realise the program seem to be only be able to scan my hard-disks.
it cant scan my cf card which is connected to my cpu via usb cable from my camera.

is it that i need a card reader to use recovery programs?

[Lilacblu]

Did you put your camera in View mode?

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec works for me.

[aryanto]

Buy a good CF card reader and good usb cable (cheapo one is no good).
Best to perform all these straight on the CF card rather than connect from PC thru camera, in case you camera battery runs out before the recovery complete.
Dont bother with recovery program given by kingston. Use RescuePro from Sandisk, that is a lot better.

[nlghtxx]

hi guys thanks for the help. i have used many programs and 3 of them work.
but all the photos they retrieved are all distorted. does it means my photos are gone ? anyone can provide me a solution??

[Octarine]

Originally Posted by nlghtxx i bought a cf 8gb kingston 133x elite pro for a ntu production shoot. half way through shooting, after around 150 shots, the camera suddenly read CARD NOT FORMATTED! and i can no longer shoot or view the photos in it!

That sounds weird and reminds me on reports about fake cards.
Those fakes had a nominated capacity of 2 or 4GB but in reality there was only 1GB inside. The controller was tweaked to report higher capacity. Writing worked always but when the real capacity inside was reached then the controller just continued writing by overwriting the existing data - thus destroying the data. Since the chips were tweaked and mixed with normal ones all big brands got more or less affected. The only chance to detect this is an extensive write / read test over the whole capacity. Once you have recovered your pictures please do a full test.
My suggestion: Use a CF card reader. Prepare 8GB of data (anything goes, mp3, jpg, whatever you have). Get a checksum program (md5sum). Format the card with your computer, then write 8GB of data to it. After this is finished read back the whole amount and store the files in your computer. Use md5sum to compare. Faked cards will cause errors quite early. Md5sum will tell you about any data corruption. Hope that helps.