aaaaaaaaahhhh file corrupted!!!

[rgy1993]

Hi guys..

was shooting this event not long ago, put my card in the computer to process the photos the other day and bang... my computer says its corrupted and unreadable

anyone know if there is any way to save at least some data from this?? the files are kinda important..

i figure there must be some program out there to recover files or something... if anyone knows any that would greatly help..

oh and for reference i was shooting using a 20D and Sandisk extreme III CF card...

help appreciated loads! thanks

[jaRv1s]

google for recuva and PCI recovery... both free..

[rgy1993]

noted.. thanks mate...

this is the first time this has happened to me... so frightening haha

[Octarine]

What exactly is corrupted? The file system on the card or the file itself? The file system can be recovered, provided it is not completely screwed up. There are several tools available, but with a bit of knowledge even normal tools provided in Linux or Windows can help. Once the jpg file is corrupted say 'farewell'.

[FrancisGabriel]

I have recently taken some shot with my camera. Taken the SD card out and viewed the pictures in the computer before. however last nite after I remove the card and view the picture, the LCD screen on the camera shows a question mark with the words "Cannot playback file" (or someting like that)...

I remove the SD card again and plug it into my computer, all the pictures are there.

What's wrong?

[LifeInMacro]

If the card is from Sandisk, you can either try to find the CD (they used to provide that) or try to download the Sandisk file recovery tool.

Memory cards are not full proof. There's a risk of corruption. Nothing much anyone can do about it. There's a few things I do:
1. Instead of buying one large capacity card, I normally buy a few smaller ones.
2. Do not use each card to full capacity. Leave 10-20% blank space and switch to another card
3. Format the card once in a while in your camera to initialise the space. Sometimes PC/MAC leaves some hidden temporary files there - no harm but who knows for sure.

[Octarine]

Originally Posted by FrancisGabriel I have recently taken some shot with my camera. Taken the SD card out and viewed the pictures in the computer before. however last nite after I remove the card and view the picture, the LCD screen on the camera shows a question mark with the words "Cannot playback file" (or someting like that)... I remove the SD card again and plug it into my computer, all the pictures are there.

Honestly, we can only guess and it won't help much. Backup all your pictures, format the card using the camera and get a USB card reader. I suspect that certain card reader in computers / laptops access the cards differently from a USB reader, which can results in such problems. Best solution here: get a recent USB card reader.

[Octarine]

Originally Posted by LifeInMacro 3. Format the card once in a while in your camera to initialise the space. Sometimes PC/MAC leaves some hidden temporary files there - no harm but who knows for sure.

Cameras only perform a "Quick Format" - deleting the FAT and that's it. No check in the file system are performed during a "Quick Format". It's even more dangerous as problems in the file systems will be kept hidden and can cause issues later. FAT is not a very reliable file system.
One can use the USB card readers and do a format via PC/MAC operating system. Main thing to notice is the file system type. Cards up to 2Gb can be formated with FAT16, cards of 4GB and higher need FAT32. (FAT32 for smaller cards is also possible, no issues here.) This will cause a recreation of the entire file system including the checks of the allocation units. Any errors at the media will be recovered by the card by using the spare sectors, existing errors in the FAT file system will just be deleted.

[FrancisGabriel]

Originally Posted by Octarine Honestly, we can only guess and it won't help much. Backup all your pictures, format the card using the camera and get a USB card reader. I suspect that certain card reader in computers / laptops access the cards differently from a USB reader, which can results in such problems. Best solution here: get a recent USB card reader.

ok.. thanks.

looks like i better quickly backup the pictures to my external hard disc / DVD tonite and then reformat the card (8GB) using the FAT32.

but so strange... yesterday still ok, it was suddenly from last nite that this thing happen...

[kkleong]

Originally Posted by rgy1993 Hi guys.. was shooting this event not long ago, put my card in the computer to process the photos the other day and bang... my computer says its corrupted and unreadable anyone know if there is any way to save at least some data from this?? the files are kinda important.. i figure there must be some program out there to recover files or something... if anyone knows any that would greatly help.. oh and for reference i was shooting using a 20D and Sandisk extreme III CF card... help appreciated loads! thanks

Use Photorec
It worked for them. Thread here:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=515012

[issac]

i encountered this exp when i was at taz and my little sis tried to transfer the images out of my CF card while i was too tired sleeping away....

when i woke up she told me all the images in the CF card are gone as the laptop prompt to initialize the CF card -_-" i really don't know why it happen thought...

lucky for me i bring a few spare cards with me most the time.. i just continue to use the other cards for the rest of the journey... when i got back i did some trial and error to recover the pics... lucky for me the recover software works

[Nikonnew]

I encountered the same problem last year, and imagine it was the photos of my baby's first 3 days on earth!!!! At that time, recovery softwares was still not avaiilable with card purchase and I had to buy a software off the internet and managed to recover about 90% of the files. It should be noted that this happened when I tried to transfer files using a card reader.

I have the same feeling as Octarine with respect to reading format of the cards. If you realise, we need to format the cards in the camera or else we might not be able to write or read from it, so my suspicion is that each camera brand format the cards differently.

I also agree with the advise on not using the card to its full capacity.

From that incident onwards, I never transfer my files using card readers , i always do it direct from camera to pc, never had a problem since.

[rgy1993]

Originally Posted by kkleong Use Photorec It worked for them. Thread here: http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=515012

aah jeez thanks mate!! it worked wooo
thats a load off my chest haha
didnt recover the whole thing but still enough photos to submit...

thanks so much aye!!

[kkleong]

Originally Posted by rgy1993 aah jeez thanks mate!! it worked wooo thats a load off my chest haha didnt recover the whole thing but still enough photos to submit... thanks so much aye!!

No problem Glad it worked for you
Remember to reformat using your cam before using the card for shoot.