I recently lost 1500 photographs. Does anyone know how I can recover them?

[NYdemocrat089]

The other night I was using my camera to view various pictures I have taken. I have a 2GB SD card. I was viewing how much space was taken up on the card (1.8GB or approximately 1500 pictures) when I somehow formatted the card. I didn't know at the time that that was what I was doing. So now, I have a black screen on my camera that just says "no images." Is there a way to recover my lost pictures? None of them had been saved to my computer yet. I'll appreciate any help!

[Guava Jelly]

1. You can recover them

Delete isn't really delete it actually just hides the file and lets the camera know it can rewrite on that space.
I'll do a search and see what comes up brb

[pokerfan]

4. That is true for "deletion"

but if the card was reformatted, it's possible that the data was overwritten.

The OP should still take it to someone who has an SD card reader and see if there's anything there.

Good luck to the OP.

[Guava Jelly]

5. good point

Hopefully it wasn't reformatted.

[NYdemocrat089]

7. Where would I find someone with an SD card reader?

Thanks for your help!

[pokerfan]

9. Look for a local computer repair shop

or a camera shop as someone else suggested. The key point is that you want to bypass your camera and its interface and just "see" what's on the card, natively.

Or just buy one. I've seen USB versions for under $10. They are plug & play so a card in the reader will asimply show up as another drive.

I have a Canon with a CF card and I find it easier to upload pictures than to use the retarded software that came with my camera.

[DarkTirade]

15. Yeah, I bought a used camera that didn't have a cable and that's how I transfer files

from it to my computer. Just a little USB card reader. Cheap, simple, and you can put the SD card in there and use it as a portable USB drive when you need to transfer files.

[lizziegrace]

2. I'd take it to a local camera store (not a big box chain)

The staff seem to be more knowledgeable...

Good luck and thanks for reminding me to back up my photos!

[Guava Jelly]

3. here are a few

http://www.recovermyphotos.com/
http://www.p-dd.us/deleted-files-recovery/digitalcamera.asp
http://www.data-recovery-digital-camera.com/
Look around you may find something free to use
Good luck

[NYdemocrat089]

6. Thank you! I'll check those sites.

Have you ever used any them? Are they reliable?

[Guava Jelly]

13. I had a coworker who erased all of his vacation pictures

I found a program I don't remember which one and he recovered them..(Along with pictures of his wife naked) :rofl:

[Robb]

8. I have no advice, only sympathy

I think I was born under a lucky star; I had just, I mean JUST decided to back up four years' worth of photos on an external hard drive I just happened to get dropped in my lap.

I swear, it wasn't 48 hours later the hard drive on my old Mac gave out. I would've lost it all, but for a lucky break.

Good luck. And take my advice for the future, backup, backup, backup. I'm a convert.

[DS1]

10. see here. too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x40319



formatting those things really doesn't clear them, it just flags all the files as overwritable, usually by erasing the first letter of the file name.

[SKKY]

11. You can totally recover them, but it isn't cheap....

...But, cheap is dependent upon the emotional attachment you have to the files. Even if you fully formatted the disk, it can still be recovered using what's called a Force Magnetic Microscope. It's tedious, and expensive. I did it on a 512mb thumb drive that was physically damaged and it cost me $700.00 dollars. Google "File Recovery Service" and see what comes up. If you formatted it multiple times, then its nearly impossible. People who fully format their hard drives need to do so more than 7 times to ensure the data is unreadable. We did an investigation on a guy who did just that, and he was flabbergasted that we could still recover the data. He even reloaded Windows from scratch thinking it would clear him. It didn't, and NCIS recovered about 97% of the original data. There are some programs out there that do a good job, but just understand it may take something more robust to recover the data, and that means more money. Good luck, and please, let us know how it turned out for you, what you did, etc.

[pokerfan]

16. Yeah, but Flash memory is different from a hard drive

I've used programs to wipe a hard drive because it is possible to recover data that has been written and rewritten several times.

But flash memory is completely different. It's not magnetic storage at all, just a static electrical charge floating on the gate of a transistor. I don't see how an MFM can help here.

[Whoa_Nelly]

12. X-post this in the Photography forum

Many knowledgeable people there :hi:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=280

[rubberducky]

14. I would try the camera manufacterer first.

They must have a web site or 800 number.