Home› Tablets and e-Readers
Click here to check out Digital Spy's Tech section for the latest news, updates, reviews and cheap deals.
Options

Dead SDHC card?

raymartin01raymartin01 Posts: 1,898
Forum Member
✭✭✭
in Tablets and e-Readers #1
I was checking out a vid I had recorded on my camera yesterday when the battery failed. I replaced the battery with a fresh one, but got an error message saying the memory card was unusable! I tried taking the card out and replacing it carefully but no joy. When I put it in my card reader it says there is no card in the drive. Have I lost the photos on the card, or does anybody know a way to retrieve them?

Comments

  • Options
    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 6
    Forum Member
    #2
    Had the same trouble a couple of weeks ago with a Lexar SDHC card, tried it in 2 cameras and both said unuseable. Card reader and desktop wouldn't read it but the card reader in the laptop would. I transfered the photos and then returned the card to Argos and exchanged it for a Sandisk. I would try more than one card reader/computer before you give up on it.
  • Options
    flynnflynn Posts: 903
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    #3
    Yep, definitely try as many card readers and/or computers as you can get your hands on. I see quite a lot of corrupted media cards in my job and it's pretty unusual to have one that's so completely hosed you can't get anything off it.

    If you find something that will read the card, but can't see your images and videos, there's plenty of software out there that will do a pretty good job of trying to recover them. Recently I've been using Photorecovery which works very well (it will scan the card and tell you what can be recovered, if you want to do the recovery you pay for the software). In the past I've also used Photorescue - that might be useful if you can't see the card on any reader/pc, as it has a mode where it tries to access the card at a lower level than Windows does. Same deal as Photorecovery, to get your data back you have to buy the software.

    There is also a free image recovery program I've had for years called Digital Image Recovery, but as you can imagine searching for that term on Google hasn't turned up anything useful - it's got a link to http://www.foto-erhardt.de, but my German isn't up to much.

    Depending how important the stuff on the card is, there are also companies out there that can recover data from almost any scenario, however this obviously costs...
  • Options
    raymartin01raymartin01 Posts: 1,898
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    #4
    I've tried it in two cameras and two card readers now, and they all say there's no card in the slot, so I suspect it's goosed. Looking closely at it I suspect it may not be a pukka SanDisk card - the label seems a bit blurry to me and I did buy it very cheaply on eBay.
  • Options
    battlezonebattlezone Posts: 1,838
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    #5
    I have a programme called 'Image Recall'. It can search memory cards for lost pictures, files etc. even when windows can't see them. It's very good.
  • Options
    raymartin01raymartin01 Posts: 1,898
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    #6
    battlezone wrote: »
    I have a programme called 'Image Recall'. It can search memory cards for lost pictures, files etc. even when windows can't see them. It's very good.

    Unfortunately, that program has been replaced with Don't Panic and, to quote from the manual:
    **Readable State = The card is accessible through ‘My Computer’ in Windows. If your PC hangs when you try and
    access the drive or if your presented with ‘Please Insert a disk in drive’ then the card is not readable and Don’t Panic
    will not be able to recover the data.
  • Options
    sbuggsbugg Posts: 3,203
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    #7
    You wont be able to recover the files unless you can read the card.

    Unfortunately there are many fake cards knocking about on EBay especially the Hong Kong sellers, I've been done twice :o

    What they do is flash the card to report a bigger size and at the first sign of any problems or you try to reformat it it dies.

    Unfortunately EBay doesn't care about people selling fakes via their website.
Sign In or Register to comment.