Need to format SD Card, cant lose photos

jsmorris

Senior Member
Hey everyone,
So i shot a wedding the other day and went to upload my sd card to hard drive and it said it wasnt recognizable. This has never happened to me and Im a little freaked out because its for a client and wedding pics cant be reshot. When I put the card back into my camera it just says For which I know means format. Im pretty sure if I format the card I will lose all of the wedding shots. What can I do to get these photos!?!?!
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Well first and foremost, you are correct: if you format the card either on your computer or in your camera the files will be erased and, for all intents and purposes gone forever; so let's not do that.

I would suggest you try using a different card reader, a different computer or both and see where that gets you. This sounds like a communication error between card and computer.

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jsmorris

Senior Member
Ok, yea this has never happened and other sd cards with my card reader and showing up on my computer with no problems so maybe thats why I am a little confused. It says the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer. The options are Initialize, Ignore, or Eject. Not sure what this means..Ive never seen it.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Ok, yea this has never happened and other sd cards with my card reader and showing up on my computer with no problems so maybe thats why I am a little confused. It says the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer. The options are Initialize, Ignore, or Eject. Not sure what this means..Ive never seen it.
It means, essentially, the computer can't read the card. I don't know why and we could speculate all the live long day about possible reasons but the long and short of it is, the computer can't read the SD card. So, again... I would try using a different SD card reader on that computer, or try reading the card on another computer altogether to see if you can retrieve the files.

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jsmorris

Senior Member
Ive tried on a different computer with similar results. Im gonna run up to my local print shop and see if I can upload it using one of their computers. I have not tried with a different card reader so maybe that will be the answer.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Ive tried on a different computer with similar results. Im gonna run up to my local print shop and see if I can upload it using one of their computers. I have not tried with a different card reader so maybe that will be the answer.
Not that anything can be done about it now, but... How full is the card?

If you maxed it out that could be part of the issue. I don't fill an SD card past about 80% of its total capacity.

Good luck!

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jsmorris

Senior Member
It was only about 50% full. Hoping I can resolve this at the print shop. This is why I dont shoot weddings, too much stress :).
 

Pretzel

Senior Member
There are also places that offer "file recovery" services, but it can be a pricey option. Just DON'T format it! ;)

I know our local shop has invested in several of the software packages used to recover files, and they charge about $45 per card (prepaid, no guarantee), burning all recovered files to a CD/DVD.

GOOD LUCK!!!
 

AC016

Senior Member
When you format your SD card, not all is lost. Formatting a card is kind of like rebuilding the file system on the card, to give it better performance. It's like a re-set. You may be "deleting" your photos in the process, but the format process is just telling your computer/camera that the card is "new" and ready to be overwritten. Just like deleting something from your computer, it is not really "deleted". The OS is just saying that that particular spot on your hard drive is ready to be over written.

What you can do, is take another SD card, format it in your camera, take photos, format it again and then use a data recovery software to see if you can recover your photos. There are plenty of software programs out there, just google it. You can then try the same with your SD card that is not able to be read (most likely because the file system is corrupt).

If you are to nervous to do this, you best bet is to send it to a data recovery company.

I am sure this will be said, but you really need to invest in a camera that has dual slots. Also, ALWAYS format your SD cards in your camera. ALWAYS!

Good luck to you
 

Blacktop

Senior Member
Just to clarify. While you were shooting the wedding, you did see the pics write on to the SD card.
Now you can't even see them on the card when it's inserted in the camera?
The camera recognize that it has a card inserted but it only asking you to format it?

Can you tell if the SD card has any of it's contacts missing or maybe dirty or out of allignment?
 

Pretzel

Senior Member
I am sure this will be said, but you really need to invest in a camera that has dual slots. Also, ALWAYS format your SD cards in your camera. ALWAYS!

He's posting in the D7000 forum, so I'm assuming he already has a camera with dual slots. It's a FANTASTIC thing, though, when shooting important pics, to set your camera to duplicate those pics on BOTH cards. That way if one has a problem, you already have backups.

Hindsight... but maybe it will help next time?
 

AC016

Senior Member
He's posting in the D7000 forum, so I'm assuming he already has a camera with dual slots. It's a FANTASTIC thing, though, when shooting important pics, to set your camera to duplicate those pics on BOTH cards. That way if one has a problem, you already have backups.

Hindsight... but maybe it will help next time?

As long as he is formatting BOTH cards in camera ;) Sorry, missed the fact he was posting in D7000 section, need new glasses, lol.
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
If you're using Windows, and the computer sees the card... then you might try dropping to a DOS prompt and running CHKDSK on the card...

If you've been using a computer less than 30 years, you won't understand what I just wrote and should ignore it. :)
 

jsmorris

Senior Member
Thanks thinking about just doing the file recovery program. $45 is a lot better than a full refund for the wedding and telling the clients I dont have the photos.
 

PaulPosition

Senior Member
Many SD and CF card manufacturers distribute recovery software on their website. Sometimes free to take, sometimes you need a coupon-code that was included with the card...

They're not as throughout as what data forensics like FBI would use, but they can sometime save your bacon. Worth investigating, I'd say.
 

jazzjunkie

Senior Member
this has happened to my bloke once, couldn't read his card on my laptop, but it worked fine on his mac at home, so all may not be lost. Good luck though, I'd rather lose my camera than a card with pics on
 

480sparky

Senior Member
...... if you format the card either on your computer or in your camera the files will be erased and, for all intents and purposes gone forever;.........

Totally incorrect. Computers do NOT erase anything. All they do is reallocate the memory space the images reside in so they can re-used. Once you start taking more images, the new files over-write the old ones. THAT is the only way to totally delete a file.

Try putting the card in the camera, and plugging the camera into the computer. That usually solves this type of problem.
 

WayneF

Senior Member
If the camera can use the card, the card cannot be in very bad shape. Heroics seem not the best first choice. :)

More likely it is just a interface problem with the card reader. It happens. Try unplugging and reseating the card. Or try a different card reader. Or a different computer (and transfer it later).
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Totally incorrect. Computers do NOT erase anything. All they do is reallocate the memory space the images reside in so they can re-used. Once you start taking more images, the new files over-write the old ones. THAT is the only way to totally delete a file.
Jeez... Relax. I know the files are not ACTUALLY erased from the medium, it's a freaking figure of speech.

Gauging from the OP, I saw no point in going into what I considered unnecessary technical detail about Master File Table space allocations, but I'm certainly qualified to do so if you'd like. For the typical end-user, clearing the pointers in the MFT "erases" the file.

In fact, since we're splitting hairs, your response is technically incorrect: The memory space is not actually reallocated, is it? No, it's not; the reference pointers for previously used memory locations, are zero'ed, indicating the space is free for future writing operations.

Cheers.

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