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  • SD cards got erased...

    I have two camera cards (SD, one is 2GB and one is 8GB) that are mysteriously blank. The last time I used them, there were photos on--the 2GB one was actually full.

    The last thing that could have happened to them is that they did go through an airport scanner (in a camera case), and then were mailed...not sure which one of those instances--if any--could have done the damage. Physically both cards are perfect.

    These are the actions I've taken on the cards (in order):
    Plug into external reader to copy pictures (reader says both cards are empty)
    Run ZAR on both cards, says 2GB one is fully corrupted (if the card was corrupted wouldn't the reader have been unable to see it at all?)
    Run Windows Card Recovery on the 8GB, which just says it's empty

    70% of the photos on are either backed up somewhere or can be retaken, but it's the rest that I really want back. The other option at my disposal is the trial version of FTK Imager, which would take a bit of fiddling and additional setup. So, do I have any chance of finding anything on the cards or did something fry them?
    "I am quite confident that I do exist."
    "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

  • #2
    Flash memory can die after a time, especially lower quality media

    However I've had good luck using RescuePro recovery software that's distributed by Sandisk, you get a free year code with any "Extreme" series card or above, often cheaper than getting the software from the developer directly, but try the trial version first to see if it's worth it (tells you what it can access, but will only get the first 50 files it comes across)

    A high quality card reader helps too.

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    • #3
      Many things can cause sd cards to appear unreadable. It is unlikely they both failed at the same time.
      You didn't mention if the recording device (camera?) can read the data on them. The first step I take is trying to read the card in the recording device, or the device that was used to format the card.


      For photo recovery, I recommend Photorec. It's an open source file recovery tool. Can find it at cgsecurity.org

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      • #4
        I have a friend who accidentally formatted an SD card (in the camera I loaned him) with pics of him proposing to his now-wife. He was able to send the card to a recovery service and get at least some of the images off it. I don't know if he was able to get them all, though. And I don't imagine it was overly cheap--but it was, umm, at least a few years ago.
        “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
        One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
        The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

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        • #5
          My camera says both cards are empty. My computer can see them as blank storage--and inexplicably wants to use it as a backup drive (Win7 on an SD card, that would be a neat trick). I have other, older cards with pics on them and those are all fine. Unlikely that two cards from different vendors would decide to fail at pretty much the same time.

          I'd forgotten about Photorec... Here's the tally (or lack thereof):

          Photorec: Nothing
          RescuePro: Nothing
          ZAR: Found a filesystem but nothing else on the 8GB, nothing on the 2GB (did report all bad sectors)

          I'm now trying to figure out exactly what happened...like I said, the only common happenings were sent through an airport scanner, and then mailed (I never thought to check them after the bag scan).

          EDIT AGAIN: After a lot of fiddling and multiple chat consults with my Forensics prof, FTK found stuff on the 2GB Most of what I was really wanting to not lose was recovered fully; while the 2GB has no bad sectors per se some pics were pretty fragmented so I ditched those/moved them to a flash drive to use for steganography practice. Everything's been copied off of that card, and I'm wondering whether I should even keep using it.
          Last edited by Dreamstalker; 07-12-2016, 05:56 PM.
          "I am quite confident that I do exist."
          "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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          • #6
            A card which has failed once is likely to fail again, just as nastily. Get a new one - they're cheap.

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            • #7
              Picked up two on Prime Day; should have gotten a few more for the price, but oh well. Not like I'm going to fill a combined 128GB anytime soon.

              The two bad cards are now in my junk box awaiting a use (jewelry, prop, etc)
              "I am quite confident that I do exist."
              "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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              • #8
                Do yourself a favour. Indelibly mark the bad ones so that you know they're NOT to be used for data storage.
                Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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                • #9
                  Quoth Dreamstalker View Post
                  Not like I'm going to fill a combined 128GB anytime soon.
                  64k should be enough for anyone!

                  Anyway, I could disagree, but it depends entirely on how much you use them. Case in point: one of my regulars is a photographer. In a typical shoot, he could potentially fill that 128 GB. (What he actually does is use several 8 GB cards, so if one goes bad, he doesn't lose everything. But he also dumps everything onto his computer as soon as possible. Also, his cameras take the larger, older CompactFlash cards, not SD cards.)
                  Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you speak with the Fraud department. -- CrazedClerkthe2nd
                  OW! Rolled my eyes too hard, saw my brain. -- Seanette
                  she seems to top me in crazy, and I'm enough crazy for my family. -- Cooper
                  Yes, I am evil. What's your point? -- Jester

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                  • #10
                    I use on of these

                    https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Wire...=1&*entries*=0

                    Well two of them. Get done with one SSD card, pop it in to auto copy. Once I am done with the second SD card, swap it for the first, then put the first one in the second backup unit.

                    Once I am done with the third SD card I do the same thing with it, then reuse the first SD card.

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Deserted View Post
                      64k should be enough for anyone!

                      Anyway, I could disagree, but it depends entirely on how much you use them.
                      My camera is just a Canon point-and-shoot; we're trying to find a (relatively) cheap Nikon DSLR that will fit mom's old lenses (when our condo was broken into 20 years ago, the thieves took the camera, but missed the batteries and lenses in the same closet). I don't take a lot of video with it; that's mostly done on my phone. Suppose I could transfer all my phone videos to one of the cards for storage.
                      "I am quite confident that I do exist."
                      "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth Dreamstalker View Post
                        we're trying to find a (relatively) cheap Nikon DSLR that will fit mom's old lenses
                        Some newer Nikon DSLRs won't play nice with Nikon's old lenses. If you'll post the model #s I can see if they'll work on the cheaper ones or if you'd need to buy a more expensive body.

                        Alternatively, you might be able to get an older Nikon from KEH.com, they're good for used equipment.

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                        • #13
                          My husband's D3200 plays nicely with lenses he's been using on his F2 for forty years or more.
                          "Crazy may always be open for business, but on the full moon, it has buy one get one free specials." - WishfulSpirit

                          "Sometimes customers remind me of zombies, but I'm pretty sure that zombies are smarter." - MelindaJoy77

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                          • #14
                            Old lenses on new Nikon cameras…

                            Quoth Dreamstalker View Post
                            My camera is just a Canon point-and-shoot; we're trying to find a (relatively) cheap Nikon DSLR that will fit mom's old lenses (when our condo was broken into 20 years ago, the thieves took the camera, but missed the batteries and lenses in the same closet). I don't take a lot of video with it; that's mostly done on my phone. Suppose I could transfer all my phone videos to one of the cards for storage.
                            Quoth TheSHAD0W View Post
                            Some newer Nikon DSLRs won't play nice with Nikon's old lenses. If you'll post the model #s I can see if they'll work on the cheaper ones or if you'd need to buy a more expensive body.

                            Alternatively, you might be able to get an older Nikon from KEH.com, they're good for used equipment.
                            As my wife reports, I have a D3200, which was Nikon's bottom-of-the-line DSLR a few years ago, until it was superseded by the D3300; and I have some very old lenses for my 1972 F2 Photomic, that I now frequently use on my D3200.

                            Nikon claims that non-AI lenses cannot be used on any DSLR except for their DF model, which was specifically designed to work with them. These are lenses made before about 1977 or 1978, when Nikon changed the manner by which the aperture setting on the lens was mechanically-coupled to the camera.

                            Anyway, my D3200, my three old non-AI lenses, and I very much disagree with Nikon on this point. As it happens, my non-AI lenses work just fine on my D3200, albeit with some obvious and expected limitations, exactly the same as any non-CPU lens (that is, any lens that does not communicate electronically with the camera).

                            There is a potential serious issue with using non-AI lenses on higher DSLR models,and even on some newer film SLRs. The newer AI coupling method, adopted in 1977 or 1978, l involves a tab on the camera, that engages a notch cut in the aperture ring on the lens. Non-AI lenses do not have this notch on the aperture ring, and can potentially damage this tab on the camera, if you try to mount a non-AI lens on an AI camera.

                            The D3x00 and D5x00 models do not have a mechanical AI tab, so there is no problem mounting non-AI lenses on them. I believe that all of the other current and recent Nikon DSLR models do have this tab, which allows them to work more fully with non-electronic AI lenses, but which makes them vulnerable to damage if you try to mount a non-AI lens. I believe that the DF, like many of the “transitional” film models of the late 1970s and 1980s, has an AI tab that can be folded out of the way, to allow a non-AI lens to be safely mounted.


                            To know which modern DSLR to get, you need to determine whether the lenses that you have are AI or non-AI.

                            Assuming that we are talking about genuine Nikon lenses, and that any after-the-fact AI conversions were done using the official Nikon parts and methods (which have not been available, now, for decades), then it's fairly easy to tell.

                            The first picture below is of a non-AI lens mounted on my ancient F2. Note the tab or show on the lens, which engages a pin on the camera. That's how the aperture setting on the lens was communicated to the camera, before the change to the different AI method.



                            Most AI lenses still have this tab, to allow them to be used on older non-AI cameras, but using official Nikon parts the tabs on the non-AI lenses are solid, while the tabs on AI lenses have holes cut out to either side of the slot. AI lenses also have a second set of aperture numbers, on the farthest-back edge of the aperture ring. At the same time Nikon implemented the AI linkage, they also implemented a method by which that second set of aperture numbers was displayed in the viewfinder.

                            The second picture, below, shows an AI-lens, albeit not a genuine Nikon lens. Note the “skeletal” aperture-coupling tab (as opposed to the more solid one on the non-AI lens), and the second row of aperture numbers.




                            If the lenses that you have are non-AI lenses, then you want to stick with the D3x00 or D5x00 models, unless it's in your budget to go up to the DF model. Any other DSLRs, as I said, are vulnerable to being damaged by trying to mount a non-AI lens.

                            If you only have AI lenses, then you can use them with any DSLR model. They will be more fully compatible with models other than the D3x00 and D5x00 models, because they will be able to interface the lens' aperture ring to the camera's metering system. On the D3x00 and D5x00 models, any lenses that are not fully electronic, can only be used in fully-manual mode, and you're completely on your own as far as setting the exposure settings.


                            Quoth Seanette View Post
                            My husband's D3200 plays nicely with lenses he's been using on his F2 for forty years or more.
                            I haven't had it that long. It was manufactured in late 1972, which now makes it nearly 44 years old. I bought it, in very-much-used condition, along with the three lenses, in late 1986, so I've had it for nearly thirty years, as of this writing.
                            I am not a number; I am a free man!

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