How can I rescue my school pictures back safely?

Eudora4546 · Mar 2, 2014

Hello! I need to ask you guys some questions here.
My camera is often used to take some pictures of school activities. All the taken pictures are all stored in the inserted 16GB SD card. However, when I uploaded it to our website, the SD card just cannot be accessed. It strangely asks me to format it before using. Its property is also displayed as RAW file system? Do I have to format it right now? Is it possible for me to get back these pictures back after formatting? What can I do next? Please answer me as soon as possible! Thanks!

Nevermore1 · Mar 2, 2014

Once you format the card you loseanything that is on it. If the files are in the RAW format you probably need to upload to a program that can read RAW and convert to another file format. I am sure that someone who can explain better will chime in soon. Just don't format the card yet!

D-B-J · Mar 2, 2014

Don't format it! You'll lose the images. Also, RAW format (typically .NEF) requires specific software to be read (Photoshop, Lightroom, etc.).

Best,
Jake

480sparky · Mar 2, 2014

1. Stop using the card immediately. Don't take another shot as you can overwrite any images that might still be on there.
2. You'll need to use a file recovery program to get the images back. Try free ones first, and if those don't work, you'll need to decide if you want to spend money on paid software.

Formatting the card will NOT cause you to lose your photos. It only makes it a tad bit more difficult.

curtyoungblood · Mar 2, 2014

DO NOT FORMAT THE CARD!!!

doing so will erase all your images forever (more or less).

i suspect that you have a file type problem. You said you're trying to upload the photos to a website and that the photos are raw files. A website isn't going to be able to recognize a raw file. You need to open the photos in a photo editor and convert them to .jpgs.

If you can answer a few questions to help further diagnose the issue, we can probably help more.

what exactly are you trying to do at the moment?
if you put the card into your camera, do the photos show up on the back of the camera?
what camera are you using?

Tinderbox (UK) · Mar 3, 2014

First thing, flip the right protect slider on the card to on, then you cannot damage the data anymore, then just try a few image recovery programs.

Good Luck.

John.

Bernie15615 · Mar 4, 2014

1). Do not keep using this camera card any longer. Any new photos on it can overwrite your original photos.

2). Insert it to your computer via a card Reader or your camera and set out to restore your inaccessible pictures back. What you need for the data recovery is only
some professional data recovery tool like Recuva, iCare Data Recovery Free, 4Card Recovery and more.

Just use the tool to deeply scan your SD card for finding much more original pictures back.

3). Format this card after data recovery to see whether it is fixable.

Note: Always back up all card data timely in the future.

Light Guru · Mar 4, 2014

Nevermore1 said:
Once you format the card you loseanything that is on it

Not true, a simple formatting of a card just gets rid of the index that tells the card what is there and where on the card it is. The files are still there until they are written over by new files.

Others have made good comments about possibly recovering the images.

Steve5D · Mar 4, 2014

Why would this be in the "cell phone camera" section?

480sparky · Mar 4, 2014

curtyoungblood said:
.........doing so will erase all your images forever (more or less)........

Incorrect and utterly false.

There are no erasers inside computers.

Allyluna · Apr 15, 2014

Eudora4546 said:
Hello! I need to ask you guys some questions here.
My camera is often used to take some pictures of school activities. All the taken pictures are all stored in the inserted 16GB SD card. However, when I uploaded it to our website, the SD card just cannot be accessed. It strangely asks me to format it before using. Its property is also displayed as RAW file system? Do I have to format it right now? Is it possible for me to get back these pictures back after formatting? What can I do next? Please answer me as soon as possible! Thanks!

Please do not format or you will loss everything.
What you need to do is to use 4Card Recovery to restore your files.

Step one, download 4Card Recovery online and install it on your computer.Step two, run it and choose the files that you want to recover, of course, you can choose recover all files in case of the omission of anything.Step three, scan it by clicking the next button and wait for about ten minutes.Step four, save the recovered files on other part to avoid losing it again.
Just try it.