Lost 98 photos...please help.

[themaze76]

I imported 98 photos into iPhoto from my D300 and they look totally screwed up, also, it erased all the originals on the CF card (even though I told it to leave the originals). I'm not new to iPhoto, or my Mac, but I haven't had this issue yet.

What do you all use for data recovery? Freeware, specific product? Please lend me a hand. Thanks in advance.

 

[chrisburke]

i use Data Rescue II... but you need a external HD to send the recovered files to.. and I'm not sure if it was free.. .well, it can be...

 

[Flash Harry]

I tend not to import, upload etc, I open the folder on the CF card hilight the files right click and copy to a location on the HD of the computer, this way the images stay on the CF card till I have backed them up and can delete knowing I'me not losing the shots. H

 

[PatrickHMS]

What he said...

Copy, THEN delete (once you are satisfied with the copy).

Never move and delete at the same time, gives you only 1 shop of getting it right.

- But all of my cameras will copy from camera (or memory card in reader) to PC without deleting original images. Then I have to go back to delete all images or reformat disc.

 

[JerryPH]

Do a google for data recovery software for a MAC. Some are freeware, others are not. One of the reasons I would never use a MAC is software. There are thousands of data recovery tools for PCs and most are freeware (that do not work on a MAC unfortunately).

Anyways... do NOT use that card anymore until you have tried to recover the files on it. If you did... too bad, may as well format the card and call it a day with a lesson well learned.

 

[roadkill]

try photoshop in the future maybe?...

 

[Warren_G]

iPhoto stores images differently than a PC, and it makes them a little harder to find although they are there. There will be a folder called originals somewhere in the directory, although you usually cant just go to that directory as the Mac creates a iPhoto database which looks like a file when it is really a directory. Use the finder and look for "originals" or even "jpg" and sort through all the files on the hard drive. It may take a while, but iPhoto probably made about 3 copies of each, some in low and some in high res. The folder called "originals" is the one that I back up on another computer.

 

[themaze76]

Thanks all. I typically do copy and paste the files, but I was being lazy. Anyway, I have found a few data recovery freeware sites, I'll try one or two and report back, until then I'm changing my default photo editor back to Elements.

 

[themaze76]

Anyways... do NOT use that card anymore until you have tried to recover the files on it. If you did... too bad, may as well format the card and call it a day with a lesson well learned.

Jerry, I was aware of this, but thanks for pointing it out. You bring up a good point, it's always easier to recover a file from a disk that hasn't been used since the accidental deletion.