Need help please - did I lose my photos?

SquarePeg · Sep 24, 2015

I was viewing pics from my SD card on my Samsung tablet. To do this I have a card reader that I insert the SD card into and then plug into the micro SD drive. The pics were all there then suddenly while flipping from one file to the next it sort of froze up and wouldn't scroll anymore. Now the card is not showing up at all in the tablet and when I put it back in my camera or in my laptop at home it comes up with an error that it's not formatted and can't be used.

Anything I can do to recover the pics? I just took a ton of shots of my daughter's first game cheerleading and from what I saw before the freeze up, they were pretty good! This was the only afternoon game so my only chance to get them in daylight.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

TIA

Dave442 · Sep 24, 2015

I would use a file recovery program on the SD drive.

SquarePeg · Sep 24, 2015

Thanks for your response. Any suggested programs?

480sparky · Sep 24, 2015

Do a forum search for Image Recovery or File Recovery......... quick.......... before all the spammers start posting in this thread.

SquarePeg · Sep 24, 2015

480sparky said:
Do a forum search for Image Recovery or File Recovery......... quick.......... before all the spammers start posting in this thread.

???

Dave442 · Sep 24, 2015

I have Restorer Ultimate, I had originally bought their Restorer2000 program back in 2005 for about $50. I only have to use it about once every couple years, but it sure is nice to have when you need it.

480sparky · Sep 24, 2015

SquarePeg said:
480sparky said:

Do a forum search for Image Recovery or File Recovery......... quick.......... before all the spammers start posting in this thread.

Click to expand...

???

99.947573% of all the "I lost my images!" and "I accidently reformatted my memory card!" threads end up getting flooded by spammers plugging image recovery solutions.

SquarePeg · Sep 24, 2015

Ah ok, I didn't realize that, thanks for the heads up. I tried the search but a ton of irrelevant threads popped up. I didn't see anything that was specific to the unformatted SD card error that I'm getting. I found a few seemingly well reviewed free image recovery programs in an online search but I was hoping for a specific recommendation from a TPF regular so I could be sure not to download some malware or virus. A free program would be great but if none of them are reliable/safe then I'll look into paying.

spiralout462 · Sep 24, 2015

What brand is the card? Most SD cards I use come with some kind of recovery software.

jcdeboever · Sep 24, 2015

Use recuuva

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SquarePeg · Sep 25, 2015

spiralout462 said:
What brand is the card? Most SD cards I use come with some kind of recovery software.

It's a 32 MB Sony HDSC 10, I don't recall any software coming with it but I can check Sony's website.

I'm leaving for a vacation tomorrow so I'll deal with it when I get back but, since I'll be taking a ton of pics during my trip... wondering what could have caused the issue? Should I avoid using that card reader again? I have several of these Sony cards - are they junk? One more - is this because I didn't format the card before using it?

480sparky · Sep 25, 2015

DO NOT USE THAT CARD until you have exhausted all possibilities to recover the images. Using the card will guarantee you won't be able to recover all the files.

SquarePeg · Sep 25, 2015

spiralout462 said:
What brand is the card? Most SD cards I use come with some kind of recovery software.

Thanks so much for the helpful info. I never really looked at the paperwork that comes with the SD card before and wasn't aware that free software came with. I was able to download it from the Sony website after digging up a magnifying glass to read the tiny serial number off the card! Going to give it a try today.

480sparky said:
DO NOT USE THAT CARD until you have exhausted all possibilities to recover the images. Using the card will guarantee you won't be able to recover all the files.

Yes, I understand not to use that specific card, thanks!

But, I do have 3 or 4 of these cards, same name/model # - if they are likely the issue then I don't want to use them during my trip and will buy a few new ones. They are a few years old but not a ton of use on them and have never had an issue before. I suspect the off brand card reader I use with my tablet may be the cause of the problem. I use that to review my shots when I'm not near my pc.