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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> Memory card failure - can you help?
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07/05/2017 10:09:37 AM · #1
I was in the middle of downloading photos onto my computer (using my card reader) when the page of files suddenly disappeared and in its place I got a message saying that my memory card needed formatting. When I clicked on cancel, it was replaced with this message:



I've tried using Recuva but it doesn't recognise the files either. Nor does my camera. Is there any way to recover my photos?

Assuming the answer is no, does this mean that my card is corrupted and needs replacing? I only bought it in April when I bought my 80D. Could my recently acquired card reader be to blame for the problem?

At about the same time as this happened I got a notification that my anti-virus program had deleted a virus from an incoming email. I presume this is just a coincidence, but I'm really not sure what to think.
07/05/2017 11:15:07 AM · #2
It doesn't necessarily mean the card is physically damaged, but it suggests that is a possibility. Recovery of files may be possible. There are numerous free and for-purchase software options; you might try ZAR, in "digital image recovery" mode.
Here's the process I would go through:
1.) Attempt file recovery using software & save any recovered files to another local disk. It's important to attempt to recover first, because anything else you do may adversely affect the probability of recovery.
2.) Attempt to repair the drive using the OS tools; if this works, the recovered files, which will typically not have correct file names, are not needed.
3.) Assess whether the card is reliable. That's the tricky bit. There's no really fool-proof way to tell other than extended testing. If you dare, use the card to shoot when you can risk a re-occurrence of the issue.

What brand is the card, and where did you purchase it? Are you certain that it is a genuine card, and not a knock-off? If it is a genuine card, the manufacturer may replace it under warranty, given it is nearly new.
07/05/2017 11:17:01 AM · #3
Do you have another memory card? If so, stick it in and shoot some junk around the house then try and download that and see what happens. I find this all to be surpassing strange, in the sense that even IF the computer doesn't "recognize" these as image files, I'd have thought the transfer of data from card to computer could still be accomplished, and you just wouldn't be able to OPEN them... But what do I know?
07/05/2017 11:27:15 AM · #4
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

I find this all to be surpassing strange, in the sense that even IF the computer doesn't "recognize" these as image files, I'd have thought the transfer of data from card to computer could still be accomplished, and you just wouldn't be able to OPEN them... But what do I know?


I don't think it's a case of the computer not recognising them as image files. It says it doesn't recognise the file system on the card.

I've moved the memory card from my OMD into my 80D so I guess I can try what you said. I'm just a bit nervous of using the card reader in case it messes up another memory card.
07/05/2017 11:47:35 AM · #5
Originally posted by kirbic:

It doesn't necessarily mean the card is physically damaged, but it suggests that is a possibility. Recovery of files may be possible. There are numerous free and for-purchase software options; you might try ZAR, in "digital image recovery" mode...

What brand is the card, and where did you purchase it? Are you certain that it is a genuine card, and not a knock-off? If it is a genuine card, the manufacturer may replace it under warranty, given it is nearly new.


Recuva is a recovery program I've used in the past for recovering lost files from my computer with some success. It doesn't recognise what's on my memory card either. I'll have a look at the program you suggested but I'm not confident it will do better.

My memory card is a Lexar professional 1000x (64GB) which I bought from the same shop as I bought my camera. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't sell knock-offs. I guess I'll have to try to return it but I won't be in that area for a few days.

Do you think the card reader could be to blame?

---

A few days ago when I switched on my camera and took a photo, my camera came up with an error message about not being able to write the file (though it had done it). The same thing happened with my next shot, though this time it wouldn't go on shooting but told me to switch off my camera and switch on again, or if that didn't solve the problem, to take out the battery and put it back. Switching off fixed the problem and it hasn't happened again. Could the memory card have been to blame for that problem too?
07/05/2017 12:05:43 PM · #6
Originally posted by GinaRothfels:


My memory card is a Lexar professional 1000x (64GB) which I bought from the same shop as I bought my camera. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't sell knock-offs. I guess I'll have to try to return it but I won't be in that area for a few days.

Do you think the card reader could be to blame?


Good, a brick & mortar store would be highly unlikely to be (knowingly) selling knock-offs, and they should stand behind what they sell. It is possible that the card reader might be playing into this.

Originally posted by GinaRothfels:


A few days ago when I switched on my camera and took a photo, my camera came up with an error message about not being able to write the file (though it had done it). The same thing happened with my next shot, though this time it wouldn't go on shooting but told me to switch off my camera and switch on again, or if that didn't solve the problem, to take out the battery and put it back. Switching off fixed the problem and it hasn't happened again. Could the memory card have been to blame for that problem too?


It's entirely possible that the camera errors are related to the memory card issue. Situations like this are why I tend to carry at least two cards; for instance, I bought two 64GB cards instead of one 128GB card for my 5D IV. Same storage, a bit safer from a data perspective.
07/05/2017 12:28:25 PM · #7
Originally posted by kirbic:

It's entirely possible that the camera errors are related to the memory card issue. Situations like this are why I tend to carry at least two cards; for instance, I bought two 64GB cards instead of one 128GB card for my 5D IV. Same storage, a bit safer from a data perspective.


I guess I'll have to buy a spare regardless because the memory card from my OMD is only 16GB and the card in my Point and Shoot is only 8GB. I just tend to worry about losing memory cards if I carry a spare. I lost the spare for my P&S. I blame that on a bag with no proper pockets though, because it probably got dragged out when I took my camera out of the bag.

I'm running a ZAR scan right now. At 55% of the way through it has found some data fragments, which is more than Recuva could find, so hopefully I'll find something there when it's finished.

Originally posted by kirbic:

It is possible that the card reader might be playing into this.


At Bear's suggestion I've taken some test shots using my other memory card. Do you think I should risk using the card reader to download them?
07/05/2017 12:35:20 PM · #8
How old is the card reader? Some older ones won't read newer high-capacity cards.

This sounds more like a problem with the card though, especially considering the problems you noted when it was in the camera, not the card reader. You've already gotten the best advice, but I also want to support the practice of using two smaller-capacity cards instead of one big one -- if you take the card back, maybe see if you can get two 32GB cards instead ...
07/05/2017 12:47:03 PM · #9
Originally posted by GeneralE:

How old is the card reader? Some older ones won't read newer high-capacity cards.


The card reader is only a few weeks old. My previous one stopped working after the CF card from my 7D bent some of the pins. I'm not sure why that affected the SD section, but apparently it did.
07/05/2017 01:04:52 PM · #10
Just a quick update:

ZAR has recovered the jpg version of the missing photos as well as a whole lot of photos I'd deleted over the past few weeks (some of the latter corrupted). I'm still waiting to see what else it finds.

Thanks kirbic.
07/05/2017 01:23:21 PM · #11
Good news -- thanks for keeping us updated!

The previously-deleted photos which are "corrupted" probably got that way from having some sectors already over-written by the pictures you took later.
07/05/2017 01:32:13 PM · #12
I realise that's the reason for the corrupted files and it doesn't really bother me. I'm a bit frustrated that the metadata for the current photos has been ruined though because I had a candidate photo for the "Red" challenge among them and I won't be able to redo that shot.

To add insult to injury my computer has just old me I'm running out of hard drive space. I have two in my computer and used to use both but when I upgraded from Windows 8 to 10, all my data landed up on the same drive.
07/05/2017 01:39:42 PM · #13
"It's always something ..."
07/05/2017 01:50:34 PM · #14
Yes, and sometimes it's everything. I've got toothache too, and my dentist is sick.
07/05/2017 02:07:46 PM · #15
The jpg files seem to be fine, but the RAWs have been converted to TIFF files which Photoshop cannot open as it says they're using an unsupported compression method. Is there anything I can do about that?
07/05/2017 02:53:44 PM · #16
Originally posted by GinaRothfels:

The jpg files seem to be fine, but the RAWs have been converted to TIFF files which Photoshop cannot open as it says they're using an unsupported compression method. Is there anything I can do about that?


ZAR probably identified them as TIFFs. Try renaming one of them; change the extension from .TIF (or .TIFF, whichever ZAR used) to .CR2, and then try opening it.
07/05/2017 03:02:16 PM · #17
Thanks kirbic. That seems to work. Is there any way to rename files in bulk? Don't worry. I found the answer to that.

Thanks for all your help. I don't know what I'd have done without you.

Message edited by author 2017-07-05 15:23:37.
07/05/2017 04:24:03 PM · #18
Rockin'!
Glad we could help... I know the sinking feeling when a card comes up unreadable :-P
07/05/2017 05:36:03 PM · #19
Originally posted by kirbic:

Originally posted by GinaRothfels:

The jpg files seem to be fine, but the RAWs have been converted to TIFF files which Photoshop cannot open as it says they're using an unsupported compression method. Is there anything I can do about that?


ZAR probably identified them as TIFFs. Try renaming one of them; change the extension from .TIF (or .TIFF, whichever ZAR used) to .CR2, and then try opening it.

Yes, there's a note about this in the "Miscellaneous Info" section of their usage guide ...
Originally posted by ZAR Image Recovery Instructions:

As for Canon .CR2 raw format, the following is known thanks to Jeff of Jeff Berner Photography and Art:

ZA Digital Image Recovery recovers Canon .CR2 files as TIFF. To open recovered files, Jeff used Photoshop CS "Open With" feature, which allows to specify image format override.
07/05/2017 05:43:42 PM · #20
Good result. Kirbic is an invaluable resource, we really should shackle him to his computer or something so he's always there when we need him :-)
07/06/2017 01:31:49 AM · #21
I had a bit of a scare recently so started using my camera's dual memory slots as a "Main and Backup" for photo shoots. I definitely can't afford to have a paid gig go bad.
07/06/2017 05:36:56 AM · #22
Given the fact that I managed the whole recovery process using my card reader, I hope it's safe to assume that the card reader didn't cause the problem. It just felt rather weird that the card failed half way through a download.
07/06/2017 07:30:15 AM · #23
Originally posted by GinaRothfels:

Given the fact that I managed the whole recovery process using my card reader, I hope it's safe to assume that the card reader didn't cause the problem. It just felt rather weird that the card failed half way through a download.


That does support the idea that the card reader is not part of the "failure equation."
07/13/2017 03:51:04 PM · #24
Originally posted by kirbic:

Good, a brick & mortar store would be highly unlikely to be (knowingly) selling knock-offs, and they should stand behind what they sell.


There was no problem exchanging the card. The guy stuck it in his computer, saw that it was faulty, and immediately fetched a new one off the shelf. The whole thing took about two minutes.
07/13/2017 04:42:26 PM · #25
Originally posted by GinaRothfels:

Originally posted by kirbic:

Good, a brick & mortar store would be highly unlikely to be (knowingly) selling knock-offs, and they should stand behind what they sell.


There was no problem exchanging the card. The guy stuck it in his computer, saw that it was faulty, and immediately fetched a new one off the shelf. The whole thing took about two minutes.

There you go, restoring faith in humanity again ...
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