BlindBrick 0 #1 July 21, 2011 Had a issue with a CF card this past weekend that I was hoping someone could help me with. Videographer got down from a jump and checked his camera and the pics were fine. He hands me the card and I pop it into the card reader on my PC. The card is recognized and I open up the card folder in Windows. I've got Windows set to large thumbnails so at first there's nothing but placeholder icons. After a couple of minutes I realize that there's still nothing but placeholder icons which should have been resolved in under 20 seconds so I click on the "safe eject" option and pull the card and then reinsert it. As soon as Windows sees the card it issues a warning about a possible file issue. Not wanting to risk wiping the contents of the card, I tell it to ignore it and proceed on. When the card's folder opened all the pics were gone and in their place was a single 250 meg file with what appeared to be a junk name. 1. Any idea what caused this so we can avoid the issue in the future? 2. Can the pics be salvaged from that single file? -Blind"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dragon2 0 #2 July 21, 2011 Haven't had that particular problem before, but using the rescue tool that comes free with SanDisk Extreme III/IV/Ducati cards, I've gotten quite a number of pictures back from memorycards (as well as harddrives, with the software protesting about it but still working). If there's anything left on that card, that software will find it (as well as a lot of older stuff you deleted, too). ciel bleu, Saskia Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sirenoremac 0 #3 July 27, 2011 CF cards in general are finicky animals. CF readers even more so. They are prone to odd read/write errors if the pin contact isn't absolutely perfect. I've worked in film with them for years, and there are a few things that can help ensure you don't get bad reads or screw up a card. There are some apps available out there that will lock the OS out fro being able to write to a card at all, the one I use on the mac is called Disk Arbitrator. It lets you tell the computer that any disk you insert is not to be written to at all. This safeguards you somewhat from the OS doing something screwy when it has trouble reading a card. But even with a utility like that, CF readers can screw up cards that weren't perfectly inserted. The only surefire solution is to invest in a very robust card reader, preferably one that is not powered off of its USB or Firewire connection. CF cards are very touchy when it comes to voltage, and a bus powered reader can do bad things. I used the Lexar Pro firewire 800 reader for a while and it was more consistent than most, but still touchy (and bus-powered) I now only use the RED CF Reader. It has the most robust physical connection of any reader I've seen and is externally powered. But it's pricey, so unless you take this very seriously, probably not worth it. You might want to look into the Lexar Pro, although I don't think they make them anymore. Anyway, long story short, CF card's are touchy, and CF readers even more so. Like it was suggested above, for your current situation, try a CF recovery utility. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BlindBrick 0 #4 July 28, 2011 Unfortunately the vidiot "knew" he was right and that the files were irrecoverable. So, he wouldn't let me copy what was on the card and simply reformatted it. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dragon2 0 #5 July 28, 2011 Quote Unfortunately the vidiot "knew" he was right and that the files were irrecoverable. So, he wouldn't let me copy what was on the card and simply reformatted it. -Blind Even then, recovery software could still get stuff back. ciel bleu, Saskia Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theonlyski 3 #6 July 28, 2011 Quote Quote Unfortunately the vidiot "knew" he was right and that the files were irrecoverable. So, he wouldn't let me copy what was on the card and simply reformatted it. -Blind Even then, recovery software could still get stuff back. +1 Google photorec for a good one, also recuva."I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890 I'm an asshole, and I approve this message Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
