# HELP!  SD CARD FAILURE!



## InspiredImage (Apr 5, 2011)

Hello,

I'm an amateur/intermediate photographer.  I shot a wedding this past weekend, got home and put the SD card in to my computer to view pictures.  I didn't upload and save them I just did picture viewer to view from the card.  The pictures began to load and then the computer slowed down and froze up for a moment.  I removed the SD card and then re-started the computer. Now when I insert the card into my computer and also in my camera both say the card needs to be formatted! What has happened? Are my pictures lost?! ,because my client is going to kill me!? Should I format and then try a data recovery? Any help?  And yes, I know I should have known better and backed up the pictures before hand and/or dumped them on the computer instead of just viewing! My Bad! Anyone please help?!


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## Trever1t (Apr 5, 2011)

I'd give recovery a try before formatting. I was able to recover over 200 files from a CF disc that had been formatted more than 5 times, all is not lost yet.


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## sierramister (Apr 5, 2011)

Don't do anything....Send it away and let a pro do it.  [link deleted per request of site owner]


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## xjoewhitex (Apr 5, 2011)

Wow thats a scary thought. But I would attempt to find a flash recovery program and see what you can find, I most certainly wouldn't format you will probably lose most if not all chances of getting the photos back.


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## Rocan (Apr 5, 2011)

hope it wasnt a paying job. 

a pro would have been backing up to a secondary card/hard drive on site. dont you know, never remove before everything off and disconnected properly on the computer... 

theres still hope though, send it to a pro.


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## ronda (Apr 5, 2011)

Inspired Inage: check out this site. PhotoRescue Home Page - PhotoRescue Wizard, PhotoRescue Expert, PhotoRescue Advanced

You can download the trial version and run it to see what is salvageable. It's easy to use. If it retrieves your images, the $29 investment will be a small price to pay for a very important lesson. Let me know how you make out.


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## ronda (Apr 5, 2011)

One more thing: there are many similar software packages that will help EVEN IF THE CARD HAS BEEN FORMATTED. The trick is, not to write over (or take additional picture) with the same card. Again, let me know how you make out.


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## Trever1t (Apr 5, 2011)

exactly, formatting does not erase the card (but try recovery first) and as long as not OVERWRITTEN are retrievable.


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## JohnBoy (Apr 6, 2011)

I think, as others have suggested, that just about any commercial recovery program will save most if not all of your images as long as you don't record anything new on the card. For what its worth I have found SD cards to be somewhat less robust than CF cards and have had two instances where the reader built into a computer would not read a SD camera card (wanted to reformat as yours is suggesting) but a plug-in USB card reader read the files without a problem. Long shot but worth a try if you have a reader.

JohnBoy


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