# Corrupt CF Card - What to do?



## Niagaramark

I just shot a whack of pics at my son's hockey game this morning and at the last pic I got the red screen of death on my CF card - corrupted card.
I'm using an 8GB Kingston CF card. This happened a few months ago as well, but I had only taken a few pics, so I did a reformat and its worked fine since then.
I've been able to pull some older pics off the card (from Dec) manually on a windows XP machine, but the card can't be read from a card reader on my Mac.
When I check the card drive on my windows machine it shows 4.5GB of data used on the card, but only about 30 pics are available. 
Are there any free recovery programs that can help me access the hidden/corrupt data on the CF card?


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## eMacMan

Been several threads on this before. Not sure what search parameters to use.

None of my 5 digital cameras have ever corrupted a card when the battery was low. That includes Olympus, Canon and Kodak models. They will refuse to work. I wonder if perhaps the problem is related to the computer also writing to the card.

One thing I am very careful about is locking the card when transferring images to any computer. Once images are transferred, backed up and the integrity of the back-up images confirmed; I then format the card using the camera not the computer. That way only the camera writes to the card. Also formating the card ensures the camera is always writing to contiguous space as I also do my sorting, selecting and deleting on the computer.

EDIT: Found this thread hopefully at least one useful idea
http://www.ehmac.ca/mac-ipod-help-t...fried-sd-card-weeks-vacation-pics-gone-3.html


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## CanadaRAM

ProSoft used to make PictureRescue, but they seem to have discontinued it. 
Their DataRescue 3 product also works on media cards.
Mac Data Rescue, Mac Disk Recovery, Macintosh File Recovery - Prosofteng.com

I suggest buying a product if the photos are of any value to you.

Your problem will be that the free downloads are almost all trial versions, and you will have to pony up to actually do the recovery

Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery for Mac - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

File Juicer for Mac - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com (free)

MediaRECOVER for Mac - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com


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## Kami

ImageRescue3 used to be free from Lexar. Now that version 4 is out it seems to have disappeared. Maybe google for imagerescue 3 to see if someone still has it available. PM me if you don't have any luck


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## Niagaramark

Thanks Folks!
Used an older version of ImageRescue on an older windows machine pulled all 649 together! Time to invest in a good mac rescue program for the future.
I appreciate the help and suggestions.
Nm


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## eMacMan

As this is the second time this has happened with this card/camera, I would google to see if your particular camera model is known for this issue. As I said previously with a low battery most cameras will simply shut down but not corrupt the card. There are exceptions and if your camera is one of them you will need to either replace it, or learn to replace or charge the batteries before they are depleted. 

This may not apply to the OP but some user discretion is also required. Yes after the camera shuts down once you may be able to squeeze an extra image or two out of the card, but at the very least you risk losing the image and possibly, as you have proven, an entire card load of them.

For those that use AAs; I have found that NiMH rechargeable AAs degrade quite quickly after about a year of alternating sets in my camera. One camera went from; going 6 weeks on a fresh charge to going less than a week. I still use NiMHs but they do get replaced once a year and I always have fresh AA alkalines just in case the day is longer than the batteries capacity.

It is also possible card is iffy. Maybe time for a replacement?

As previously mentioned do take steps to ensure that your computer does not write to the card and use your camera to format the card after downloading images. I know one individual who liked to keep his best images on the card, erasing only the surplus images via his computer. Made it easy to show images to his friends. On at least two occasions he lost images and finally was persuaded to abandon the practice.


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## makuribu

Niagaramark said:


> Thanks Folks!
> Used an older version of ImageRescue on an older windows machine pulled all 649 together! Time to invest in a good mac rescue program for the future.
> I appreciate the help and suggestions.
> Nm


It is also time to toss that CF card and buy a new one...


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## Kami

Glad you were able to get the files off your card with ImageRescue. If this is the second time that you have gotten a corrupt card then its probably time to stop using it and get a new card. If the Kingston card has a lifetime warranty you may want to get hold of Kingston and ask for a replacement.




eMacMan said:


> For those that use AAs; I have found that NiMH rechargeable AAs degrade quite quickly after about a year of alternating sets in my camera. One camera went from going 6 weeks on a fresh charge to going less than a week. I still use NiMHs but they do get replaced once a year and I always have fresh AA alkalines just in case the day is longer than the batteries capacity.



In my experience the best solution for the NiMH battery issue is to switch to the Sanyo Eneloop extended life batteries (or 3rd party batteries from Sony, President's Choice and other brand names). They hold their internal charge for much longer than regular NiMHs. 

I've also had super performance from disposable Energizer lithium batteries in my old Pentax DS and K200D (often on the order of 1000 shots between changes). Faster recycle times in flashes as well


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## kps

eMacMan said:


> As previously mentioned do take steps to *ensure that your computer does not write to the card and use your camera to format the card after downloading images.* I know one individual who liked to keep his best images on the card, erasing only the surplus images via his computer. Made it easy to show images to his friends. On at least two occasions he lost images and finally was persuaded to abandon the practice.


Single most important piece of advice on the subject...highlighted in blue. Knock on wood (or a reasonable facsimile), I have never had a CF card go bad on me yet, but then I always follow the above and delete/format/etc. in camera only. Also, only use Sandisk media, Ultras or better. Based on reports, Sandisk seems to be the most reliable and recoverable if something should go awry.


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## eMacMan

Kami said:


> ...
> In my experience the best solution for the NiMH battery issue is to switch to the Sanyo Eneloop extended life batteries (or 3rd party batteries from Sony, President's Choice and other brand names). They hold their internal charge for much longer than regular NiMHs.
> 
> I've also had super performance from disposable Energizer lithium batteries in my old Pentax DS and K200D (often on the order of 1000 shots between changes). Faster recycle times in flashes as well


I am currently about 10 months into a set of Rayovac Pre-charged, supposedly holds extended charges. So far each pair continues to hold its charge for at least a month depending on the number of pictures we take. Probably the same battery as Kami suggested.

The Energizer rechargeables I used to use would probably be lasting perhaps 10 days at this point.


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## Guest

Camera Salvage has been good for me.

CameraSalvage - Retrieve Lost Digital Photos, Undelete Files, Rescue Flash Media


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## benlucifer

*Photo Recovery For Mac*

I would suggest you to backup the images that you have on your CF card and format it. This will definitely resolve the erroneous issues associated with the card. Now restore the backup file and try to access it on your Mac OS X. If the problem still persist then use a commercial Photo Recovery software for Mac to retrieve pictures deleted from formatted memory card.

For more information visit: Digital Camera Photo Recovery For Mac OS X Is Now Possible


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## rondini

PhotoRescue Home Page - PhotoRescue Wizard, PhotoRescue Expert, PhotoRescue Advanced
if a card fails once it might be an accident, fails twice, time to replace it. Also pack a spare with the camera.


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## MacDoc

Glad you have them back. We like DataRescue for recovering.


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## eMacMan

Just when I thought the world had survived 12/21/12, I awake to zombies.


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## MacDoc

That would be *ZombiRescue.*....as long as the original is not corrupt.


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