"Card not initialized" error - how do I recover my photos?

Minniethemoocher

We took photos today of DD's birthday, using her new camera. Looked at them on the camera, all fine.
Took out memory card and inserted it into laptop, but the laptop couldn't even "see" the memory card.
Put memory card back into camera and switched it on and got the error message "Card not initialized"
Tried to connect camera to laptop with USB cable, still no luck.

Is there anyway that I can get my precious birthday photos back?

Camera is a Fujifilm Finepix JX
Memory card is a [STRIKE]pile of !!!!![/STRIKE] Verbatim 4gb SDHC card if that helps at all.

Please tell me how to get my photos back!

santer_2

One option

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec_Step_By_Step

dsavvy83

santer wrote: »

One option

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec_Step_By_Step

Yep there are plenty of recovery software out there, i have never used the one listed here, but i have used these people http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.co.uk/ never had a problem with them, and they also have software which is a bit expensive but worth it as you can recover anything really.

Minniethemoocher

Thanks! I guess that I have nothing to lose (as my photos at the moment are lost already) by trying the free photo recovery software. Really cross about the memory card failing though....:mad:

Is Verbatim an unreliable brand? Or is it just bad luck?
I definitely won't be buying them again.

dsavvy83

Minniethemoocher wrote: »

Thanks! I guess that I have nothing to lose (as my photos at the moment are lost already) by trying the free photo recovery software. Really cross about the memory card failing though....:mad:

Is Verbatim an unreliable brand? Or is it just bad luck?
I definitely won't be buying them again.

Hi

your photos are not lost, it is most definately recoverable, in simple terms when you delete something from your computer it is never really gone, your computer will just mark it as deleted and overwrite when it comes round to that sector again. but it will take on average about 6 re-writes before something is gone.

So if you really want the photos back all you do is download some recovery software put your card in the computer and tell the software to scan that card and download it all on to your local machine, and go through the pictures, you may find some really old ones aswell.

Verbatim as a brand is decent, i would never use them hehe. I use SanDisk and Kingston. Mostly all the photographers i know use sandisk.

unfortunately verbatim or any other manufacturer will never guarantee against loss of data, if it is faulty you can only hope for a replacement.

Oh another point i forgot to mention, if you card has a hardware failure then recovering the pictures might be a little more difficult and pricey, but still do-able.

bengalknights

Try using card reader on your pc

Minniethemoocher

Sorry, but what is card reader on my PC?

I have tried putting the memory card in my card slot on my PC, but my computer can't read the card.

santer_2

Insert the card, click start, computer to see if the card is shown there, or click start, computer, insert the card to see if anything adds itself there

Because turning off autorun is the latest fad with AV programmes it could be that, or a Windows update has disabled autrun

Click start, right click my computer, click device manager to look for any exclamation marks

Minniethemoocher

Had a go - card shows as F drive, removable device but appears to be empty. So I am going to have a go with the free photo recovery software.

Minniethemoocher

Downloaded the free recovery software and it worked! I have recovered all my photos!
Many thanks for all your help.
And very MSE too - phoned up our local computer repair shop who wanted £60 to recover the data :eek: and I did it myself for free!

santer_2

Thank You for letting us know