URGENT! My kodak memory card is saying it needs formatting, but I will lose all pics

Lucyxx

I am putting the card straight into the PC and the pop up comes up straight away, and also when I try it in the actual camera it also is coming up with it straight away aswell, I think if I link it with leads (when I find them and learn how to!) it will be a no go as neither of them are reading it.

My dad asked in teh camera shop and they know of a guy who lives locally who can have a go, but it will cost me, have to raid the piggy bank, I think, as I am desperate to get them back!

Donnie

Have you actually tried downloading, installing and running any of the programs suggested? e.g. PCInspector

Lucyxx

Donnie wrote: »

Have you actually tried downloading, installing and running any of the programs suggested? e.g. PCInspector

I have had a look at some of them, but I am so scared I will just make matters worse. I think I am going to have to let the guy the photo shop recommended do it.

I would love to have a go and be all clever and manage it, but think I will just !!!! it up and these are too precious to me for me to do that. I don't understand half the words that these sites are talking about, technology goes right over my head these days!

If I start fiddling with it, I'm thinking it might get even harder for him to extract it, IF he can extract it.

Many thanks for your suggestions, I will let you know how I get on

Luc xxxxxxxxx

Donnie

No, just do it.
Because the pics are on a memory card you have no chance of erasing them by installing and running the program.

Grade_A_Reject

I've got some good recovery software which recovered all my pics off a corrupted card displaying exactly the same problem. Send me a PM if you still have a problem. If you're not comfortable doing it yourself I can do it for you for free if your happy to send me the card.

The main thing is don't use (or let anyone else use) any software that writes to the card. Chances are the data can be recovered and the problem is just a corrupt file table. If anything is written onto the card the chances of recovering anything is a lot slimmer.

james123

Hi Luc,


When you put the card in the PC, you say it pops up with the format thing, so you push cancel, hope im right so far, at this point (the cards in and you've pushed cancel) have you tried clicking on the "my computer" on your desktop and viewing the card from in there? it will probably be Removable disk E ,F,G,H,I or J, you can try them all without worry. This is or course if it is a built in card reader, rather than a plug in one.

i have to say that ive only recently made backups of over 3000 pictures after a similar problem , unfortunately we're not all perfect;)

Really hope you get it sorted


jim

maximus0983

There is a program called Recover My Files that works great and I use it professionally at work to recover data on formatted hard drives. If everything fails you can format the memory card and still get the data back.

See the data is stored on "sectors" on the flash drive (memory card). If you format it you are telling the memory card that its ready to be written over again but unless you actually write over that sector again the data is still there.

So, in essence, if you format the memory card and then run a data recovery program, you will get your pictures back (assuming that the memory card itself is not faulty).

I hope this helps. I have seen many people stuck like this before and if you need anymore help then please PM me.

Lucyxx

Grade_A_Reject wrote: »

I've got some good recovery software which recovered all my pics off a corrupted card displaying exactly the same problem. Send me a PM if you still have a problem. If you're not comfortable doing it yourself I can do it for you for free if your happy to send me the card.

The main thing is don't use (or let anyone else use) any software that writes to the card. Chances are the data can be recovered and the problem is just a corrupt file table. If anything is written onto the card the chances of recovering anything is a lot slimmer.

I'm genuinely touched you have offered to do this, I have left the card with my dad who is taking it into the camera shop tomorrow, I think they will pass it on to the guy who will do it - this now has made me nervous that they will lose the card! and it will never get to him!!

You've got me thinking now, what if he uses a programme to write to the card and completely messes it up :eek:

What is the software you have got called? My younger brother has some but we are all a bit unsure of trying it out ourselves!

Lucyxx

james123 wrote: »

Hi Luc,


When you put the card in the PC, you say it pops up with the format thing, so you push cancel, hope im right so far, at this point (the cards in and you've pushed cancel) have you tried clicking on the "my computer" on your desktop and viewing the card from in there? it will probably be Removable disk E ,F,G,H,I or J, you can try them all without worry. This is or course if it is a built in card reader, rather than a plug in one.

i have to say that ive only recently made backups of over 3000 pictures after a similar problem , unfortunately we're not all perfect;)

Really hope you get it sorted


jim

I can't remember it letting me look in them at home, I took it over to my parents and we tried in their PC, directly in the built in reader and also hooked up with the cable and it just wouldn't find it in any of the removable disc folders at all.

Sorry it happened to you to, I did start to feel a little bit heckled for a minute in this thread, over my naiveness of not backing up! (i really didn't think it could go wrong!!!)

A year or so ago my OH had put all our video clips from the camera onto the PC, cleared them off the camera to make space for an event we were going to (despite me telling him not to!), and you've guessed it we had a major system crash 2 days later (we were about to save it all to a disc!) and lost them all, we tried the restoration point thing, which didn't work and therefore gave up trying to rescue them. If that had happened now I would have known to try harder to get them back! That time it was all films of my daughter when she was really young (she's only 4 now and at least I have the photos!!) and that was gutting aswell, but this is just heart wrenching that I have lost the first 6 months of sons life!

I can kind of understand it a bit better when the PC crashed, and that totally was our own fault, but I really thought they'd be safe on the memory card. :mad:

Lucyxx

maximus0983 wrote: »

There is a program called Recover My Files that works great and I use it professionally at work to recover data on formatted hard drives. If everything fails you can format the memory card and still get the data back.

See the data is stored on "sectors" on the flash drive (memory card). If you format it you are telling the memory card that its ready to be written over again but unless you actually write over that sector again the data is still there.

So, in essence, if you format the memory card and then run a data recovery program, you will get your pictures back (assuming that the memory card itself is not faulty).

I hope this helps. I have seen many people stuck like this before and if you need anymore help then please PM me.

Thank you that is very helpful aswell, you guys are great

Could possibly the card have been heat damaged??? I noticed that when I took it out of the reader yesterday it was burning hot, it had only been in 10 or so minutes, it was already not working by this point, so that's just a wild guess!!!

I'm pretty sure it happened though because I left it in the reader while I switched the PC off, then merrily took it out the next morning I think it was when I noticed, I have done this in the past with no problems, but could this be why it happened??? if this is the case is it damaged beyond repair??