Help Photos not on Card

[Breezy]

give me some suggestions please.
I did a shoot yesterday and just went to start processing this particular card, but the images aren't there. I put the card back in the camera and it isn't there either.
I am installing software that came with my Extreme 3 but this is a microdrive.
Any help?

[rogerfsmith]

Makes no difference if its a microdrive. The restore type software works the same since you are dealing with a file structure that is the same on any CF device. Of course, with a microdrive, you could have had a head crash, something that cannot happen with a normal CF card. However it may just be that the sectors that hold the directory information have been corrupted or overwritten. In that case, the recovery software can still work.
Good Luck,
Roger

[Breezy]

Thanks Roger.
I just ran the scan and nothing :(
I am just sick.
Thankfully the family shots were on the other camera. And hopefully I will be able to reshoot her since it is just a 5 month old. But everytime I have shot this baby something goes wrong. I must be doomed lol.
I have emailed mom and hope I can reshoot this week sometime, as she was perfect this time.

Since the scan didn't work it actually found NOTHING which I find surprising considering I have taken 1000s on this card. :(

[Breezy]

OK now it really makes no sense. I just put the card in camera, shot a couple and they are there. but the ones from yesterday are not. The folder is there but it is empty.
And it just don't get it.
I even viewed the images after the shoot and a couple of times during the baby breaks to make sure I liked what I saw.
Anybody have a clue?

[DigitalDiva]

I'm so sorry you're having this problem, I'm glad it can possibly be re-shot. I had this happen with a card from the a wedding-talk about a sick to my stomach feeling. When I put the card in a different camera they still didn't show up, but they showed up in a different reader, come to think of it, it was also a micro drive.

[R & J Photography]

try a different recovery software also... I use Lexar Image Rescue and it has found images 4-5 layers deep

Good luck...

[Breezy]

Thanks Dora, yeah it does suck.
Robert how would I get that one? Do I have to pay for it?

[Arnor]

Hi Breezy,

Ouch!:( Any chance the card/drive got switched and reformatted accidentally or swapped out for an empty one? Sounds really strange that nothing's there. Try different readers, different software.

http://www.lexar.com/software/image_rescue3.html

It's $29.99 which is not bad considering saving a session:)

http://www.cardrecovery.com/

That one is $39.95.

Best regards,

[Daylon]

Breezy - try this software - it's free to demo, but you have to buy it to actually recover the files.

After a hard drive crash, I tried 1/2 dozen programs, this one was the only one that worked...and worked WELL! Got 90% of my files back!

http://www.file-recovery.net/

Originally Posted by Breezy

Thanks Dora, yeah it does suck.
Robert how would I get that one? Do I have to pay for it?

[Breezy]

Thanks Arnor.
Unfortunately no confusing the card as it is the only microdrive I have. Not my favorite but it and another San Disk was all I had available as I had several shoots this week. I had shot a session late Friday, and then this one EARLY (too early for me lol) on Sat. So I actually lost a few from the Friday session too but, I wasn't happy with them so no biggie.
I don't think it got reformatted considering it all sat in my car today until late tonight when I finally slowed down to do something with it.
I really don't get it but I will check out the links :D

[Breezy]

Thanks Daylon I will try that one out too.

[MicWayWal]

Breezy,
Don't give up. There is something out there and you do not have to pay a lot of money for it. These files are not like a wedding but can be recovered if needed.

This summer I had a CF card go bad. I know there are no moving parts on CF cards and they are supposed to be indestructible but that is not exactly true. They do and will go bad eventually. It has to do with the way the memory is wired together internally. Which is why I still shoot on small cards, less loss if something goes bad. Anyway, one minute I can see them in my camera, the next minute when I go to download them in my reader, they are not there.

Long story short; no software would work, no data recovery by experts would work, without spending $2,000 and then there was no guarantee. So the next morning I called Lexar. They said their cards are guaranteed so I called to find out. Lexar not only would replace the bad card with a new one, but would recover the files on the bad one for FREE. It took six weeks but I got 99% of everything I shot back on a CD. My bride was happy and I was relieved.

Hope things go a little better for you but keep asking, including Sandisk.

[Breezy]

OK thanks for the tips Michael
I will call them tomorrow and see what they say.
And to make it worse it was a 4gb card :(
Daylon I ran yours first since it was free to run. It found 445 files some Jpegs some Tiffs but I can't view any of them to find out if there are any from that Session. Is there a way to see that without paying for it?
Arnor I will try yours in the morning since I have got to get some sleep before the kids school day gets started.
Thanks agian.

[Breezy]

Arnor running your second one now, since I am too irritated to sleep.
But I like the fact that it tells you the date it was shot. Now I will know if there are any files from the shoot if not I won't pay.
Thanks again to all of you who have helped.

[MicWayWal]

Originally Posted by Breezy

to make it worse it was a 4gb card

This is exactly why I stay away from very large cards. I know it is a pain to change the card every 400 images.

Oh man I am going to sound old, but remember when we had to change film every 15 exposures. Not the same era I realize but in those days you could use 30 exposure rolls but instead I used the 15 exposure size for the same reasons today.
Film and Cards can be lost or stolen. Cards can go bad or just not work. The bigger the card the greater percentage of loss.

Breezy don't do ANYTHING to that card until you arrive at a final decision on what you are going to do.