HELP. SD Card cannot be opened

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Dad Photographer
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Hi,
One of the SD cards is packed full, but it cannot be opened for some reason. When placing it into the card reader, I get prompted to format the card.

What is a reliable tool to check/repair the card?
I tried placing the card into my M9 to check out the images, but it tells me "no card".
When I place the card into my M8, it says "card is full".
When I then try to look at the images, it does not let me.


Another attempt with the card reader: The volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted.

Thanks.
 
I'm sorry you are having such a problem with it, it's something we all dread.


Have you tried putting it back in the M8 and using the lead to connect it with the computer and so on? I assume you can but don't know the M8.


The other suggestion, seriously, is try again tomorrow. That sometimes works and you wonder what all the worry was about.


Anyway, I'll keep my fingers crossed for a bit of extra luck for you.


Sorry I can't suggest more.


Regards, David
 
Thank you, David :)
I tried putting the SD card in the M8 and in the M9. It did not help. The card is full with images, but it cannot be opened. They have online many downloadable software for such issues, but which ones can you trust?
 
Hi Raid,

I have used PhotoRescue in the past - with one card it restored everything, with another there was clearly a serious error on the card, with the loss of the file system - no files could be recovered.

It's cheap and worth a try.

By the way, Thom Hogan swears that you should never use a card up to the point where it is full, because that increases the risk of card failures (owing I suppose to a lack of overhead space on the card).

Cheers,
Kirk
 
Hi Raid,

I've successfully used Rescue Pro Deluxe to recover images from a Compact Flash card. This was for a SanDisk card. This is obviously not the same type of card as you have (you said it's an SD card) and ~possibly~ not the same brand as the card you used.

Have you tried contacting the manufacturer of the card you used to see what they suggest for file recovery?

Ellen
 
No, just potentially different tools.

First thing to probably do is flip the write protect switch on the card. That way nothing should write to the disk, that will help protect your files. After that you would need to run something like

https://www.z-a-recovery.com/tutorials/digital-image-recovery.aspx

or

https://www.isobuster.com/memory-card-recovery-software.php

https://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/free-data-recovery-software.htm

I think ZAR is free for photo recovery, the second is a paid app and I think the third allows for a couple of gig for free and then is paid after that.

You could also try software to repair (not format) the partition on the card. If you use that you can't have the drive write protected. Even if it gets formatted there is software that should be able to recover most of your files but that is more difficult than just fixing the partition itself.

Good luck,

Shawn
 
Interesting; I wonder about putting it in the M8, which seems to read/see it OK, and then deleteing a picture to give it the space.


Please don't blame me though...


Regards, David
 
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I've used PC Inspector Smart Recovery from time to time, it used to work OK for me in such cases. Freeware :

https://pc-inspector-smart-recovery.en.softonic.com/

I agree that you should never fill a card in full especially if it's a large capacity card : sometimes the system then cannot manage the data any longer and keeps asking you to format the media. Any data storage media should have at least 10% of its capacity always remained free. What size is that card, Raid ?

Could very well be that the camera buffer tried to save the last photo data on the card while there wasn't enough space remaining on the card, so not only is the card full, but it may also contain a corrupt/incomplete file which locks it up.
 
Stellar Phoenix worked for me on a card that Sandisk Rescue Pro and several other programs could not recover.

Marty
 
shawn said:
No, just potentially different tools.

First thing to probably do is flip the write protect switch on the card. That way nothing should write to the disk, that will help protect your files. After that you would need to run something like

https://www.z-a-recovery.com/tutorials/digital-image-recovery.aspx

or

https://www.isobuster.com/memory-card-recovery-software.php

https://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/free-data-recovery-software.htm

I think ZAR is free for photo recovery, the second is a paid app and I think the third allows for a couple of gig for free and then is paid after that.

You could also try software to repair (not format) the partition on the card. If you use that you can't have the drive write protected. Even if it gets formatted there is software that should be able to recover most of your files but that is more difficult than just fixing the partition itself.

Good luck,

Shawn
Click to expand...
What should I do if I am prompted to format the drive before I can use the card repair software? Format it or not?
I am now running ZAR. Hopefully, it works well.
 
Do not format the drive. Don't know what Windows options are but basically don't have windows do anything. That it is prompting is good, that means the drive itself is probably working. Just that the partition table is likely corrupted.

Shawn
 
I ran ZAR. Now what? I still cannot open the drive. Am I supposed to do anything specific when using ZAR?
 
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