Tale of Woe (with more or less happy resolution)

[DennisM]

While trying to reset some settings on my X100-F (among other items, the image size was grayed out and set at 16:9), I inadvertently erased all images on my memory card. Was able to restore through LC Technology Int'l Rescue Pro ($40). Not 100% intuitive process, but phone help readily available, knowledgeable, and patient. Most images were recovered and returned to C drive on my desktop. Memory card had to be inserted into my PC card reader; would not restore from camera. I had downloaded many of the images on the card to my PC but some I hadn't. Some files were corrupted. I guess the moral of the story is to download all images one wants to preserve after each shooting session.

 

[Bolo Kukus]

Will it make you feel better if I say we all do this, at one time or another??

It's part and parcel of being human. I do it about once a year and it happened THREE times, no less, in 2019.

Recuva is my go-to software for file recovery. I've had the free version for a long time and it suits me fine. I get occasional corrupted files but most of what I've lost is recoverable. I recently had to do an in-depth search for a file I "mislaid" a year ago, and set my Recuva run to do multiple passes, which took a long time. The file eventually turned up.

All this made me think miracles do (sometimes happen.

I now use two separate cards and switch in the camera after every major shoot. The first card is never wiped until all my photos have been downloaded and backed up to a Western Digital portable hard drive I keep for just this purpose. If my shots are important (weddings, family etc) I also back up to a third WD drive which I've just cleaned up by removing most of the 2016 and 2017 files I had saved.

A good backup plan will be your best friend - as long as you don't forget to do the backup as soon as you return from your shoot.

 

[willie_901]

As ozmoose said, we have all made this sort of mistake.

I always format a card in camera after the files are on my main and backup storage units. This minimizes the chance new image files storage will be fragmented. The odds of recovery go up when the recovery algorithms don't have to reassemble fragmented files.