Posted
on Sat Feb 05 2011
AnthonyTorres.com
Rescue images from corrupt media card
by Anthony Torres
Media card doesn't read. Camera tells you to reformat. Dont!
Computer tells you to reformat. Don't!
Spend $33.99 and buy Image Rescue 4.
This automated multi-step recovery software takes 2.5 hours with a 32gb CF card and USB2 reader.
It will recover all it can. You do lose file numbering and metadata. But that's minor compared to all your photos and video.
In Summary, if your camera can not read a media card you have shots on, eject that card and move it to computer.
NEVER ERASE OR FORMAT A CORRUPT CARD. The computer probably won't read it, either. Disk Utilities won't show it.
You must use Image Rescue 4! Your media card will be a generic "Disk # on USB..."
This recovery process takes 2-3 hours. Image Rescue copies the entirety of a media card to a folder, then it recovers the images, and adds custom icons.
Your filing system is gone, but that's okay. The media is way more important.
You will have to click buttons to proceed to next steps. However, NEVER click Erase or Format.
Once Image Rescue is done, open the folder in your browser and view the stills and videos.
If all is good, copy the rescued images to your back up drive.
Offload and Backup Cards after end of shooting period. If you can't offload per day, then use a fresh card each day. In my case, the card was reading the night before. Would've been faster and preserved meta data had I offloaded at day's end, rather than waiting a day.
Dedicate a card per camera (don't swap): In my case, I was swapping the card between a Canon 7d for video and a Canon Rebel XT for timelapse stills. Erase and formatting in the 7d did not remove the folders created by the Rebel XT. So it was probably a matter of time before the directories corrupted the media card read.
Use smaller media cards: With the Canon 7d, 8gb is the magic number. 16gb and 32gb cards give the write buffer error, which will shut down your shot. If an 8gb card is corrupted, that's 22 minutes of footage that you run the risk of losing. However, 16gb and 32gb is a lot more footage, over a potentially longer period of time.
Get Image Rescue 4 before you need it. There's not much to learn: you just press buttons to keep it moving to the next step. However, it's stress inducing when any media goes bad. Stress leads to bad decisions (like "I'll reformat and then all my images will pop up!" They won't! Jump to action rather reacting and fearing the worse.
Have a back up plan: Copying to a harddrive is not a back up. That's storage. You need a back up to your storage. Either burn DVDs using Roxio Toast which does a great job of multispanning, or have a second drive set to auto backup using SuperDuper for mac.
Have a calm down plan: This can be a hyper stressful situation. So have a calm down plan, which consists of 0. Don't yell at anyone or yourself. 1. Breathe Deeply. 2. Relax all tense areas. 3. Correct your posture. Shoulders back. Chin up. Head aligned over spine. 4. Look at the reality, not the worse case scenario. Now is no time for fear or worry or concern of gossip or reputation. If you've used a card per day, it's just that day's shots. Are you multi-camera? 5. If media card is corrupt, put it away and use another card. You'll most likely be able to use it.
Check the gate: At the end of each scene or camera roll change, celluloid filmmakers "check the gate." They lift up the plate and check for a hair in the gate or emulsion build up, which would indicate scratching of the negative. If either condition exists, camera department asks for another take. This is filmmaking 101. If you come up from newsgathering, they don't allow another take. Or if you've only shot digital video, you've never been exposed to film negative.
Make it possible to offload media before striking set or location. This way if it's bad, you have another take. Not enough time? Build it in. Make time. Again, this is industry standard op to "check the gate." Someone should be checking the media before moving on.
Last updated Feb 09 2011 10:56AM by Anthony Torres.