Is there any way to rescue pictures off a corrupted flash card?

Factual Questions
1

I’ve got a camera with a compact flash card that seems to have gone kaput. Unfortunately, there are still some pictures on the card I’d like to rescue.

When I access the flash card via a USB port (either using the camera or using a seperate reader), the computer recognizes it as an external drive. I can see the directory, and a list of files, with names and sizes and creation dates. However, it appears that (judging by the dates) the newest files may be missing.

When I try to copy files to the computer, I get, for most files, the message, “The file or directory is corrupt and unreadable.” For a handful of files–the first one listed, the last one, and an, apparently random collection in-between, I can actually download the file.

The camera works fine with another flash card, so it’s definitely the card.

I suspect I’m just SOL, but is there anything else I can try that might recover the pics on the card?

2

There are numerous software downloads you can use to try and recover the photos from your corrupted flash card. One I have used with good results is PC Inspector Smart Recovery . Good luck! Try not to delete anything from the flash card until you have made the recovery attempt.

3

And don’t write any files to it either! The card may think the space occupied by the corrupted files is available for reuse. :eek:

4

Holy crap, that worked like a charm! 215 pictures recovered.

(I could neither read nor write to nor delete files from the card normally, so no danger of overwriting files.)

Thanks a bunch!

5

Glad to help doffs hat :smiley: