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Compact Flash Recovery

M

MasterSamwise

Senior member
Hi -

I have started using a digital camera like many these days. It is the Canon Powershot G3 which uses Compact flash memory. Earlier today I deleted an image which was absolutely priceless. I need to recover it.

I know that CF has a file system all its own and file recovery from many other systems is possible. Were I to buy a CF reader (so I could install the card as a 'physical drive' instead of using the interface for the CF between the camera O.S. and my machines O.S. could it be possible to recover?

The program I want to use is called Winhex. It look amazing and says it supports recovery from Compact Flash.

Any thoughts?


Master Samwise
 
Davory by WinHex looks like it will do the job - but! You will need a C/F reader/writer, and you must not have taken any other pictures after deleting that JPG file. If you did, it is probably overwritten. Davory

With the reader/writer, you will see your C/F card as a lettered drive,. Download Davory and go from there. Let us know if it works.

As an aside, I have been doing digital photography for over 6 years now, and I learned a long time ago never to delete anything in the camera and to always use a reader. Step 1 is always to offload ALL images on the C/F card to your HDD - then even burn them onto a CDR or RW disk.
 
I have not written anything to the card. I hope I can get this back. It will never happen again. I'll let you know. Thanks for the information.

MS
 
The cameras/cards typically use the fat file system, so any fat unerase program should work for you. I've used Norton Disk Doctor to recover an entire CF that got corrupted when the camera battery died while writing.
Bill
 
Alright. I plugged in the reader, inserted the card. Windows pops up with a message saying the card has not been formatted. I put the card back in my G3 and all my images are right there! Any ideas from other Canon owners?

Whatever file format is used windows doesn't seem to recognize by default. Any input would be appreciated.

MasterSamwise
 
was it you asking the same question today on the xaliasx forum ? 🙂

Anyway they recommend 'badcopy pro'..might want to check that out..

otherwise...google might be your friend too eg. search for "compact flash data recovery" etc..etc...


 
Originally posted by: flexy
was it you asking the same question today on the xaliasx forum ? 🙂

Anyway they recommend 'badcopy pro'..might want to check that out..

otherwise...google might be your friend too eg. search for "compact flash data recovery" etc..etc...
Click to expand...

nope. program looks good. the drive i bought wont read my cards though. i don't know what to do at this point besides return it and try a different device.

Master Samwise

This has consumed my time almost all day. I really need to solve this.
 
OK - connect your camera to your computer via the cable that came with it and download it the old fashioned way.
 
I can't be of any help as far as recovering it, but being a G3 owner myself, I know that there's an option to protect images while still on the CF card. While in the camera, go into replay mode and go to the picture... then hit the menu button and go to Protect.

It sounds like you didn't mean to delete it (rather than deleting it on purpose and then later wishing you didn't). Not sure if you're familiar with this, but you might want to keep it in mind in the future.
 
AFAIK CFs are either formatted in FAT16 or FAT32, like any other Win98 device/floppy. Why your reader wouldnt read the card is beyond my knowledge.
(Is the card formatted NTFS maybe and your OS doesnt recognize NTFS ???)

Do you have the option to switch the pic transfer mode, say, from 'PTP' to 'Normal' ? Maybe you can do something here.

As long as you didnt do another write on the CF, after you deleted the picture accidently you *should* be able to recover the image...

You might give that "badcopy pro" a try, too.



 
The cardreader won't read either of the two cards I have. I think I am going to try to exchange it for a different brand. It's a PNY USB compact flash. The CF cards are two different brands in 128 and 32 mb.

MS

I'll try the PTP, Normal suggestion. Also Bad Copy looks great although, since I can't read the cards, I can't do anything with the files. It's late so I think I will give it a go again tomorrow. Star Wars Galaxies consumed my time but I'm going to hop back on the problem.
 
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