Urgent! Need good data recovery for memory stick!! specific section about BB's method

[digitalduck]

Ok, long story short, I bought a new Sandisk 1gig card for my camera less then 2 weeks ago. Last week on my honeymoon it crapped out on me(and I had a lot of pics on it) forcing me to buy a 512m card on the cruise costing me double of course. That wasnt the problem, the new card worked fine.

The problem was that the error I was getting from the gig card was C:13:01 which, after reading, I found a lot of people were having the same problem with Sandisk cards. Most of them gave explanations on how to fix the error buy reformatting it since most of the time it happened when the stick was new. However in my case I need to get the pics off of it if possible. Im assuming the error didnt just simply erase all the data just like that.

I checked out BB to make sure the problem was with the actual card and not with the adaptor (its a memory stick duo) it turns out its the actual card. I asked the BB guy what software they use to do the recover and i forgot what he said. All I know is that ive tried about 6 different trial versions of software last night and all have come up with nothing.

I bought a usb reader specifically for the job hoping id find somehting. One program came up with 950mgs capacity for one of its points of reference. Now I wasnt sure if that was simply saying how my the card can hold or how much space is availalbe. If its the latter then the images are gone, since I took around 300 of them.

So, instead of BB charging me $60/hr with no guarantee that they will find anything...can you suggest any other image recovery programs that I should try? The images shouldnt have just deleted...hopefully they are still on there..

Thanks

 

[Jeff7]

Google is your friend.

There's a bunch of apps that might help; they may have demo versions.

If it's mild corruption, the files may still be intact.

 

[digitalduck]

Originally posted by: digitalduck
All I know is that ive tried about 6 different trial versions of software last night and all have come up with nothing.

I guess I was looking for something that I didnt already try. Since the programs ive tried dont seem to cut it.

 

[HaelWho]

I used a program off this site to save a hard drive once, maybe it can help you:

http://runtime.org/

 

[birdpup]

Originally posted by: digitalduck
...
I checked out BB to make sure the problem was with the actual card and not with the adaptor (its a memory stick duo) it turns out its the actual card. I asked the BB guy what software they use to do the recover and i forgot what he said. All I know is that ive tried about 6 different trial versions of software last night and all have come up with nothing.

I bought a usb reader specifically for the job hoping id find somehting. One program came up with 950mgs capacity for one of its points of reference. Now I wasnt sure if that was simply saying how my the card can hold or how much space is availalbe.

Undefined acronyms make it difficult to understand your situation. Do you wish to make it easy or difficult for someone to read your question and understand your situation?

What is BB? Can you not ask this BB guy again what he used? I would think if this information was important enough to you, you would make the effort to return and ask this person again. Unless you were provide with no useful information, of course.

Your statement concerning "950mgs capacity" causes me to think of 950 milligrams. Only on a third read did I think MB.

What utilities have you tried? It makes it difficult to recommend something unless we are told what you have already tried.

It seems you are hoping for person with specific experience with an application specifically for recovering data from memory cards. I am unaware of applications specifically for this and I think few people actually have this experience. It would be good to attempt normal hard drive data recovery tools before this possibility is ruled out. It also may be a good idea to google for terms such as: ("memory disk" OR sandisk) +(recovery OR failure).

Here are some utilities to try
1) R-Studio
2) GetDataBack
3) Ontrack's Easy Recovery Pro
4) Quetek
5) File Scavenger

Edit: added utilities

 

[digitalduck]

Sorry for the lack of clarity in my post. Since ive been here since 2003, a lot of members know who I am and know that "BB" means "best Buy" and that Mgs means Megs. Its was a fast type, sorry for not thinking things throuhg

In terms of the progs ive ran already ive tried:

Digital Photo Recovery
ImageRecall 3
Picture Retriever
mediarecoverdemo
Digital Picture Recovery
FileRescuePlusDemo
ImageRecall3
MediaRECOVER
PhotoOne Recovery
RescuePRO DEMO
Get Data Back (still working with this to be able to get it to see the card and not just a drive)

 

[birdpup]

Sure, but acronyms often impede communication. It took me three reads to understand what you were asking. Even Megs is an improper acronym for MegaBytes (MB). It is true it is far more difficult to ask a question than it is to write a quick reply. Especially when a question is often asked due to confusion, which may cause an unclear question. So, all is good with that, no problems.

You have tried a few applications I was not aware of and it is good to learn something. It is a shame none of these applications have worked so far. GetDataBack usually works for me but I have never tried to recover data from a memory disk. The USB interface is supposed to allow the OS (operating system) to maintain a consistent interface for any component plugged into it. From this, I would assume that if a data recovery program can recognize data on an external hard drive, then it should work on a USB key, and on a memory disk. I honestly do not know how to help you further with this. Good luck with it and I hope either it works or someone replies with better advice.

 

[tk11]

Give this a try
http://www.pcinspector.de/smart_media_recovery/uk/welcome.htm

It's freeware and purpose built for recovering images from flash media.

Good luck.

 

[robisc]

I concur with tk11s recommendation of PC Inspector, I have used it on CF cards and it worked. Oh and I did understand your original question BTW (means "by the way").

 

[digitalduck]

robisc, thanks for your reply, I am trying tk's prog (program) right now. The main problem I am having is this: Its not really the programs that arent working, its more that the card is not being recognized. Some programs see it in the reader and show it as 950 Megs (Mega Bytes) capacity and others dont even see it. I went from the reader to back into the camera through usb with a good stick and it showed up as Sony memory stick allowing me to explore it. I tried with the bad stick and it only shows up as Sony digital camera, not memory stick so certain programs wont even see the card is there. That appears to be my main problem at this point. If the stick wont even be recognized then its impossible for a progam to see it unless there is one that just assumes there is something there.... we'll have to see. BTW (means "by the way") thanks for understanding my original question

UPDATE:

Yeah, I just tried PC Inspector and once I connected my reader so it would be recognized I then put in my card and after launching the prog, and pointing it to the readers drive, it froze (not responding) that seems to be the case with most programs trying to do that. Once then try to even see the drive, not work on it, but just see it, they freeze. Damn, this error sucks. The guy I spoke with at sandisk said the data is most likely still there though...oh well..

After the prog tells me its too damaged for regular recovery (yeah it actually saw it) I then change it to intense mode and then after hitting start (assuming it makes it to that point and doesnt freeze (quit responding) on me , then it gives me some error from the program. Ill keep trying...

 

[bendixG15]

Here's a tip from an "old" married man...
Pay BB the $60.00 to attemp recovery....
It'll be worth every penny, as far as your wife is concerned...

Good Luck with the honeymoon....pics (pictures)

 

[birdpup]

See if you can access the card with linux/knoppix first and make a copy of the card with using the command 'dd'.
First Attempt: The first thing I did was put the damaged card into one of my Unix systems, where I used a Unix tool called "dd" to save a copy of the SmartMedia card to a file that I called smcard.img..

 

[magomago]

In the situation of honey moon pictures...i'd easily pay the 60 dollars an hour. 60 dollars is nothing compared to the sentimental value of the pictures... Hell, if they couldn't do it i would pay upwards 300 an hour just to get those pics back (assuming they didn't spend like 2 hours working and 22 "thinking on a coffee break of what to do")

Man, now i'm scared to get a Sandisk card...and going to upload my pics off my 128 meg card immediately I guess from now on just pay the extra for viking

 

[skisteven1]

I have had EXCELLENT experience with the ontrack software mentioned above. Give it a go and report your results.

 

[digitalduck]

Here is my problem guys... btw thanks for all of the advice and suggestions thus far, I appreciate it. Anyway, the problem with ALL of this software is that the memory stick isnt being recognized. When I put in a new stick either in the reader or in the camera it shows up as memory stick, allowing me to browse it. When I use the bad stick it just shows up as memory reader or sony camera. The program doesnt know a card is there sometimes because of that. There are other times where the program sees it as a 1gig card, but when I try to do something with it, then the prog hangs.

For example, with OnTracks EZ recovery professional (same one BB uses apparently) here is what happens.

I plug the rceader in, insert me card which still shows up as card reader.
I select data recovery and advanced recovery or raw recovery, either one
Then it hangs when scanning system. I tried with a good card and it proceeded to the next step just fine.

Honestly, i dont know what else to try.

UPDATE

I used Easy Recovery professional but this time I let it run for about 5 minutes even though it "wasnt responding" and wouldnt let me quit it without ending it..anyway it came back finally with step 2 Hurray!!! Same thing with step 2 but it worked again..

Then after all was said and done I get back 100 pics and lost about 14 but thats ok I guess

 

[birdpup]

:thumbsup:

 

[fbrdphreak]

Thought I would bump this thread and say thanks to those that pointed out PC Inspector. Plugged CF card into a new laptop thru multi card reader and it gave several errors trying to mount the drives. Plugged into GF's comp thru same reader and card was empty. Put card in camera, it said not formatted :Q That software allowed me to recover all (we think all, she's not sure how many pics were on there) and in particular the important ones :thumbsup: Thanks!!

 

[RBBRMADE]

I have also had very good luck with a program called 'Bad Copy'.
Ron