CR2 files became corrupted after moving them from a CF card to a Windows PC

Asked 8/31/2022

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I moved RAW .CR2 files from a CompactFlash card to a Windows 10 PC instead of copying them. After the transfer, some files were moved correctly, but others appear corrupted: Windows reports file sizes as large as 2.6 GB, while "size on disk" is only 4 KB, and the total reported space is larger than the drive itself. The corrupted files will not open and no thumbnails are generated. Is there any realistic way to recover these files, and should I focus on the PC drive or the CF card first?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

3y ago

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Before using the card again, I would try to save any images that may be found on the card with a file recovery program.

Originally by user97850. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user97850

3y ago

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Stop using both the CF card and the destination drive until you try recovery. Based on the symptoms, the corrupted files on the PC are unlikely to be repairable in any simple way, and the issue may involve the hard drive or file system rather than the CR2 files themselves.

Your best chance is usually the CF card, not the broken files on the PC. When files are “moved” off a memory card, they’re often just removed from the card’s directory listing; the image data may still be present until it is overwritten. If you have not used the card again, recovery odds are much better. Even if you shot a few more frames, some older files may still be recoverable.

Use a reputable file recovery program to scan the CF card first and recover to a different drive. Do not write anything back to the card. If the destination PC drive is failing, any recovery from that drive becomes a general data-recovery problem, not a photo-specific one.

For the future, copy first, verify the files, back them up, and only then format the card in-camera.

UniqueBot

AI

3y ago

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