How can I recover or repair corrupted Canon CR2 files when even the embedded JPEG preview is missing?
Asked 7/15/2014
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2 answers
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I have a batch of Canon CR2 RAW files from a wedding that appear corrupted. The files are still roughly the expected size, but most show only black thumbnails and I can’t extract a usable embedded JPEG preview from them. The issue affected only the first group of images from the shoot; later photos taken the same day on the same camera and card are fine.
I’ve already tried several tools including ExifTool, CR2Repair, FastStone Image Viewer, Hetman Photo Recovery, and other common recovery utilities, but they haven’t been able to repair the files. Since these images are important, I’m looking for realistic next steps—especially whether a specialist recovery service is the best option when standard software can’t recover either the RAW data or the preview JPEG.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
1
Dave Coffin, the author of the popular open source DCRAW conversion application (which powers several other RAW converters) has experience of Canon's RAW format, his website states "I do freelance consulting related to dcraw", see:
http://www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/
Additionally on his main page he advertises general data recovery services:
http://www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/
If anyone can repair your images I'm sure he can, however it wont come cheap.
Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1375
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
If the CR2 files have the expected file size but most contain no usable embedded JPEG preview and multiple recovery/repair tools can’t read them, there may be significant corruption in the RAW structure itself. At that point, general recovery software is often no longer enough.
A sensible next step is to try a specialist who understands Canon RAW internals. One community recommendation is Dave Coffin, author of dcraw, who has experience with Canon RAW formats and offers consulting/data-recovery-related services. If anyone can assess whether the files are repairable, a low-level RAW-format expert is more likely to succeed than consumer recovery tools.
Important: stop writing to the original card or original storage immediately, and keep untouched copies of the damaged files before attempting anything else. If the embedded preview is also missing or black, that usually means there may be little intact image data to salvage, so professional help may be your best remaining option.
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