How can I recover photos from a CF card with a corrupted filesystem?
Asked 9/16/2010
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2 answers
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My CompactFlash card has become unreadable in both my camera and card reader. The problem had happened intermittently before, but now the card is no longer recognized reliably. I suspect the filesystem may be corrupted, and I want to recover the image files if the card’s raw data is still accessible. What recovery approach or tools should I try first, and what should I do if the card itself is no longer visible to the computer?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
17
There are two utilities from CGSecurity that might help.
- TestDisk - Allows direct access to disk data and file recovery from corrupt partition tables.
- PhotoRec - Specifically targeted at recovering photos by identifying byte patterns in images (& video) files.
Depending on what has caused your card to fail will depend on which of these tools will work best.
You can use TestDisk to do a raw backup of the card first to prevent further damage by using recovery tools incorrectly.
Originally by user97. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user97
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
If the card is still detectable at the hardware level, stop using it immediately and try recovery from the raw device rather than writing anything to it. A good first step is to make a raw backup/image of the card, then work from that copy.
Tools mentioned by users that may help:
- TestDisk: useful for accessing disk data and recovering from corrupt partition/filesystem problems.
- PhotoRec: designed to recover photo and video files by scanning for file signatures, even when the filesystem is damaged.
- Recuva: can sometimes recover files from damaged or formatted media.
- SanDisk-recommended recovery software was also suggested.
If your computer can see the card as a device, recovery is often possible even if the filesystem is unreadable. If the computer cannot see the card at all—not even as raw hardware—software recovery is unlikely to help. At that point, a professional data recovery service may be the only option.
Given the card’s repeated failures, do not trust it again for photography even if recovery succeeds.
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