Anyone know anything about file recovery?

[Grant Lamontagne]

The Micro SD card in my phone just crapped out and I'd like to try and recover my photos- anyone have any suggestions on how?

Def

[ryan1835]

All i know is if you have to resort to paying some one to do it it doesn't come cheap!

[Sazabi]

Grant, try either ZAR - Zero Assumption Recovery, or Recuva.

I use both to great success... yay for free programs letting you earn multitool money on the side. 

When you run either program, ZAR typically recovers more than Recuva, in my experience, though I do run both just to cover my ass.  Make sure to save the recovered files to a location other than the object being recovered, say a USB drive or your hard drive, verses right back onto the micro SD card.

[Grant Lamontagne]

For security reasons I shut down auto backup a while ago.  I'm working on a multi-million dollar claim right now and my SD crapped out on me, and I have no backup of the photos I took yesterday and half the ones I took today.

I am not amused.  Auto Backup is re-enabled.

Def

[Sazabi]

Grant, both of the programs I listed are free and are easy to use; if you have any problems with either, let me know and I'll try to help.  While it can help with accidental data loss, if the problem is with the hardware itself, say the NAND controller or the connectors of the card, the software won't help.  It's a much more involved process there, and one that I've stayed away from, both due to cost and sheer unwillingness to go down that path for the card that comes my way.

[Grant Lamontagne]

It seems like it is copying something, so that is good.  If it's hardware it's hardware and crap happens.  If I can salvage the photos I'll destroy the card and replace it.  I've already ordered a replacement and reactivated the auto backup.  I'd rather risk someone hacking my G+ account than lose more photos. 

Def

[tosh]

I actually used the recuva a few years back when I accidently deleted all my pics!! 

I spent night after night searching the web, finding so-called free software, installing  , locating the pics and then being prompted by a pop up box requesting a substantial fee...B***Ards!!

On the third night I discovered recuva, downloaded and......hey presto!! Worked like a dream.

Hopefully I'll never need to download it again.

[jzmtl]

Mine crapped out a while ago and I used ZAR, recovered photos no problem. You are limited to I think two or three folders though with the free version.

I reformatted the card with software from sdcard.org and it's been fine since.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I had success with ZAR, although it changed all the file names which were the dates/times they were created, then it mixed them all up.  That shouldn't be a huge problem for most people, but I had almost 7,000 photos on the card since my phone is my primary work camera.

Going through them is going to take some time, but I have found enough of the ones I need to make a go of my reports.  HUGE thanks for the recommendation Rex!   

Def

[detron]

Boss, my business travel delayed my check in frequency here, if I was home, I could have helped more.

if you ever have a recovery need in the future, feel free to PM me, and I can walk you through ways to make an image of the card on your computer, which preserves time stamps, not to mention if you mess up, you can put the image back onto the card and try again.


I can even provide you with open source (free) tools that can do everything needed, including imaging, recovery, and restoration.   

worst case, I have a forensics workstation at work, I would be happy to help if needed.

good luck, and you know where I am if you need me