Camera won't read CF card-Help!

[Psychodisney]

I need help from an expert! During our trip last week my Digital Rebel XT stopped reading the CF card-error 02. My camera won't read it, my friend's camera couldn't read it either. Are my pictures lost for good? Is there a way to retreive the data?

 

[DizneyNutz]

If you don't have one, get a CF card reader. This will connect directly to your computer and read straight from the card itself. The card reader is inexpensive so it would be a great place to start. I wouldn't do anything else to the CF card before trying this, to limit the posibility of losing the pics.

 

[Psychodisney]

I bought a CF reader today. When I plugged it in to the computer it said to format the card. I didn't do that because I figured that might delete everything.

 

[AndrewWG]

There are many photo recovery programs out there that will most likely get the pics off of the card and onto your computer for you. I have very little to no knowledge of them so I'm not the expert on that by any means. I was wondering what brand and size of card it is?

 

[Psychodisney]

It is a Sandisk 1 gig. I had emptied it prior to vacation. The guy at Wolf Camera said I should have formatted it after I emptied it. I don't think I ever read anything about formatting the CF card in the manual. He also said they get a lot of people bringing in Sandisk cards with problems. He recommened Lexar.

 

[rtphokie]

I need help from an expert! During our trip last week my Digital Rebel XT stopped reading the CF card-error 02. My camera won't read it, my friend's camera couldn't read it either. Are my pictures lost for good? Is there a way to retreive the data?

I had the same thing happen and ended up loosing some great shots from a friend's wedding. Frustrating but it happens.

The fact that your computer is seeing the card and wants to format it is a good sign. That means the card is accessible but the file table is unreadable for some reason. Some of these recovery programs can rebuild the table make at least some of the photos accessible again. DO a Google search on 'photo recovery software' and download a trial or two before you buy anything.

I'd also consider tossing this card once you've gotten what you can off it. It may just be "one of those things" and it may never happen again but there may be something wrong with this card. As cheap as cards are, why risk it.

 

[AndrewWG]

It is a Sandisk 1 gig. I had emptied it prior to vacation. The guy at Wolf Camera said I should have formatted it after I emptied it. I don't think I ever read anything about formatting the CF card in the manual. He also said they get a lot of people bringing in Sandisk cards with problems. He recommened Lexar.

Now I have heard of problems with Lexar too. More so on Canon SLR's for some reason. I only use Ultra II or Kingston cards. I guess that is just my preference. I've always been happy with Kingston memory cards for my computer too. They seem to be a good company. Lifetime warranty. Gotta love that. Sandisk may have that too. Something you could look into.

 

[rtphokie]

It is a Sandisk 1 gig. I had emptied it prior to vacation. The guy at Wolf Camera said I should have formatted it after I emptied it. I don't think I ever read anything about formatting the CF card in the manual. He also said they get a lot of people bringing in Sandisk cards with problems. He recommened Lexar.

Ask 5 people's opinions about what card to buy and you'll get 5 different opinions. The company I work for installs SanDisk CF cards (along with some other brands) in their products (large expensive products, not consumer electronics). Lexar are generally fine but so are SanDisk. They all have some failures.

The best advice when buying cards is to be wary of names you've never heard of and you get what you pay for but buy it on sale.

 

[SharonLowe]

Get Sandisk's recovery program and try it. Also, it is okay to format before attempting recovery if your computer insists on it. You might be able to get a free trial of the program before buying it - check their web site. If they don't offer a free trial, go over to the Lexar site and see if they offer one. If you really want the photos, there are companies that will recover for you when the consumer programs don't work. Will cost quite a bit though.

As for failures, I have had both Lexar and Sandisk CF cards fail on me. I am having a real problem with Sandisk customer service on one I am trying to get replaced - I have a Return Authorization but they have yet to send me instructions on how to return despite 3 calls to them and assurances it would be emailed to me.

I too always buy the pro level cards with lifetime warranties. Lexar even does data recovery for you too if you have their pro cards and one goes bad.

 

[Psychodisney]

Thanks for all the help! I found a card reader website and it worked. It cost less than having Ritz camera do it but still cost $40-worth it for Christmas pictures and Disney pictures. I will definitely toss the card out. Should I format the CF cards after I empty them?

 

[Psychodisney]

Thanks for all the help! I found a card reader website and it worked. It cost less than having Ritz camera do it but still cost $40-worth it for Christmas pictures and Disney pictures. I will definitely toss the card out. Should I format the CF cards after I empty them?

 

[MICKEY88]

Thanks for all the help! I found a card reader website and it worked. It cost less than having Ritz camera do it but still cost $40-worth it for Christmas pictures and Disney pictures. I will definitely toss the card out. Should I format the CF cards after I empty them?

always format your cards with your camera, not your pc,

I always format a new card before using it, then each time after uploading my pics to my pc..


I'm curious, a card reader website...???

I'm fairly sure other people were suggesting buying a card reader to connect to your pc..

 

[rtphokie]

Thanks for all the help! I found a card reader website and it worked. It cost less than having Ritz camera do it but still cost $40-worth it for Christmas pictures and Disney pictures. I will definitely toss the card out. Should I format the CF cards after I empty them?

Echoing what others have said, format with your camera not your PC.

It's not strictly necessary to format a card after every use. The benefit of formating instead of deleting photos (either individually or using delete all) is that the format will free all the space while deleting may leave some trash around (info files, thumbnails, etc).

 

[Psychodisney]

I did buy a card reader but that didn't work. I found a website that could retrieve the pics and it worked.
I'll use my camera to format from now on!

 

[MikeKV]

I did buy a card reader but that didn't work. I found a website that could retrieve the pics and it worked.
I'll use my camera to format from now on!

What's the website, please?

 

[Psychodisney]

I think it was cardrecovery.com.

 

[MikeKV]

I think it was cardrecovery.com.

Thanks.