The worst thing just happened.

[Princess49]

Thanks so much for all of the pixie dust. I need it! I called a data recovery company this morning & they said I have a 98% chance of recovering the pictures if I send it to them they will try to get them & send them back to me on a CD. If they don't recover anything there is a $50 fee, if they are able to recover there is a $250 fee. It seems like a lot but my pictures are truly priceless to me. The camera is a Canon Digital Elph S500. It's BRAND new- it only came out a month ago & thats when I bought it- the memory card is a 256mb PNY compactflash card. We took pictures untill yesterday morning without a hitch- then when we went to put them from the camera to the computer is when we had the problem. We tried in our camera, in a media reader & in 2 other PCs with media readers. No luck, I am so glad to know that it MAY be possible to get them back- the technician I spoke to said the only time they normally can't get the data back is from human error- ie formatting a card or rewriting or erasing it. But we did none of those things. I read somewhere about programs you can use but I would hate to try a program & it not work & have ruined the chance I have with this company. The company is called total recall & while it's MUCH more money than I want to spend... especially having just come back from vacation I can't even put a number on what the pictures are worth to me. By the way-- we bought the card the day before we went away at Best buy & when my BF saw the name of the manufacturer he said he had never heard of them- the sales person told us it was a HUGE name in the media industry & a "great reliable card" & since it was the same price as all the other ones we didn't think anything of it. well, after we had problems yesterday my bf looked on amazon at customer reviews & apparently this happens ALL the time to people with this name brand card- & it apparently is a TERRIBLE card & their cust service is bad & all they tell people to do is reformat which just causes them to loose the data- so much for the reccomendation of a knoweldgeable sales person. well at least I learned my lesson although too little too late. The WORST part is that we had a media reader WITH us- but since we are new to digital I didn't even THINK to back up- we had plenty of room on the card & i figured when it was full we'd empty it. well I'm not even THINKING about the fact that they pictures might be gone forever- because I'll just get sick again. Thanks again for the pixie dust & the advice & stories of miracles! I need all of them- I just wish I could be as happy as I was yesterday before all of this- I feel like it put such a damper on our trip. Thanks again

 

[4myguys]

Before you send it off, did you see if there was a local company that could provide the same service?

 

[smchan]

$250 sounds like alot for data recovery. I'd consider shopping around. Also, check out the data recovery software that was mentioned.

As for PNY, they're an ok brand I think, though I don't have personal experience with PNY. I use Sandisk and Lexar cards.

Hope you get those pictures back.

Sam

 

[tiptoen]

I hope all goes well for you. I have used PNY for some time with no problems. For what it's worth You should read up on the recovery programs. Most use a passive approach for data recovery so not to destroy the information. If done properly the success rate is quite good. But if you have any reservations you shouldn't take that chance. I've use some of the software for recovery before and had good luck.
I hope all goes well.

 

[GenieDana]

Just checked DP review and some "Experts" posting there recommended everal shareware programs.

The first is called called PC Inspector.

http://www.pcinspector.de/smart_media_recovery/uk/demo.html


Yet, another recommendation for this program called photorescue:

http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/


The last one recommended Digital Image Recovery:

http://63.141.194.5/dir/

 

[Princess49]

thank you SOO much, do you think it will work? Like I said before- would hate to try something like that & because I tampered with it the recovery company can't fix what theu could have if not for my mistake! I wish I knew what to do- I would LOVE not to have to pay $250.

 

[GenieDana]

Run the programs passively (don't write anything to the CF card) just to see what they can recover. Usually, these types of programs will not attempt to fix the media, but will attempt to write recoved data to an alternate media (like your hard drive) because the media hardware may itself be suspect.

Give them a try (I think each is shareware or freeware) and see what they can do and how they operate. If one jivey you optimism it will work then register the shareware and go for it. Just be careful not to write the CF card.

The review I read on DPReview we very affirmative that one (or all) might get the job done. Just be carefull.

Good Luck,

Dana

 

[clh2]

Princess49 - how's the recovery going?

 

[princesstommi]

Oh no! I'm so sorry.

I almost lost 3/4 of my honeymoon photos (4 nights at AKL and 3-day Disney cruise) because I was stupid. I had taken them off the card and put them on my hard drive. But I kept procrastinating on burning them onto CD. Well, the hard drive crashed. I was devastated. I cried so hard! And I blamed it on DH because even though he's a computer guy, he was trying to do something *new and cool* to the computer without backing everything up first. He was not my favorite person for a little while after that.

But my story turned out okay. We took out the hard drive and left it alone. We knew we could most likely send it off. But randomly, DH came across a blurb for a recovery program in one of his comp. magazines. It did the trick. He couldn't get everything off the hard drive (we lost a bunch, but all I cared about were the pictures), but he got ALL of our pics back. I was amazed! I guess he got out of having to take me on another honeymoon. And, I can never complain about his magazine subscriptions again.

Best wishes for recovering your photos.

 

[StuartMI]

One company that I have used where I work is called Drivesavers. They are available here: www.drivesavers.com

 

[staylor]

You know what this means? You'll need to take another cruise!

 

[Princess49]

We are going on another cruise-- THANK GOODNESS!! that's about the only thing keeping me sane!! I sent my card to Drive Savers after having a proffesional try recovery software. They said the disk was unreadable. But I am holding out hope with drivesavers. I started crying on the phone with the drivesavers guy telling him that ALL my souvanirs were photo albums & frames & I was so upset because I had nothing to put in them. & he told me to save room because they could get them for me. I HOPE SO!! I am really devastated by the whole thing. There are parts of my trip that I can't talk about because it makes me think of my pictures & I just start crying. I hope that it works please continue to throw pixie dust my way!

 

[StuartMI]

I work for the School of Medicine at Wayne State U and we've sent hard drives to them with like MRI images on them and theyve recovered them.

Have hope!

 

[Princess49]

Thanks stuart-- I have my fingers crossed!!!

 

[copper0426]

Sorry to hear about the pictures Here's some pixie dust hoping you get them back.

princesstommi, what did you DH do, my hard drive crashed and I had pictures of my last visit with my dad before he died on it. It was the first time my son saw snow and played in it with my dad. Wish I could get them back. At that time I didn't think about putting them on anything else. I still have the hard drive sitting in a drawer.

Thanks Diane

 

[Laurabearz]

I know this isnt exactly your situation, but on our first trip to WDW I lost a roll of film... the roll of film that had all the CRT pictures on it... I didnt realize it until I got the other dozen rolls of film developed.

Well... about 3 weeks after our trip, I get a phone call from the Chicago Police. A Chicago Cop had been at WDW when we were they and found our roll of film, got it developed and was able to track us down from the licence plate of our rental car and date on the photos!!!

Hope springs eternal!

 

[Princess49]

Copper, check out Drivesavers.com, They recover all types of Data I'm sure they can help you!

Laura I am glad you fpund your pix, I hope your luck rubs off on me!

 

[StuartMI]

drivesavers.com rocks! Like I said, I've used them a bunch of times.

 

[Empire Day]

I just tryed the first link back in the thread, altough I had my card formated about 50 times deleted even more it found 307 pictures going back 2 years (even some from our last Wonder trip!) I tryed this out as my card has 14 pictures stuck on it no mater how many times I delet it the camera keeps putting them back and if I delete them form the camera menu it says they are un-suported. and I cant add any it will say its full!
I belive the camera has took a early death. I missed DW's Graduation trying to get the card to work I feel your pain lots of pixi-dust your way....

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Pixie dust and fingers crossed...