Last weekend jen and I shot a wedding. We packed p our stuff and monday began to work on the pictures well we somehow misplaced our card reader so I went to frys and got a off brand reader. Big mistake. I got it hme plugged it in and then put one of our cards into it. Worked fine so far or so we thought. We could see the images there and when we highlighted them to copy them to a folder on our pc it wouldn't allow that and asked please insert disk, which meaning the memory card but it was already in there. so we ejected the card first then tried a different USB port and then this time the pictures wouldn't come up and then when we put the card in it wanted to format the card!!!!!!!!! So we of course didn't format it but then the pics won't open and won't show up on the camera as well.. I went to frys and got my money back and after talking with the manager for a bit they did a data recovery on the card and got the files back but they still won't open in lightroom or Nikon NX as well or bridge. I ran another program last night I got and still nothing. Only one file showed up and that couldn't be opened. The files I have them but can't view them or open them. Plus the weird thing is the file name was changed from DSC_0001 to like a name like xSC_0001. Not on all of them but quite a bit of them did. Any suggestions or is it a waste of time?

Just wanted to give this a bump.

Of course the card that gets fried is the 1st shooter card This was one of the cards from Chris's camera, and I was acting as second shooter for all the shots on this card (thus, more background, crowd and secondary photos rather than prime angle) Thankfully we have photos from the reception events, but not the "good" ones

If you still have the card, try using image rescue or another program to try and retrieve them again. You may get better results depending on the rescue program and the settings... Hope this helps!!!

Check out PhotoRec, it's always worked like a charm for me.

photo rescue for mac is by far one of the best recovery programs available...

The program we tried last night was Photo Rescue, so I'm checking PhotoRec now. Thanks, we'll keep you updated

Just make sure you follow the instructions, and it'll be a-ok.

Thanks bryce when I get home I am going to run it and I will let you know.

This is the one I have too and it has always worked for me. It usually renames the files, but they work. (I've only used it twice).

I wonder if it damaged the card? Did you get a good reader to use for the recovery?

I sure hope you guys get it back!!!

~Bill

Hey bryce thanks for the help but unfortunately PhotoRec did not recover the files. Not sure what to do now but thanks for the help everyone. Gonna try a few other options before I say quit.

I would send it out. We have had great luck with Tallyn's Data recovery: 1800-433-8685. We ran a card through several recovery programs and got nothing and they were able to get the files. They also have NO CHARGE unless they can recover the files- which many companies do not do. It's worth a shot- I mean, what would you loose? Give em a call, and keep your hopes up

Heresa a screenshot of the files i have on CD but I cant view them or open them in anything. I have tried Opening them in photoshop, bridge lightroom, and Capture NX, and nothing.Click to view attachment

Have you tried Smart Recovery?
http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/smart_reco....htm?language=1

It saved us last year when I lost a bunch of family formals. It recovered all but one image.

I highly recommend it.

Thanks Jonathan, we will give that one a try.

So far nothing has worked

And yes Bill, we got a good reader that we are now using, as soon as that went screwy we stopped using it and got a refund.

Try downloading UFRaw. It is usually very forgiving of slightly corrupted files. See if that can open one of the raw files you have on cd. If that doesn't work, and you're willing, send me a working raw file, and a non-working one. I can try lookign to see if the metadata is corrupted or if it's just the first few bytes of the file and replace them out.

I know it may sound silly, but you might try copying the files onto your hard drive from the CD, and then renaming them back to their original filename if possible. Sorry this happend...please keep us posted.

I tried renaming them back from xSC to DSC and nothing. Still wont open them. Bryce I will try to send you one working and one not if the other program doesnt work.

GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!! UFraw didnt work either. Bryce if your offer stands i would like to take you up on it.

hope you figure it out friends!!!

You can try to send me one too and I can see if I ca do anything from a Mac point of view (if I remember from the Rockstar Roadtrip, I think your wife had a PC). Do they have the .nef extension on them. I mean it looks like they might since they show up as Nikon files, but you never know.

Oh and my email is kristen AT my domain in my sig.

Yes all the files have the .NEF file extension on them.

Hey everybody just figured I'd let you all know what's up. First, mac/pc etc isn't any sort of issue here. The files themselves, when they were recovered, didn't get the binary header informaiton copied and it looks like other information was not copied as well. Possibly stopped copying in the wrong place, so that could be an issue as well. I figure I'll contact a few recovery places and see what they can do.

For now, Steward make sure you don't format or use that card! There's a chance that the pro's could recover from it. I may be able to recover from it but hopefully i'll find a recovery company with the technical grits to be able to get it done quickly for ya.

eek- sending you the recovery file fairies--wish you guys luck in recovering those files.

If you are a member of PPA, I would contact them as well - this type of thing is covered under their indemnification trust minus a $200 deductible.

Best of luck in recovering the files

hey everyone i wanted to thank you all for your suggestions and help. We ended up sending our card to DriveSavers and we should hear back next week to see what happens. I have confidence in them but its just hard to wait. Anyway we will let you know what happens. Thank you all everyone!!!

Please keep us posted!

Well today we got a call from DriveSavers and.............................................................................
.........................



Andy from DriveSavers was happy to say they were able to recover all the pictures on the card!!!!

We will get them back tomorrow in the morning and I did ask that the files ARE able to open up unlike when Fry's did their recovery and the files did not open in anything. So we are very excited, but until i see the files open in lightroom, or anything i am a little hesitant, but Andy said if they do not work for any reason, to call and they will help out.

Thanks everyone. We will let you know tomorrow if the files work, but i think with as respectful as DriveSavers is in the industry, there wont be a problem. Talk to you all tomorrow.

Yay!!! I knew they could do it!!!

Bryce thank you so much for referring them. Like i said in the previous post i will let you know tomorrow if the files open. Take care.

No problem at all! I really really hope that they work! I've contacted them before and geekwise they've got killer know how and gear to work with... i just didn't have the money for them.

yeah well we didnt want to spend the 500.00 bucks but i think it will be worth it. Thanks again.

geekwise... awesome.

Lol, Geek ratings! Yayyyyy!

Yay! Glad to hear it all worked out!

YES!! *Doing a little happy dance for ya!*

Last update guys the files arrived today and I am EDITING THEM AS WE SPEAK!!!!!

FREEKIN DRIVESAVERS ROCKED IT!!!!!! Totally recommending them to anyone from now on if a issue comes up like this. Hopefully not for us again for a long time.

A really big shout out to Bryce for the recommendation. Cheers to you my friend.

awesome to hear you got all your images! what a relief!

So glad that worked out for you Chris.

Not a problem at all! I'm just super stoked that it worked out!