For the second time in two weeks I’ve had to help someone recover ‘lost’ data from ‘corrupted’ cards.  In both cases, the answer was the same and in both cases the person was in a panic, their mind instantly going to the dramatic ending point of ‘What will I tell my clients because their images are LOST FOREVER!?’  One had gotten to the point where she obtained an estimate of $1200 to recover her images from her data cards.

Take a deep breath.

First of all.  Lost data and corrupted cards are extremely rare.  It does happen and when it does, it’s not pretty.  That’s why I shoot with a camera that has two cards for in-camera backups.  But most people don’t.  And the vast, vast majority of events and sessions are successfully captured with every image intact.

If you have arrived here because you think you may have lost your images, please follow me on a journey back to the basics and hopefully we’ll find something much more mundane and easy to fix.  I’m going to start with the most common scenarios and work up to the least likely eventuality that your cards are, indeed corrupt.  I’ve had exactly one (1) card go bad in over 300,000 images taken professionally.

1) Did you just get a new camera, card reader, computer or install new software? If so, do a little troubleshooting.  If you just got a new camera or installed a new version of photoshop or lightroom.  Then goto step 2 and make sure that your software is up to date and that it supports your new camera.   If you just got a new computer, make sure that your software is working properly and updated to the most current version.  Also, if you changed your user name or are not logged in to your usual account on your computer, make sure you have permissions to create folders and files in the directories you are trying to write to.  You can test this by trying to copy any file from your desktop to the folder you are trying to save images into.  Also check to make sure that you have enough free space on your disk drive to copy the files.

2) Is your software up to date? In both of the instances above, the problem was that their camera’s raw image format was not able to be used by photoshop because they needed to update Adobe Camera Raw.  Take a moment and check to make sure that you have the latest version installed.  In photoshop, go to the Photoshop menu at the top and click on “About Camera Raw…”

A dialog box will pop up that will tell you that ACR version that you have.  At the time of this writing, the current versions are: For CS3 – 4.6.  For CS4 – 5.7 and for CS5 6.2.  To find the latest versions and download visit the adobe update page for Mac or Windows.  If you don’t have the latest version, stop everything else you are doing and update it.   The major release number (i.e. the ’5′ in ’5.5′) are for different versions of adobe creative suite.  CS3 updates begin with ’4′. CS4 with ’5′ and CS5 with ’6′.    You probably DON’T have to upgrade photoshop, but you most likely will need to update the Adobe Camera Raw software.

Even if you think your camera is old enough and it worked in a previous version of photoshop.  Still check this.  In one case there was an actual bug in a version of ACR that was causing the problem.  The photographer was able to update and had no problems.  Even though the camera that it wasn’t working with was older than one that it did work with.

3) Isolate the problem. Is it just one card that won’t work or is it a bunch of them?  If you are able to get the images from all the cards except one.  And they were all shot on the same camera, you might be in trouble.  If all the cards are having the same problem then it is likely that the problem is somewhere else.  Maybe a bad USB cable or a bad card reader.

4) If all the cards are having the same problem. Try to download the pictures to your computer following the directions in your camera manual and connecting the USB cable directly to the camera.  Make sure the camera is turned off while you connect the cable and then turn it on.  When the camera comes up, find the drive in the finder window (Mac) or explorer (Windows) and try and copy the images directly to a folder.   If this works, the problem lies with your card reader.  Copy the rest of the files and get to work.  Buy a new card reader before your new job.  Or you might just elect to continue downloading directly from your camera.

5) If the camera disk does not show up in the finder, make sure you have the camera set correctly to do this and powered on.  On my Nikon cameras there is a setting to change the USB to mass storage.  If the disk does not show up.  Look at the camera to see if it is showing any signs that it is connected.  My displays an Icon showing that it is transferring data to the pc.   If the camera is showing no sign that it’s connected, disconnect the cable and try and preview the pictures on the camera.  If the pictures are showing up, then there is a good chance that it’s your USB cable that is suspect.  Replace it and try again.

6) If you have the files on your computer and you just aren’t able to read them and you’ve updated to the current version of ACR or Lightroom, then try using the camera manufacturer’s software to download and view the photos. If you are able to do this, convert them all to a standard format (jpg or dng) and export to your intended directory.

7) Some card manufacturers have recovery software that will work on their cards. There are also some freeware and shareware software packages out there that might be able to help.  These programs work if you are having trouble finding the images on the card.  If there is a physical defect in the card or the card doesn’t appear when you plug in your card reader, these software applications will not work.  At this point, a professional recovery service might be your only option.

Some tips for memory card-hygiene:

1) Unless you have a camera with dual slots, don’t attempt on-site backups of your cards.  Just bring plenty of cards and put them in a secure place.  Usually all together in a card wallet, so that they will be safe when you get home.  Why not back up on site?  Well, backing up cards on site is far more risky than reading and making a backup of them in a controlled environment in your office or studio.  Typically you’re trying to back them up at the end of the night, you’re tired, maybe cold, and it’s taking a long time for them to copy over.  So you’re tempted to rush, increasing the chances of bending a pin in your card reader or physically damaging the card by either jamming it in somewhere it shouldn’t, or even dropping it and stepping on it.

2) Shoot RAW + JPG.  If you don’t have a second card slot for backups, shooting RAW + JPG gives you another option if your raw files can’t be read or part of the card gets corrupted or overwritten.  It’s rare these days, but in older days when you filled up a card sometimes the camera would erroneously overwrite the headers for other files while trying to fit the last image on the card.  So you might have one or two files corrupted.  Have an additional copy on the same card can sometimes save you in that case.

3) Always unmount/eject your card reader before disconnecting.  I have an old, cheapie card reader that would actually corrupt cards if it is unplugged without ejecting and another card was put in before the system recognized that it had been disconnected.

4) If you don’t shoot a lot (multiple cards in one shoot) just leave your card in your camera and download directly from the camera.  Less chance of breaking your card or camera the less you physically handle the cards.

5) Don’t turn your camera off while it is still writing to the card.  If the camera is trying to write a file to the card, usually after a burst of shots, and you turn it off mid-stream, it can corrupt the files it is trying to write.  This problem seems to have been resolved for newer cameras, but my older digital cameras would do this.  Resulting in half-black images.

6) When you get home, put your cards in a safe place.  Don’t keep them in your pants pockets or they might accidentally get run through the washing machine.   Oddly enough, I’ve had cards washed before (from personal shoots, never weddings) but it didn’t seem to affect the cards at all.  The images were just fine.  I wouldn’t want to make a habit out of it though.

7) Buy good cards, from reputable dealers.  Counterfeit cards are out there and they are slower and less reliable than the real deal.  I shoot with Lexar and Sandisk.  If you are buying something much cheaper than you could at a local store, there is a good chance that it’s not the real deal.