Save my vacation

October 9, 2006 9:50 AM

I need software/service/help for recovering files from my camera's corrupted memory card. 300 photos from my trip to Spain. Poof. I'm using a Mac, the camera's a Panasonic FZ7, and I do not have ready access to a Windows or Linux machine. Disk Warrior appears to be of no avail (Not using a separate card reader, just the camera's USB connection). Anything I can try from the command line or anything like that?

FWIW, when I first mounted this on my desktop, there were two directories with files—PANA_100 and PANA_101 (normally there's only PANA_100). There were a lot of blank files in the second directory, six files in the first, of which only one (the first) was readable. Now I only see PANA_100.

posted by adamrice to technology (7 comments total)

This worked for me.
posted by modernnomad at 10:03 AM on October 9, 2006

I'd try the program modernnomad linked. I've used similar rescue utilities on Windows machines. Best thing I can say is to find (or buy) a card reader and run directly from that, not through the camera. Unless you can see the card on camera as a local disk (sounds like you may be able to do so) you won't have as many options for fixing things.

The second point is that turning the camera on might potentially cause it to try and reformat or repair the card. Fix it first in a card reader, then copy your images over, then reformat it and test the card for errors or bad spots. Flash memory is fairly cheap, so replacing it outright might not be a bad idea if it is starting to go bad on you.
posted by caution live frogs at 10:14 AM on October 9, 2006

Another one is PhotoRec.
posted by fings at 11:26 AM on October 9, 2006

i second photorec its fantastic i used it recently to recover a few hundred pics
posted by moochoo at 12:07 PM on October 9, 2006

So far no dice with Photorec or Exif-Untrasher. PhotoRec sits their endlessly on launch if the memory card is present (launches fine if not). Exif-Untrasher tries to build a disk image, and complains that my hard disk isn't big enough (I've got 100 GB free).

Both these look like potentially useful apps, so I do appreciate the reccos, but am still looking for a solution.
posted by adamrice at 1:20 PM on October 9, 2006

FWIW i dont know if this will make a diff but i used a mem card reader.

i actually bought the card reader just to aid in recovering the files. it only cost me £3 on ebay
posted by moochoo at 11:50 PM on October 9, 2006

Exif Untrasher (recommended by modernnomad) did the trick for me, but I had to use an external card reader for it to work right. Huzzah!

Thanks again for all the help.
posted by adamrice at 5:48 PM on October 16, 2006