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Last time I want to bring my photos from SD-card (Sandisk Ultra SDHC 32 GB) to my computer (windows), my computer said that there is no file system on the card and I should format the card. Also my camera can´t read the card anymore.

When I open the format-dialog it said that card has 30,6 MB (not GB).

I do a backup of the card one day before so I lost "only" one day of photography, but unluckily this is the first birthday of my daughter :-(.

I use a Canon 70D and raw-format so file extension is CR2.

So I try some tools to recover, but doesn’t work. In the end I tried testdisk, but also without luck. So here is my procedure with testdisk I tried, maybe you know a better way which can bring my photos back.

  1. testdisk_win says card has 32 MB (MB not GB).
  2. I chose partition table type none

    -> No pictures were found.

  3. So I changed geometry based on another 32GB-SD-card

    • cylinders changed from 3 to 3905
    • heads (255), sectors (63) and sector-size (512) stay without changes

    -> Search takes longer, but nothing found.

Is there anything else what I can do before I think about to go to a data-recovery-company?

I think about to format the card and try search again, but I'm not sure I this would bring the final death to the pictures.

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  • Do NOT format the card: it's a write operation, and previous content can easily get overwritten. In fact, you should make sure the physical LOCK switch is slid down so the card becomes read-only. TestDisk allows you to create a whole disk image. This way you get a copy you can mess with without risking losing even more data. TestDisk also comes with PhotoRec, a file scavenging tool which can be useful if you can't repair/recover the file system.
    – and31415
    Aug 6, 2014 at 7:57
  • @and31415: Tahnks for your quick response. I tried PhotoRec also, but doesn`t bring me a step ahead. Can you recommend some configuration for the tool? I'm aware of the "write operation"-problem, the thought was "better get some of the images is better then none" - a taste desperation :-/
    – Micha
    Aug 6, 2014 at 8:05
  • possible duplicate of Recover data from SD card
    – and31415
    Aug 6, 2014 at 8:05
  • @and31415: problem with the diskimage is that it doesnt give me a 32GB image - only 32MB (as far as I remember). Therefor the "possible duplicate link" doesnt fit well.
    – Micha
    Aug 6, 2014 at 8:11
  • Well, it's still worth trying. If you can't get a full image you might still work the actual card (as long as it's write-protected). For what is worth, if you were to try to format the card, what would the reported capacity be?
    – and31415
    Aug 6, 2014 at 8:15

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