Reasons for camera memory failure
CnW Recovery software is normally very successful at recovering photos from camera memory chips. However, it is worth discussing a few of the reasons why the memory fails in the first place. Fortunately, the CnW photo recovery
software has a high success rate at recovering otherwise lost photos and precious memories.
Physical failure
Physical failure of memory chips does happen, but is reasonably rare. Unfortunately, there are few ways to fix a chip without extremely expensive equipment, and often data is lost.
Deletion and formatting
Formatting and deleting is sometimes intentional. The photos have been copied off, and so the chip is cleared down, only to discover that the copy has not worked. Other times, it can be easy to accidentally press all the buttons on the camera, including the one confirming deletion - suddenly all all your photos have gone. As long as no new photos are taken, existing photos can be recovered. The only exception to this rule appears to be with some cameras and xD memory chips. We have seen several of these memory chips where while deleting the whole disk is cleared, and not just the directory structure.
As a precautionary piece of advice, it is not very good practise to delete individual photos. By doing so, the chip memory can become fragmented and this is harder to recover.
Corruption
The most common reason for for losing photos is undefined corruption of the memory chip. This is often caused when chips are moved from camera to PC, or as just a malfunction within the PC or camera. Typical symptoms are when a photo overwrites critical areas of the memory chip, in particular the FAT and the directory. The PC then sees the chip as Unrecognised format, do you want to reformat. The answer is no, but plug it into CnW Recovery software and the photos should be recoverable very quickly.
There is probably no way to prevent this random corruption, so when ever possible, download your photos onto a different media as soon as possible. At all times, you should try and have multiple copies of all of your photos.
Deleted photos on memory chips - simple photo recovery software
It is a common problem for photos on a camera to be accidentally deleted, or sometimes just lost. CnW Recovery photo recovery software (download now) has a very simple recovery process so that in a few very simple stages all photos, either deleted, or otherwise lost, can be recovered to the PC hard drive. Each stage presented as a simple option.
Typical times this procedure will be required could be after and accidental Format or Delete All. Also, when a message ‘Media nor formatted, Format now?’ is displayed, or even when this message has been followed. Other times, a chip is just shown as blank, or they have some failed physical sectors. CnW Recovery software will work very happily even with a blank boot sector.
Stage 1 - hardware
CnW Software will read all types of camera memory chip, (Compact Flash, xD, sD etc) but only from a card reader, ie not from the camera itself. Typical card readers are USB devices, but some computers also have them as part of the PC or laptop. Either work very happily. Thus plug your problem chip into the car reader and plug into the PC.
Stage 2 - chip selection
Start CnW Recovery software and the Wizard screen will be displayed. All devices on the PC will be displayed and it is essential that the memory chip is selected. By default it should be by the Memory Chip icon, but some devices are detected as a hard drive instead - either is correct. Make sure that the memory chip is displayed in the combo box beside the icon, and click on the icon.
Stage 3 Physical media test
The physical media test is a quick test to ensure that the memory device can be read physically. If successful, teh program will automatically continue to the next stage. Some chips are slow to read, but as long as errors are not detected, all will be OK.
Stage 4 Verify Disk structure
The verify stage is used to determine if the memory chip has a good structure and all elements are in the correct location. If this passes, then Continue to wizard should be selected
Stage 5 Media Analysis
This is the final stage where more details of the chip are displayed. It will give an indication of the percentage of the chip that has data, also how many files have been detected as good files and deleted files. Also at this stage photos on the chip will be displayed in the preview box of the screen.
The user can now select from a few options to recover just good files, deleted files, or recover all images that are now in unallocated space. The recover Now button will recover the files to the directory selected. On the Demo, everything will work, but no actual files will be saved on the hard drive.
Undelete software
There are many available packages in the internet that offer Undelete software. With deleted files it is always possible to overwrite other files whilst undeleting, and so for this reason the approach that CnW take is only to recover files to a different drive. This way there can be no that more damage can be done by mistake. NEVER use a software program that changes the original disk or memory chip
FAT32 deleted files
On a large memory chip, FAT32 is often used as a file system. When files are deleted, so is part of the original location. Many software recovery programs will show these files as deleted, but then fail to recover the files. CnW software has special routines to enable all photos to be recovered correctly.
Download the software now and even with the demo, you will see the photos that will be recovered