Corrupted 16GB SDHC Card

Using PhotoRec to recover lost data
Forum rules
When asking for technical support:
- Search for posts on the same topic before posting a new question.
- Give clear, specific information in the title of your post.
- Include as many details as you can, MOST POSTS WILL GET ONLY ONE OR TWO ANSWERS.
- Post a follow up with a "Thank you" or "This worked!"
- When you learn something, use that knowledge to HELP ANOTHER USER LATER.
Before posting, please read https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
Locked
Message
Author
spaceman1179
Posts: 2
Joined: 20 Oct 2012, 05:57

Corrupted 16GB SDHC Card

#1 Post by spaceman1179 »

I was using a brand new 16GB SDHC card in my Nikon D80 and after about 30 photos, the camera no longer recognized the card and asked if i wanted to format (i chose NO). I believe the D80 formats the card using FAT32, which is how i formatted the card prior to taking pictures. When I insert the card into my Mac, it recognizes the card, but can't read it and asks if I want to initialize it (again, I chose NO).

I'm trying to use PhotoRec to try to recover the photos, and so far it hasn't found anything, though I'm not 100% sure I'm using the software correctly.

The questions I have are:
1) PhotoRec lists two cards, labeled disk2 and rdisk2. Both show as 16GB. Which one do I choose?
2) In the Options, I've tried Expert Mode and selected the 512 byte block size, but still nothing. Should I change the settings for Paranoid and Keep Corrupted Files?
3) If the filesystem is bad, can I format the card in-camera to reset the format and still recover any files?

Any help would be appreciated!

spaceman1179
Posts: 2
Joined: 20 Oct 2012, 05:57

Re: Corrupted 16GB SDHC Card

#2 Post by spaceman1179 »

Quick update:

I tried formatting the card in-camera, and it didn't work. I then tried to format using Disk Utility on my iMac and still nothing. After doing some research, it looks like the disk appears, but there are no volumes to mount and access.

Does anyone know how I can repair the volume and (hopefully) access the data?

User avatar
cgrenier
Site Admin
Posts: 5432
Joined: 18 Feb 2012, 15:08
Location: Le Perreux Sur Marne, France
Contact:

Re: Corrupted 16GB SDHC Card

#3 Post by cgrenier »

spaceman1179 wrote: 1) PhotoRec lists two cards, labeled disk2 and rdisk2. Both show as 16GB. Which one do I choose?
2) In the Options, I've tried Expert Mode and selected the 512 byte block size, but still nothing. Should I change the settings for Paranoid and Keep Corrupted Files?
3) If the filesystem is bad, can I format the card in-camera to reset the format and still recover any files?
1) rdisk2 is recommanded, but disk2 is also fine
2) There is no real need to change the other settings. You can anyway set Keep Corrupted Files to Yes, if you get no good files (names like f*.jpg) or broken ones (names like b*.jpg), there is a physical problem on the card
3) Reformating the card is a bad idea, more information will be lost. If it's already done, you have to force the block size to 512 bytes.

Locked