Compact Flash Card Failure - Wedding photos lost

Lifeaxe

Lifeaxe

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Allan
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Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right place for this thread but thought I would post it and see if its of interest?

Couple weekends ago I helped out as a photographer at a friends wedding. I mainly shoot Motorsport so this was something a little different for a change.

After a long day I had 600 or so photos using two cameras in the bag so left the wedding early for a well earned rest, and to have a quick look at the photos before I called it a day. Uploaded one compact flash card without any problems but the second one, with over 400 photos on started ok then completely failed. Windows wouldn't read it, recognise it or do anything with it.

Tried everything I could think of to get Windows to read the card and recover the files but absolutely nothing. Panic set in at this stage as I thought I had lost all my hard work, not to mention having to face telling the bride and groom I messed up, even if it was a technical fault on the card.

Anyway, I searched around the internet for answers and drew a blank, loads of recovery software but nothing that helps you restart a failed card. In the end I looked for companies that could do it for me. There were a few but settled on one called www.recoverfab.com based in Germany (I'm in the UK). Sent the disc off and prayed they could help.

A few days later I had an email from Leopold Hiersche to confirm the card had arrived and would be looked at in the next few days. 24 hours later another email to confirm the photos had been recovered and I could view 100 thumbnails on the site. Checked them and amazingly all the wedding photos are there! So, a big thank you to Leopold.

I guess the moral of this story is to format your cards in camera before you start and change them frequently if your shooting at weddings. If things go wrong contact Recoverfab as I'm sure they will help.
 
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Hmmm
 
The moral of the story is - don't double your risk of failure by using two cards.
 
hollis_f said:
The moral of the story is - don't double your risk of failure by using two cards.
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or possibly if one does fail use a company recommended by someone in their first post :D
 
Oh well, not a beginner and thought it may help someone out there who is. Thank you for your welcoming comments... Taken over 20,000 photos at motosport events, shoot for the local paper and freelance for a National news agency and never had a card failure before.
 
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Suvv said:
or possibly if one does fail use a company recommended by someone in their first post :D
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This has been reported as suspected spam a few times and we've had a look. On the face of it we don't see anything to back that up so we're happy that the post is legitimate. :)

Of course, if any one can prove different............
 
theurbanclown said:
Yes, put them on one card and lose all of the photos instead of a few.
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OP didn't lose any images. If a card should fail (and I've yet to have that happen after 12 years of using CF) then image recovery works just as well on a large card as a small one.
 
Had a similar experience a few months ago. The CF card would not be recognised by any computer or camera.Fortunately this was a product shoot that could be redone if necessary.

After a bit of research found a company called DataWtreck in Stoke. who recovered all of the images for me for £90. It's a frightening experience to have this happen,even when a re shoot is easily possible. On a wedding I can't imagine the how a photographer would feel.

Might be a bit overkill, but now everything is recorded onto two cards. Limits the choice of cameras, but it does give peace of mind
 
ecoleman said:
It must have been a really old camera if his compact disc failed!
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@ ecoleman. Apologies, The title is wrong & grateful to ZoneV for letting me know. It should say; Compact flash card failure... I'm sure everyone understood tho (still reckon you have lost the plot with your response).
@ dod. Thank you. My post certainly isn't spam and I'm wondering why anyone would suspect it is. Please view my website for more information.
@ theurbanclown. Thank you and a good point, 2 off Nikon D4's are currently being looked at so it never happens again (I will check for dual cards).
@ hollis_f. I wonder why you post comments that are pointless... When you do have a card fail you may well be looking at this post for help! You can't recover photos from a card that's failed using recovery software. Do you shoot professionally?
@ Chappers. Thank you and I wish I had known about DataWtreck as I may have been able to save some money. Having dual cards is without doubt a priority if you shoot professionally, especially at weddings. Lesson learned the hard way.
 
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I had a card fail on me recently and have done some research to try to recover the data. One question that has remained unanswered is; does this company offer a discount in return for forum posting?
 
JT74 said:
I had a card fail on me recently and have done some research to try to recover the data. One question that has remained unanswered is; does this company offer a discount in return for forum posting?
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No idea but will ask as its not cheap. I should get all the photos back today so will update on what happens. Several UK companies have now responded to my request for info on card recovery, bit too late to take them up on their offers now tho.

Update: Photos downloaded yesterday, 8gb took nearly 4 hours via FTP software but worth the wait and only lost 8 photos (RAW) out of 420. He even included a link to a FTP software program for the download
https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=client if anyone wants a free program for website uploads to servers etc, it works brilliantly. Been using an old program called CuteFTP for years and now realise how out of date it is compared to this one.

I would highly recommend this chaps service, its not cheap but he does offer a great service, his comms are excellent and I did find out he offers a small discount for a plug on forums (I didn't know that at the time). Hopefully, you will never need to use him but if you do I'm sure you won't be disappointed :-)

P.S. The card was destroyed in the process of recovery but I would have binned it anyway.
 
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hollis_f said:
The moral of the story is - don't double your risk of failure by using two cards.
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"Don't put all your eggs in many baskets". :D :thinking:

Edit: Lifeaxe, I can see Ecoleman's point: the thread title says "Compact Disk failure". Should it be "Compact Flash failure"?
 
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ZoneV said:
"Don't put all your eggs in many baskets". :D :thinking:

Edit: Lifeaxe, I can see Ecoleman's point: the thread title says "Compact Disk failure". Should it be "Compact Flash failure?".
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Mmmmm, your right and didn't notice that, thank you. It should read: Compact flash card failure... Don't think I can edit it but I'm sure everyone understood the problem tho :thumbs:
 
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Noticed several negative replies to this post seem to come from people who post a lot on the forum but don't actually have any photos or albums for other members to critique... Strange for a photography forum, anyone else noticed the same?
 
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We naturally get suspicious when a 'new member' signs up, and in their first post are recommending a company for the 'wonderful service' and 'amazing work' they've done...

It's happened so many times before...

Would be great to post a 'This is who I am' in the introductions thread, then participate a little here and there so we can see you're a real person, and then maybe post up about the wonderful service....

You'll get a lovely welcome - but if someone happens to be a spammer - they tend not to be made so welcome...

A lot of members do have photos that have been put up - but aren't necessarily on the TP servers, but hosted independently...
 
cymruchris said:
We naturally get suspicious when a 'new member' signs up, and in their first post are recommending a company for the 'wonderful service' and 'amazing work' they've done...

It's happened so many times before...

Would be great to post a 'This is who I am' in the introductions thread, then participate a little here and there so we can see you're a real person, and then maybe post up about the wonderful service....

You'll get a lovely welcome - but if someone happens to be a spammer - they tend not to be made so welcome...

A lot of members do have photos that have been put up - but aren't necessarily on the TP servers, but hosted independently...
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Hi Chris, thanks for the reply and will post in the newbie section. Seen some interesting stuff on the forum so looking forward to chatting with the members, will enjoy looking at the members photos too. If they are hosted independently would this be on the members profile as a website or is there another way to see the host server?
 
Hi. Allan. And welcome to the forum. Whereabouts are you in GL?

You can edit that thread title if you wish, it seems to be upsetting some folk. Use the edit button on the first post then click on 'Go Advanced'.
 
Lifeaxe said:
Noticed several negative replies to this post seem to come from people who post a lot on the forum but don't actually have any photos or albums for other members to critique... Strange for a photography forum, anyone else noticed the same?
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Nope. Some of us are gear freaks, and don't actually take any photos.... :D :p

Seriously though, not everyone photographs for the wider world to see. I count myself in that category :)
 
@ ecoleman. Apologies, The title is wrong & grateful to ZoneV for letting me know. It should say; Compact flash card failure... I'm sure everyone understood tho (still reckon you have lost the plot with your response).
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I'm sure they did, I was just having a bit of a poke A sense of humour goes a long way on this forum.

Noticed several negative replies to this post seem to come from people who post a lot on the forum but don't actually have any photos or albums for other members to critique... Strange for a photography forum, anyone else noticed the same?
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I do photography for my enjoyment. Does that mean I have to plaster my photos all over the internet. Maybe I don't want critique, maybe I don't care what other people think.

Anyway, welcome to the forum.
 
2blue4u said:
Hi. Allan. And welcome to the forum. Whereabouts are you in GL?

You can edit that thread title if you wish, it seems to be upsetting some folk. Use the edit button on the first post then click on 'Go Advanced'.
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Hi John, thank you and much appreciated. Based in near Cheltenham but tend to run around the county like a mad dog with work. Have amended the title now to clear up any confusion too :thumbs:
 
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arad85 said:
Nope. Some of us are gear freaks, and don't actually take any photos.... :D :p

Seriously though, not everyone photographs for the wider world to see. I count myself in that category :)
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Hi Andy, point taken :thumbs:
 
Lifeaxe said:
Have amended the title now to clear up any confusion too :thumbs:
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Thank God for that, I'd damn near sobbed my way through a whole box of man-size. :D

Welcome aboard, Allan. Enjoy your stay. Keep your arms and legs inside the carriage at all times and please remain seated until you hear the whistle. :)
 
Lifeaxe said:
Noticed several negative replies to this post seem to come from people who post a lot on the forum but don't actually have any photos or albums for other members to critique... Strange for a photography forum, anyone else noticed the same?
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no.

I dont make beer... but I know when I have drunk a bad pint...
 
I don't know if anyone has heard of it but there is a piece of software called "Spinrite" which is claimed to be able to recover lost data from HDDs even if they can't reboot at all - and it also applies to SSDs and memory cards even if they can't be read.

It also applies preventative maintenance to HDDs to prevent data loss etc.

See here for Video about it:

https://www.grc.com/sr/whatitdoes.htm

.
 
ZoneV said:
Thank God for that, I'd damn near sobbed my way through a whole box of man-size. :D

Welcome aboard, Allan. Enjoy your stay. Keep your arms and legs inside the carriage at all times and please remain seated until you hear the whistle. :)
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Cheers and great to be here. P.s. Liking the tissue bit :thumbs:
 
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