http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software An entire Lightstalkers thread via RSS/XML. en-us I bought a brand new SanDisk 8GB SD card today before a wedding shoot. I formated it and shot away. All ran smoothly and the day went great till now. I just put the SD card in my card reader and it shows no photos. I have to send this off Monday morning so I need a quick fix. Anyone out there have a good disk rescue program that can be downloaded for free? Most out there give you 10, but the rest you have to pay for, or the first one is great but the others all have a watermark. If I have to pay $30 or whatever, I will. But really these days, its every penny counts right?! PLEASE HELP!!!!!! Thanks, Amy Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:54:02 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software Photorescue......$29..... instant download.... worth every cent http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/ Sun, 10 May 2009 09:14:25 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147788 Hi Amy, you don't say if you are Mac or PC this is good for PC http://tinyurl.com/r2jhhe It's a heavyweight data recovery program but it does Digital images for free.. John Sun, 10 May 2009 09:38:01 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147789 Sandisk cards should have come with Rescue Pro. Sun, 10 May 2009 17:23:43 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147804 http://www.lc-tech.com/buynow/rescueprobuynow.html Sun, 10 May 2009 18:34:13 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147805 don't mess with anything other than Photorescue. Not only are they a waste of time, but they can actually damage the directory structure. 10 years of data recovery talkin here... Mon, 11 May 2009 00:10:29 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147826 Listen to Ted...even though he's a Red Sucks fan...:):):) Mon, 11 May 2009 01:40:07 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147832 ah, envy is so ugly... Mon, 11 May 2009 09:49:55 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147853 I've had best results with Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery. Mon, 11 May 2009 09:58:42 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147854 Ted what about the Resque pro of sandisk? it recovers fine and so far the card is also fine, whats the danger? Cheers Tom Mon, 11 May 2009 09:59:17 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147855 look for a free program named PHOTOREC. tryed them all and only this lil free application could recover my canon .cr2 files Mon, 11 May 2009 10:05:50 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147856 Emil, Also Rescue pro managed to do that with a 4GB sandisc card. Not after formatting though, just after deleting all. Mon, 11 May 2009 10:10:36 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147857 data recovery software works on the principle that the directory is corrupted. the data is there, but the system doesn't know how to organize it or where to find it. the first thing it needs to do is to look at the data and try to make sense of it, and build a directory that, in theory, will find the files, and build them out of all the bits and bytes... the danger is, many programs actually rebuild the actual directory on the media, overwriting the original. photorescue is built to find, decode, and rebuild specifically image files, including raw formats of all types. there are other, serious, and expensive programs that can do the same thing, but they don't organize the files very well, and don't provide any way of sorting out the images from all the other files on the media. DataRescue, for example, is a pro-level app, and it's a beast. the free programs that cards give you, sandisk and lexar, ironically, are there because of firmware problems and incompatibilities that the memory cards have. they are far from general purpose tools. they are for those specific firmware issues with that specific media. if they work with other issues, it's generally just good fortune. photorescue has been the bench standard for over a decade now. rob galbraith touted it back in 98, and i've been using it ever since. i have used it on every imaginable combination of cards, cameras and OS, and have tried every program out there, free, and not, that i could find. yes, some work, some times, but the problem is that the whole system is so dependent on the various components (camera, card, firmware, card reader, OS) that you need something that covers it all. Mon, 11 May 2009 10:52:50 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147859 Thank you everyone for all your advise and help. I did download PhotoRescue and it seems to have worked flawlessly. I have never had something like this happen to me but I'm glad I have an insurance program in place now, just in case it happens again! Anyone ever use an EyeFi card that wirelessly send the images to an online site? I was thinking of investing in one as it would be another backup, just in case! Would be interested if anyone has expierence with it and how it might work on my Mark II and my Mac. Thank you again!!! -Amy Mon, 11 May 2009 18:20:16 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147890 eyefi is an SD card. the mark2, if i'm not mistaken, only uses CF cards, it also drains the battery. i've used a wireless transmitter before, and i personally don't think it's a viable option for a working photojournalist. it's too bulky and it burns through batteries quickly. just get a good back-up system in place. Mon, 11 May 2009 19:23:19 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#147900 Posting for reference information only: If you even in the need of rescuing data from a physically damaged card in Japan send it off to these guys.... http://www.rescue-center.jp/ Normally 48 hours to find out if the card is recoverable, you can pay extra to have that sped up to 12 hours. Hope you are never in the situation to have to do this. Fri, 15 May 2009 08:28:52 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#148192 http://www.piriform.com/recuva I never use it, but the 2 others software they make are very good. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:00:13 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#157389 You want "free software", but you want to be paid for your photos .... Hmm, I just KNOW that somewhere there's a software developer's forum where people are going, "YOU guys who give away free software! How am I supposed to make a living off the software I develop, if you go and give it away for free!" Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:05:13 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/urgent-i-need-a-free-image-rescue-software#157401