Forum Replies Created
Hey everyone! I’ve been seeing a lot of “help, I deleted everything” messages in my inbox lately, so I thought it was time to start a dedicated thread. When you’re in a pinch on Windows, what is your absolute go-to recovery tool? Whether it’s a free open-source gem or a paid powerhouse, let’s hear what has actually worked for you when things went sideways.
If you’ve accidentally deleted photos, formatted your SD card, or found it unexpectedly empty, don’t panic. In most cases, your data is still recoverable, but your next steps are critical. Follow these steps carefully to maximize your chances of a full recovery.
Step 1. Stop Using the SD Card Immediately
The moment you realize data is lost:
- Remove the card from your camera, phone, or device.
- Do not save, copy, or transfer any new files to the card.
- Avoid formatting if prompted by your device.
Why? When files are deleted or the card is formatted, the data remains on the flash memory until overwritten. Continuing to use the card risks permanent data loss.
Step 2. Ensure Physical Integrity
Inspect the card for physical damage. If it’s cracked, water-damaged, or has corrupted sectors (“card not recognized” errors), consider professional recovery services.
Use a reliable card reader connected directly to your computer—avoid USB hubs or cheap adapters that may cause connection issues.
Step 3. Select a Trusted Recovery Tool
For logical recovery (deletion, formatting, corruption), I recommend Stellar Photo Recovery. It’s a tool I often use in non-physical damage cases due to its:
- Deep scan capability for SD cards
- User-friendly interface
- Support for photos, videos, documents, and more
- Preview feature before recovery
i had an SD card corrupt on me during a wedding. lost everything on my A camera from the pre-ceremony stuff and the entire ceremony. luckily my second shooter was good enough and I somehow still pulled a decent video together… that was a hard lesson learned, now i ALWAYS record with 2 SD’s….
Got a delkin power 512 CFE for £130 before it all went to shit. Now it’s 3x the price.
Honestly one of my biggest fears. My trusty GH5 and GH5S are running 2 128gb SD cards each set to duplicate and I wouldn’t have it any other way. When shooting weddings for example, I’ll change the cards after a big event like the ceremony just in case. Backups upon backups.
yep copies, have copies on your computer, usb drive, and a cloud drive wouldnt hurt. nothing worse than losing all your pictures of a lost loved one or dead pet.
Dual card slots removes that issue.
I’d recommend large cards that don’t leave camera all day. It’s more likely to misplace/lose a card than corruption.
2 corrupted cards and 1 hard drive in 600+ weddings so far. Saved by proper backups
I only put junk on it to transfer or minor 4th tier backups but I had a 2.5 inch external non ssd drop and bounce a around on my concrete floor in garage about 8 years ago. Still works fine. Do I actually trust it? No never. But I’ll use it for redundant data or like a large drive to pass things to friends if needed. Drives are more resilient than you think if it’s not powered on at time of destruction.
The right thing to do is have a large card in both card slots recording redundantly, so if one card is corrupt, you have a backup.
Hey all! So I’ve been curious, has anyone had any SD card failures to where they lost some or all footage? Currently I shoot on the Sony A7III and the A7IV. I utilize both a 256GB SD card, and a 128GB. I have a 64GB as my absolute backup. Someone else I worked with at one point mentioned to me that they shoot on 3-4 64GB cards, due to them not wanting the SD card containing all of the footage being ruined or corrupted, and using 3-4 cards rather than just 1.
It’s a good idea, but curious how “common” SD card failures are. I shoot around 5-10 weddings per year (side business lol) and never have had the issue, and always utilized the 256GB for every shoot.
Is this bad? Not recommended? Curious on others thoughts, thanks!
The SD cards I bought in November for $25 are now $100🥲 currently saving all my raws on an external hard drive and wiping all my cards to reuse. Also got curious and looked at my ram I bought when I built my PC. I remember buying 2 16gb ram sticks for $23ish dollars like in 2023. Ridiculously cheap. And now those same ram sticks are $250 😭
You want hard-drives. Keep a backup with you and make a copy of the backup and send it to a remote location, family, bank safe, storage unit.
Bloody hell! I bought 2 x 128g Lexar pro cards from Amazon back in October for £47. A single 128g card is now £64. That’s insane!
Blu-ray disc.
A 50 pack of 25gb discs is $40 USD
The drive is around $100.
Or verbatim DVD, 4.7 gb each, cheaper but you probably already have the drive. Make 3-5 copies.
We’ve all been there. You plug in your external SSD, the light flashes, you hear the ‘ding’ from Windows… but nothing shows up in File Explorer.
Whether it’s an old Mac-formatted drive you’re trying to read on a PC, or a ‘dead’ partition on your primary backup, the panic is real. I’m opening this thread to crowdsource the best first steps when a drive goes invisible. What’s your ‘secret weapon’ for forcing a drive to show up without formatting it and losing everything?