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Thanks all. I’ll clone the card later today. didn’t know previews could show thumbnails — that sounds super useful. anyone know a reliable free tool for making an exact image of a card on Windows? i’m not great with command line.
Also, keep in mind some cards just start failing over time. 16GB Sandisk isn’t huge, but if it’s a few years old and had a bad eject, those grey bands could be unrecoverable. Always work on a clone first. Even a free trial that lets you preview recoverable images can tell you fast if anything is salvageable.
I had the exact grey band issue once after a bad copy. Cloned the card and ran a recovery tool that had a preview mode — the preview showed thumbnails for some images even though the full file wouldn’t open. That made it obvious which files were salvageable. Saved me from buying a full license for a tool that wouldn’t have worked. Worth trying a trial before paying.
Agree with Jace. also: try opening the files in irfanview or gimp — sometimes they can read images other viewers choke on. but if those show nothing, you’re probably dealing with file-structure corruption from that ejection.
Don’t use that card anymore — seriously. any write action can overwrite what’s left. clone the whole card to an image file first (dd or a Windows tool) and work on the copy. chkdsk can sometimes make things worse. If you want, upload one small sample so people can see what type of corruption it is.
I went out to shoot at a small gallery opening last month with my Canon point and shoot. Most of the shots are fine, but about 30 pics on the SD card are messed up — some show large grey bands, others open as totally black or with big pixel blocks. The card is a 16GB sandisk, been using it for a couple years. I didn’t drop the camera or anything, but I did accidentally eject the card once while copying files to my laptop (win11). I tried chkdsk and Windows Photo Viewer, and a free ‘repair’ website that only gave me previews with huge watermarks. I’m a freelancer on a tight budget, so I can’t just throw cash at every paid tool.
What should I try next? Is this likely recoverable, or is the card toast? I can attach sample images if that helps. Any step-by-step advice appreciated — I don’t want to make things worse.
Agreed. If budget allowed, I’d probably use both — Hasselblad for stills, Nikon for video. Best of both worlds.
True, if video was my main focus, I’d consider Nikon. But for high-end client photos, Hasselblad is still king.
Exactly — Hasselblad equals pure artistry, Nikon equals pure utility. It comes down to priorities: chasing perfection in images or maximizing overall performance.
Honestly, I see both sides. Hasselblad is perfect for stills, Nikon is better for video. If you want one camera for both, Nikon’s versatility makes it the safer choice.
I get that, but for anyone serious about video, Nikon ZR is on another level. 6K video, RED codec, clean audio — it’s a filmmaker’s dream. Performance over perfection in motion.
I have to go with Hasselblad. The color depth and image quality are unmatched. For portraits and fashion shoots, nothing else comes close. Pure artistry.
Both cameras are making waves right now. Though it is a tough choice. Hasselblad’s photo quality is insane, but Nikon’s video specs are extremely tempting. What’s everyone’s take? If you’re shooting both photos and videos, which one would you pick?
Start by booting into Safe Mode (hold Shift + Restart from the login screen → Troubleshoot → Advanced → Startup Settings → Safe Mode). Once there, run sfc /scannow in an admin Command Prompt to check for corrupt files, then DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth to repair the Windows image. If Safe Mode won’t load, use a Windows 11 installation USB to access the recovery environment and run the same commands from Command Prompt. For data recovery, you can attach the drive to another PC or use a Linux live USB to copy important files before attempting repairs. If system files are heavily damaged, an in-place upgrade/repair install from the USB is often the safest fix without wiping your data.
For Windows, something like Win32DiskImager works. it’ll make a full image of the SD card. then you can run recovery on the copy. just make sure the destination drive has enough space — the image will be the full card size.