Any data recovery gurus?

[rat156]

Hi all,

Anyone out there able to recover data from a stuffed CF card?

I have a 16Gb CF card with some video footage on it, which is corrupt and refuses to mount on any computer I have (Win and Mac). It also comes up with a CF card error when I put it in a camera.

Can anyone do anything with this out there?

Cheers
Stuart

[garymck]

The only thing you can realistically try is to put it in your Mac and see if Diskutil will see it - this can often see drives even when they are not mounted. If it can you can try a repair. This assumes that there is only something wrong with the format / file structure.

If that doesn't work then try a program called Disk Drill - a piece of Mac software. You can use a free version to see if any files are recoverable, and then buy it if they are to do the recovery. I have't used it, but I've seen an early review of it in Macworld that gave it a good rap.

If there is something wrong with it electrically then you are probably screwed. Data recovery is hugely expensive........

cheers
Gary

[OICURMT]

What kind of card reader are you using?

If it's a portable USB one, then check the pins to make sure you don't have one that's folded over.

[Bassnut]

Ive had several accidental deletes, Drone crashes, pull out/power down whilst writing. Cardrecovery has worked every time for me. It will even recover a card that doesnt register as mounted at all if you can guess its letter in win exp. There is a free trial.

[Bassnut]

Yes, a bent pin on a CF is common, seen that many a time.

[rat156]

Thanks for the tips guys. I've checked the pins on my CF card reader, all good, I also tried to read the card from my Nikon cameras, also no dice.

The card is not accessible from Windows even though I guessed the drive letter. It refuses to mount on the Mac at all, so no data recovery software like RescuePro etc will work.

Cheers
Stu

[OzEclipse]

Some years ago, I heard of a last ditch service. It's a police forensics lab. The techs use the data recovery skills they have through their criminal investigation work to run a recovery service on the side in their spare time.

I've never had cause to use them but I have a contact that can put you in touch. If you want to use it, PM me and I'll make some inquiries and see if it is still available and put you in touch.

Joe

[ZeroID]

Have you tried any of the Unix\Linux options. I used Puppy Linux once and mounted the dud drive to recover data. Downloadable free install and you can run it from the CD, no install required. The Desktop allows you to connect and mount drives etc easily.
Ubuntu probably does the same, they're easier to use than you think.
But it sounds like the card is seriously dud if it won't even register as a drive.

[rcheshire]

I have had success with Linux reading damaged drives. Running Linux from a USB stick is non-invasive and may let you mount the card.