Having photographed some insects yesterday, I connected the camera SD card to my PC intending to download the pix. I was distracted and somehow managed to delete the pix without transferring them. I was more than a little frustrated as files deleted from a card don’t go into the recycle bin.
Fortunately, with the aid of Google I managed to recover most of them using a free programme called DiskDrill. I checked the prog for malware and it seemed to be clean. It takes a while but it’s pretty amazing really.
If anyone else has any useful tips relating to files/PC transfers or whatever, it might be worth adding them to this thread.
There are a variety of programs that can recover ‘deleted’ files in some circumstances. One issue is that often some bits of the metadata i.e. information about the file are lost in this process and this can cause issues later when you are trying to find the file or properly organise it.
Useful to know: thanks!
I’ve tried file recovery in the past, with mixed success - will be worth trying this one,
I have successfully used Recova (free) over the years
It can recover from an accidentally Formatted card
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My only attempt was unsuccessful, but I think some files are beyond help. Certain Government agencies are still using software versions a human generation old.
Google did warn that if you’ve done later work on the SD card, it will make the process a lot less reliable as it may well have overwritten some of the ‘invisible’ files.
Most file “deletion” is simply removing the main directory entry which will include, inter alia the file name and a pointer to the disk sector* for the first file segment. If nothing else has been done to the disk in the interim, restoring those, possibly from a secondary directory, will recover the file. The more you write to the disk before attempting recovery, the more chance there is that one or more of the file sectors will have been overwritten, making full recovery impossible. (* or the equivalent on other storage technologies)
Clear explanation - thanks!
I’ve discovered a possible down-side to Diskdrill - although i cannot be certain that it is the cause.
But since I did the file recovery, I have been unable to delete anything from my SD card. (And I checked that I hadn’t accidentally moved the snib that protects the disk.)
It is possible to mass change image properties - it prevents software from ERASING images.
There may be an in-camera switch that locks images
Look at properties of one frame and see it the image has been locked, it should be easy to unlock
Try them one at a time before any attempt at mass change.
Have you tried formatting? One of my SD cards seems to need it every few months.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll try Derek’s approach firrst although there’s nothing on the downloaded files to suggest that they are write-protected.
After that, I’ll reformat the card, if it will let me!
I reformatted the card but it is still proving impossible to delete any files.
It’s not a major problem but it’s annoying!
There are a number of ways to lock and unlock Images. You have formatted the card so you’ll need to try this on another.
All card readers have different facilities. This is my PC WIN10/My Computer/USB/Olympus folder. Right clicked
An option in Properties is to lock/unlock
I have locked 637 files (Photos). It is a simple procedure to mass unlock them or to open individual photos, right click UNlock.
I’d be interested to know if NEW images on the formatted card are locked or unlocked
I can attach my USB card reader to my Tab and phone (using an adapter) each has different file handling.
If you have precious locked files, any camera or Computer shop is likely to be able to unlock them for you.
You ran the card through Diskdrill (I have never used it) Run it again through Recuva or another.
I assume you cannot erase photos in the camera.
On myTG 3 the Playback menu has an Erase setting All erase/Sel.image/Erase. You have a TG6. It will look like this (three options)
Thanks, Derek, incredibly detailed and helpful info as always! I’ll look into it when I’ve got a bit of time.
OK, I think I’ve narrowed the problem down to my PC. For the simple reason that I took some photos with my wife’s camera and had the same problem - and I’ve never had it before.