CF card not readable..salvageable?

[Bob_Yen]

I have a 20D, & was writing images to a 2G CF card (Lexar Professional Compact Flash, Write Acceleration Technology). Recently, it became unreadable. Somehow, I got it formatted by the Canon 20D.

I went on a trip, & shot some 2mb & 8mb images. I didn't archive them when I got home. I was playing around with RAW mode, & wrote a TON of raw images. All of a sudden, the "play" function on the 20D says "no image". The screen says "Err CF".

I get the bad feeling the images are history. However, is it salvageable? I leave on a trip in a few days, so maybe I leave the card home & try to recover it later. Anyone have something like this happen? All of my other cards have been problem free.

[NillToulme]

Don't do any more writing to the card if you want to try to salvage what's on it.

Do you have a card reader? If so, can your computer see the card in the reader?

I've had very good experience with Photo Rescue. You can download and try it to see what if anything it'll recover, and only have to pay the very modest fee if you want to do the actual recovery. Highly recommended.

Note also that there were some significant issues with some Lexar cards a while back, for which Lexar or Canon or both issued fixes. You might fall into that category.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

[Bob_Yen]

My Lexar FW card reader on my desktop PMac says "card not readable". My Dazzler CF card reader connected to my Powerbook, simply doesn't do anything.

I will try to use Photorescue.

In the meantime, for my trip to Egypt I need to get a RELIABLE CF card, a fast one for my Canon 20D (I'll be shooting RAW, like every 2 secs for a burst). Any recommendations?

[E_J_Peiker]

Here is a link (no password required) to my article on the safest and most effective way of recovering images using PhotoRescue:
http://www.naturescapes.net/092004/ej0904.htm

[NillToulme]

Well it's hard to go wrong with a Sandisk Ultra II. They're fast and reliable, and their prices have just come down substantially. Take two though, not one.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

[Alan_Crotty]

Check out this thread


http://forums.robgalbraith.com/showf...&page=0#411560

I'm not sure if there's a mac version though.

[GeorgeForman]

for your trip i would sugjest taking several smaller card as opposed to one larger card. for instance i shoot using several 1gb or 512mb cards. if one card goes bad during the day i do not loose all the images from that day/outing but only the images that are on the one bad card.