Delete or format ?

[RAF62]

Can anyone answer me this question:?

Can lost files/images be recovered from both a card that has had the images deleted and a formated card
or as I suspect from a 'deleted' card only with the lost images on a formated card gone forever.

[djguk47]

Re: Delete or format ?

I believe that provided that you have not used the card after formatting you can still recover the files using the SanDisk recovery tool. If they have just been deleted then I think you can recover these as well.
Just need a "techy type" to confirm or deny my assumption.

In the meantime have a look on the SanDisk site as I am sure you will find something there.

EDIT: have a look at this site.....http://rescuepro.lc-technology-inter....qarchive.org/

David

[Muscat]

Re: Delete or format ?

David is to the best of my knowledge correct in his statement, the deletion typically removed the pointers of the ffile location from the FAT (File Allocation table) but does not remove the actual file, similarly the format simply zeros the FAT. The process is very much like tearing the index out of a book, the data is still there but you just dont have an easy pointer to what is where.

If however you have used the card then there is a risk that the files will have been either fully or partially overwritten

[MX5]

Re: Delete or format ?

You can get files back if they are deleted or the file system formatted. This can be near 100% recovery if you haven't done anything else. If you've started using the card then you can still get back those that haven't been overwritten. I've tried with the Lexar Image Rescue utility .. just to see how effective it is. You tend to loose the original filenames (recovery from a formatted card) and so have to rename the recovered files as JPG's or CR2's or whatever.

This is why we have to use special software (DBAN, and its ilk) to ensure a hard disk can't have any data recovered.

[EOS_Jim]

Re: Delete or format ?

Yes I've recovered both deleted and formatted images. I remember on a job I'd taken a few images only to realise I'd not deleted the previous weeks work so protected the images I wanted to keep and then formatted!! Format deletes everything - I should have deleted all (which stops the protected files from being lost) so had to wait until I got home and my software recovered the files.

Whew! Big relief :)