Your camera is telling you "card not formatted", "card not found", or similar error message while attempting to read your memory stick or you wouldn't be visiting this web site. What you need is a memory stick recovery service. Don't panic! You've arrived at the right place.
First some free advice . . . .
If the memory stick is in your camera, turn off your camera and wait for the access light to stop blinking and then remove the memory stick and store it in it's static free plastic case. If your memory stick is in a card reader, remove it from the card reader and store it.
DON'T Keep attempting to read the pictures on your memory stick. Each time you do, the likely hood increases that the pictures will become permanently unrecoverable. When you attempt to read a memory stick you are applying electrical power to the flash memory. This electrical current can further damage your pictures, making it impossible to recover them.
As a professional photographer shooting with several digital cameras, I have personally experienced the "card not formatted" error after taking a series of irreplaceable photographs. Not willing to accept the loss, I developed a process to recover missing photographs from memory sticks and other flash memory cards. My recovery process works in most cases where the cause is software or operator induced. As a photographer I know that other photographers will also need this service and that is the reason I now offer memory stick recovery through my company San Diego Photo.
Memory sticks and other flash memory cards can become corrupted or damaged in a variety of ways, resulting in error messages like, "card not formatted", "card not found", "no images found", etc. In most cases, the photographs are still on the memory stick and are recoverable. In my experience I have found that about 10% of the cards I receive for recovery are not recoverable.
Events that can make your photos disappear:
Hardware failure
Operator induced
Software corruption
Unfortunately, cards that experience a hardware failure are not usually recoverable. Hardware failure generally means that a component inside of the memory stick has shorted out or an electronic circuit path has broken. To repair this type of failure requires opening the case, followed by microscopic surgery to repair the circuit. Opening the case usually destroys the electronics contained within make recovery impossible. Fortunately, most failures are software or operator induced. I do not currently offer recovery services for hardware failures.
Examples of operator induced failures are accidentally deleting the pictures or formatting the memory stick before transferring the pictures to your computer; taking photographs when your camera battery is not fully charged; or ejecting the memory stick while the camera is still writing to the card. Photographs that are missing due to these types of actions are usually recoverable.
Software corruption can be due to a variety of causes. I see a lot of memory sticks that suddenly have missing photos after passing through an airport scanner or when taken to one of those photo kiosks to make prints. Another form of software corruption occurs when you use the same memory stick in more than one camera or if you do any read/write operations to the card in a card reader. These types of software induced corruptions are usually recoverable.
Memory stick recovery can be a simple process or quite complicated depending on what caused the files to disappear. In most cases I am able to recover the missing photographs even when your camera or card reader no longer recognizes the memory stick. There are many variables that can affect the recovery process. Each attempt at recovery can further damage the files making successful recovery less likely. This is why I recommend that you send me your memory stick. The analysis to determine if your photos are still recoverable is free. Your only cost is the return postage. I will be using U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail with delivery confirmation to ship your memory stick back to you.
I would be pleased to attempt the recovery for you. Please print this form and include it with your memory stick. There is no charge to evaluate your memory stick but I do ask that you include a check or money order in the amount of $6 to cover the cost of return postage and handling. My shipping address is on the form. If you'd like to avoid the $6 charge, include a self addressed, stamped envelope.
If I am able to recover your photographs the following recovery charges will apply.
| Flash Memory Data Recovery Rate Card |
| Up to 256 Meg Cards |
$24
|
| 512 Meg Cards |
$48
|
| 1 Gigabyte Cards |
$96
|
| 2 Gigabyte Cards |
$192
|
| 4 Gigabyte or larger Cards |
$392
|
Feel free to call me to discuss your particular flash memory issue. I won't be able to tell you if I can recover your missing pictures. I need to run my analysis on your flash card before I can answer that question. However, in my experience, 85% of cards *are* recoverable.
Please keep in mind that I am in San Diego, California. San Diego's time zone is earlier in the day than most time zones in the United States. I prefer to receive calls Monday through Friday from 9 a.m to 6 p.m. Pacific time.
Oscar Medina
Photographer / Data Recovery Specialist
San Diego Photos and Prints
(858) 274-0665
San Diego Picture
San Diego Photo
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