Bergen County Camera

by John Tworsky @johntworsky
update 21 September 2010

Although digital cameras are highly reliable devices, occasionally, problems do occur.

Preventing errors:

• The main cause of digital camera disasters is continuing to shoot past the cameras low battery warning. If the battery goes dead while the camera is saving an image to your card, more than likely, your card will become unreadable.
• Other causes include popping the memory card out while the camera is saving a file
• Ejecting a card or opening the card access door before turning the camera off
• Switching to view mode while the camera is saving an image
• A rare card failure - (free replacement with our Promaster brand cards)
• Never use the same card in multiple cameras without formatting - this may cause unpredictable results (always format in camera before using in a different camera)
• When transferring images to your computer do not interrupt this process or errors may result
• Completely filling the card - if possible leave the last picture untaken
• Stop or Eject media before removing from your computers card reader
• Always make more than one backup of your important images - store in 2 places for extra safety
• Avoid taking the last possible picture on a card

Visit our Image Recovery Page for Pricing and other Details

When you get the scary message "CARD ERROR" there is a very good chance that images can still be recovered from your media card. First, don't do anything with your card. Don't run Windows Scandisk or any other utility on your memory card. Don't format the card in your camera or computer. It is essential you don't do anything in order to maximize the chances for a good recovery.

Bring your card in to Bergen County Camera where we can use a special Hex Editing program to search your card for files or where you can purchase a Memory Card Recovery Program for $39.95 and attempt the job yourself. The price for recovery ranges from $5 when no problem is found and files are simply written to a CD to $30 for a basic recovery of up to 256mb. There is no guarantee that you will be able to recover files but there are some things you can do to MAXIMIZE your chances of recovery before you run into trouble.

The best approach is to archive your images on the memory card to CD or some other safe media. Once you're certain the images are all copied, you should FORMAT your card. Formatting the card sets the card up to receive new images in sequential order. This means that the picture is stored in one complete area on the disk. Over time if you frequently erase and retake many pictures, the camera is unable to save the files in one complete piece and needs to store it in several pieces or FRAGMENTS on the memory card. Its always best to format in your camera rather than in your computer.

Should the media become corrupted, the recovery software can only recover the first portion of a fragmented file. An example of an image recovered from a fragmented file is shown below.

This is an example of a recovered image that is FRAGMENTED

Here's a map of the memory card with RED showing areas of fragmentation, BLUE for contiguous and white for empty space.

The image below was recovered from a media card containing nothing but CONTIGUOUS files

Here's a map of a memory card with all files saved CONTIGUOUSLY which means no file fragments affording you the best chance of a full recovery.