This is how you recover photos from a corrupt SD card. Did your stomach kinda sink reading this, thinking about the time you might need to recover photos from a corrupt SD card? Let me tell you something a bit more scary, it's not a matter of "if." It will happen, it's a matter of when. You can't control what happens to your SD Cards. SD Cards get corrupted, that's just what happens. It sucks. But there's a solution.
Thinking you've lost your photos forever no longer has to be such a terrible nightmare. I'm not going to lie, it's happened to me twice and even though I've found the solution, I still get the stomach feeling when I realize oh shit my photos are gone!
Let's get you prepared for whenever it happens. Because, you can recover ALL your photos from a corrupt card! (Yay!)
Here's what I did when my SD card first got corrupted (it's happened to me twice) and wouldn't let me transfer photos from it to my computer.
I googled a bunch, asked for help, PANICKED and stressed out A LOT, but tried to remain calm. I figured, we're in the 21st century, we've got to have solutions to this. Also, I neeeeeeeeeded these photos, I couldn't not get them back, it wasn't an option.
I first was recommended Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery software, I tried it and it didn't recover all my photos (13 out of the 700+ photos on the SanDisk 64gb card)! I panicked a bit, but relaxed after I realized I didn't have to pay for the software that couldn't recover all my images.
The software that saved my ass!
EaseUs Data Recovery Wizard was the second software I was recommended. This bad boy recovered all (700+) of my RAW files from the wedding day!!! AND it recovered photos from past sessions (those photos were recovered even after the multiple formats (I format before every shoot) and I then shoot, and repeat. It's MAGIC! It cost $89.85. Was worth every dang penny, I stumbled upon a few that were $200+ but I can't remember their names.
EaseUs Data Recovery Wizard was also there to save my ass the second time I stumbled upon a corrupt card. (I swear it's just bad luck, I understand that it can happen once, but TWICE)! Whatever, the software definitely paid for itself.
Attached are some of the photos I recovered. Do you get why I panicked? You may also understand why I don't regret the software I used because gosh I needed these photos back and I would not have felt okay if the bride didn't get to see them!
Keep scrolling to see what I do to help decrease the damage a corrupt card can cause!
To see more of this wedding, check it out by clicking here!
What I do to help reduce the probability of my SD cards getting corrupted:
- I went and bought all new SD Cards after this incident; and only invested in 32GB instead of the 64GB I used to always buy.
- I stopped using Lexar (that's the one that corrupted); now I only have SanDisk! I've also heard that Lexar has a reputation for corruption, but that's just hearsay.
- Aaaaaand, I split the wedding day into multiple cards. I do this in every wedding. This saved my ass during this instance because only one set of images were caught up in the corrupt card (not all of them)!
But one more thing, only buy this software when you first see that it will in fact recover all your images! When you see that it can, buy it and don't bat an eye 'cause it's amazing.
Side Note: Something super useful to know, all softwares allow you to do a FREE TRIAL so you can see that they can in fact recover your photos FIRST and if it works, THEN you can pay for the software to actually get your photos! Soo you can try a bunch of places, and not spend money on each one, just the one that works for you.
Hope this helps you! If you're a photographer, now ya know. Even if you're not, tell your friends, and tell everyone you don't know too.
Thank you!
