I hope I'm putting this post in the correct place. If not, please let me know.
Recently I've begun using a little Casio Exilim camera of the point-and-shoot variety and it has already let me down twice. Twice I have lost an entire batch of shots - hundreds of shots in total. The camera simply says the file cannot be opened. This is after I have looked at them, so I know that they did exist. Is this a fault of the camera, or could it be a corrupted memory card? I am no photographer, waaaay out of my depth here. Can anyone offer any insight on where the fault likely lies? I'm loath to trust the thing again. The same thing happened to my daughter's camera on a recent trip. Could we inadvertently be doing something to cause this?

Hi Caitie,

So sorry to hear this!!! I'm not certain I can help you but a few questions comes to mind. Knowing the answers may help me (and the other techies here) narrow down the problem.

When you say: "The camera simply says the file cannot be opened."

Could you please tell me:

1) Did you view the shots on the LCD of the camera initially (ie right after taking the shot) and then upon a "second" viewing (in camera), were you then unable to open the files?

2) Did you try downloading this card to your computer?

3) Have you successfully used this Casio Exlilim camera with respect to a) taking the photos b) viewing in camera 3) successfully downloading the images to your computer and having them accessible?

best wishes,
travellor

Hi Caitie, please take the memory card to a camera store and they usually can get someone to recover the photos and burn those photos onto a CD for you.

Check your camera manual to find out if they recommend that the memory card be formatted every time you insert a card in the camera.

travellor: To answer your questions:
1) We were able to view the shots a seond time and then couldn't open the file. 2) Yes 3) Yes.

I think Justalex may be onto something. What I didn't do was to format the card in the camera.

I have now bought dome new cards just in case...

The problem, almost without doubt, is a corrupted memory card.

I would recommend that you reformat the card in the camera every time you transfer your pictures off the camera.

Given the cheapness of memory cards these days it would probably be as well to throw it away and buy a new one, just in case it's a "physical" problem with the card, rather than a corrupt file system. It's unlikely to be, but it's possible.

To add to all of the valid suggestions above, I would like to know the following:

a) The "unable to open file" was the error given by your camera or an image-viewing application after you had downloaded them onto your PC ?

b) How did you download the images? Using the USB connection on your camera or did you use an external card-reader?

c) Did you use any specific software to download the images to your PC?

I ask this since I have experienced similar problems when either the USB cable is faulty (so that it garbles data), or the card reader is busted.

If you put the same card back into the camera, are you able to view the pictures?

I'm just trying to understand where exactly the problem lies.

Good questions Xponent, I thought about asking if Caitie had tried using a card reader, and letting her know that there is software out there which will allow her to retrieve the data. However, I thought that it would be best for her to take her card (as suggested by justalex) to a reputable photo printing shop and get them to deal with it

quote:

I thought that it would be best for her to take her card (as suggested by justalex) to a reputable photo printing shop and get them to deal with it

That is indeed an excellent suggestion. It should be possible to recover at least the majority of pictures from a faulty card, even if not all of them.

The key thing, however, is that once you realise that the card is faulty, to do nothing more to it. Anything you do is likely to reduce the chances of recovering your pictures.

Caitie, you can download and purchase a programme called MediaRecover from the net. Once it is loaded onto your computer, you can retrieve every photo that has been taken on your camera card, be the card corrupted or you have deleated them.

You will need a card reader to do this to it best effect. As long as you have not reformated your card, it should get all your photos back for you.

I have been using this software for several years as a service to people in my business, an Internet Cafe.

One of reasons I purchased this software, was because before the larger cards came out, people would come to my Cafe to have their photos burnt onto a CD. A lot of them did not like the price I was charging, so go elsewhere to get the job done for half the price I was charging. They would then come back to my Internet Cafe to look at their photos, and all they would have was a blank CD & no photos on their cards They would tell me that there was something wrong with my CD-R, there were no pictures showing. I would then put their CD's in my PC & show them that there were no photos on the disk or their card

It was then, that I would tell them, that for a small charge (Twice the price of when they originally came in ) I could get their photos back for them. I would also tell them that if I could not get them back for them I would not charge them at all. (That only ever happened once in 8 years).

The software is reasonably cheap, but well worth it. In some cases, the software actually reformats the card to uncorrupt the card before it retrieves the photos. Another little thing with it, is you will be surprised just how many photos you have taken and deleted from your camera card!!

Guy H - excellent advice as usual, but would it not be safer for Caitie to seek the help of a photo shop initially? If they can't help or want to charge outrageously, then it is probably better for her to consider alternatives but, usually, it is better to leave it to people who (hopefully) know what they are doing rather than wade in up to the neck, and find one's self out of one's depth with no hope of rescue!

quote:

Originally posted by RR2:
Guy H - excellent advice as usual, but would it not be safer for Caitie to seek the help of a photo shop initially? If they can't help or want to charge outrageously, then it is probably better for her to consider alternatives but, usually, it is better to leave it to people who (hopefully) know what they are doing rather than wade in up to the neck, and find one's self out of one's depth with no hope of rescue!

Well, yes it would be better to have it done by someone (in some cases) that knows what they are doing!!

But the software is simple to use, and for someone at home, it is good as a last resort.

Chris, Xponent, GuyH and RR2: Thanks for all your excellent advice. My husband is much more savvy than I am about these things and he is going to get MediaRecover to see if anything can be retrieved.
Xponent: To answer your questions:
a) Yes. The camera said there is an error in copying the file and wouldn't allow us to download.
b) We tried both and couldn't do either.
c) No. It was a direct download.
If we put the card back in the camera, we are not able to view the pictures, although we once were.
I recall that on the BB tour in 2003, one of our tourmates used to upload his digital photos to a small portable flashpak hard drive every evening. Our local electronics store suggests a digital picture and data storage gadget manufactured by Wolverine. Do any of you have experience with this sort of thing and is it a worthwhile backup plan? It seems to me that at some point, you either have to trust the memory card or the hard drive, unless you use a new memory card every day.

There's loads of different photo storage devices available these days, and they all work well.

Since I have an iPod which I always travel with, I use that for photo storage. There's a little add-on gadget you can buy for the iPod which lets it talk to the camera, and download pictures from it just as you would to a PC.

If you go into any camera shop they should have a range of such devices available. The storage only ones are cheap - ones which have a screen on which you can view your photos are more expensive.

Lost pictures--I feel the pain!! Last year, on my return from a trip to Sicily, I had about 500 pics on my card, each viewed several times during trip. On my return, since, at that time, we did not have a printer with a card slot, I hooked the camera to the computer via the pictbridge and we viewed all the shots. But somehow, when I disconnected, I DID NOT do it correctly, and the next day, when I took the card in to have some shots printed, ALL were gone, with a message similar to Catie's. I was stunned, to say the least.

After researching various ways to Recover on the Internet and with my nephew, who has his own computer business in another state, I decided that the camera shop was the best idea. For $35, they recovered over 95% of the pics on the card and burned them to a CD. I probably could have eventually figured out what to do with the recovery software I'd seen, but it was worth the $$ to have an expert handle it. I hope you have the same success, Catie. Ciao!!

Hi Caitie,

Glad to see so much good help was offered to you!!!! (you didn't need me after all )

best wishes,
travellor