Thanks, Chris.
Helen: That's encouraging. Since we both live in OR, what store was able to recover the pictures for you? Maybe I'll be lucky if I go to the same plac.
Travellor: Stay tuned. The fat lady has not yet sung.

Hi Caitie,

Catie, It was a local store--The Camera Center--but it used to be the Shutterbug, of which there are some in the PDX area. I went in and talked to them before I decided to do it. They cannot guarantee, but the young man (a former student of my husband's--I don't think that made a difference)--asked if I'd formatted the memory card after this happened or had taken any pictures on the card after it. I had not, and that was a "good" thing. I was afraid to chance it with the Media Recovery program. This type of thing must happen a lot, because there were quite a few from which to choose on the Net. Hope something works out for you. Ciao!

Thanks, Helen. I'll give it a try.

Catie,

From your answers, its quite evident that there are just 2 possibilities. Either your memory card has faced data corruption or it is faulty.

I faced a similar situation in the Vatican with my Canon 350D/XT when I accidentally and unknowingly opened the CF door. Seemed like when I did so, my camera was accessing and writing to the card.

That action of mine itself was enough to cause a major data corruption of the card causing me to lose about 400MB of Vatican and St. Peters pictures.

Moral of the story: The data corruption may have been caused by something and "may" not equate to a faulty card.

As Chris has suggested, since flash memory is available nowadays at such amazingly low prices, it makes sense to buy more, lower capacity (1-2GB) cards and keep them handy on your trip.

Heh, reflecting back...I remember buying a "high capacity 16 MB CF card" way back in 1998 for 40 USD.

Xponent: I am starting to wonder if I maybe caused the problem by switching off the camera before it was done writing to the card.
We plan to take a three-pronged approach now. We'll take it to a camera store, we'll buy a portable hard drive, and we'll also buy a supply of cards and change them frequently. If that doesn't decrease the chances of failure, I don't know what else to do.
Thanks again to all who offered insight and suggestions!

quote:

I faced a similar situation in the Vatican with my Canon 350D/XT when I accidentally and unknowingly opened the CF door. Seemed like when I did so, my camera was accessing and writing to the card.

That's a well-known design flaw of the Canon Digital SLRs. I have one myself (a 20D).

Thankfully it has been fixed in the 40D and onwards.

Catie, I would put your camera under a stress test. Take a couple (about 50-100) everyday to verify that your camera is sound and that what you experienced was a freak incident.

quote:

Thankfully it has been fixed in the 40D and onwards.

That's good to know - thanks! I think I'll be keeping my 20D for many years to come, though. Although it's big and heavy, it takes superb pictures.

Xponent: That's a great idea! I'll do that.

Update: My memory card and my daughter's memory card are in "hospital" at Camera World and we'll know by this afternoon whether anything is recoverable.

They are usually pretty good with that recovery room treatment! Here's to good news!

Thanks, Roxy. If they're unsuccessful, I may just have to go back to Italy. Everything between Rome and Assisi was lost. Thank goodness my husband has some pics, but he shoots things and I like to shoot people. Oh, dear...that came out wrong.

Update: Camera World was able to retrieve about 350 photographs from two memory cards at a cost of $80. Most of them are my daughter's but there are a few of mine mixed in as well. All's well that ends well. Of course, after a trip to Camera World, my husband now suddenly "needs" a new camera!

Catie--Glad that you did get some of your trip pictures back--$80 seems a bit "rich" but then, things are more expensive in the Big City. Did they give you any ideas about what caused the problem? It would be too bad to buy a new camera if it was not at fault--unless you really wanted a new one. Your husband's interest is cameras; mine prefers to visit golf shops. To each his own, I guess. Ciao!!