Digital cameras 101

[richard krecidlo]

Hi everyone,  Just found this site, thru a search for help on digital cameras. I've got a fugi 5000s, I love the camera, takes great pics, but had my first problem with it. Just came back from a vacation, had a bunch of pics on a 258xd card. when we got home we wanted to get them stored in my pc's harddrive so we put the card in the hard drives reader, waited a while for the program to come up, it comes up automaticly when a card is inserted, anyways nothing was happening, checked to make sure there was no active blinking light , not suppose to remove card if light is blinking. pulled the card out and put back in the camera to make sure the images were still there but got a card error message instead. Is there anyway to retrieve those pics, haven't reformatted card yet, or erased it. Is there hope???

[ShutterbugGail]

Hi Richard,

Welcome to the Q&A Board.

Yes, there is always hope. Please clarify something. Are you using a card reader built into your computer (you said you used the "hard drives reader")?

If so, have you tried other options such as using a card reader instead, or transfering the images directly from the camera to computer via the USB cord?

Let us know if either of these work. If not, we'll go from there.

[richard krecidlo]

 Hi, thanks for responding, I work nights so this is the first chance I had to get back. Yes, I use the  hard drive on my computer, it has different slots for differant cards, but since I have only fugi cameras, its the xd card reader slot that I use. No , I've never downloaded from the camera, I have the cords  somewheres, but have never used it, I have a fugi xd card reader that I bought  when I bought the camera, and thats what I used to use before I got my new pc. That reader is still hooked up to the old pc and yes I did try it there, but nothing happened. When I put the card back into the camera I get the card error message. I also have a fugi A330 camera, and when I put the card in there, I get the card error message there also. Still haven't heard anything from fugi yet, probably won't either, thanks for the help.

[ShutterbugGail]

Boy, this really sounds like a problem with the card. If it can't be read, then you can't erase or format in obviously. Even when you do this you can often recover images.

If I were you, and the images were really important to me (and they must be if they are vacation photos), I'd call the card manufacturer. Most offer image recovery services when you send a card in for repair (or replacement). It can be costly, however, so if you go this route ask what the charge is.

I'd certainly try transporting the images directly from the computer. I know you said the camera wasn't reading the card either, but it would be worth a try given the alternatives. You never know if pluging the camera in would trigger something to get it to work. Make sure you connect camera and computer before you put in the card. Also make sure you put in fully charged batteries.

Let us know what happens.

[Michael Tran]

I had a similar problem with my SD card, I did the followings and it works for me:

1. Click My Computer, and select the disk you want to   check (the drive assigned to your XD card).
2. On the File menu, click Properties.
3. Click the Tools tab.
4. Under Error-checking, click Check Now.
5. Under Check disk options, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box.

Good Luck!

[richard krecidlo]

Hi, well, I tried m.trans suggestion, but no luck there, I think I can reformat card if I want to, but I figured I would hold off until  I find out if there's still a chance to retreive those pics. Last year the wife took pics of my nephews wedding, I was in the hospital so I missed it, well when she got home she put the card in the hard drive to view the pics, watched a slide show, but she didn't save them, anyways she pulled the card out while it was still reading it, lost all those pics, I put that card back in the camera, got the card error message,  reformated it and still use it, so I think I can still reformat this card, alls not lost though, I took pics with the smaller fugi so we have some pics but the wife took about 3x more than me. well thanks for the help, hope fugi can give me some good news.  thanks, rich

[ShutterbugGail]

If you can reformat the card, still try to recover the images. Here is some free software that others have said work well. Please read the sites disclaimers about use of it:

http://www.artplus.hr/adapps/eng/dpr.htm


Try the photo recovery program first. Try more than once if you don't succeed the first time.

Then you should consider using the Memory Card Safe Eraser.

I highly recommend that you always transfer your images to the computer beforfe doing any sort of editing, slideshows, etc. Further, I also recommend you delete images or format a memory card only with the camera. We've just heard too many horror stories by those who have done so with their computer rather than camera.


Related reading
Recover lost photos:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/digital-photo-recovery-and-rescue/index.htm


Causes of memory card corruption:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/how-memory-cards-become-corrupted/index.htm