Problem with 256 Mb CF card.

[Taff]

This is driving me nuts. I have taken about 40 important photos onto a 256Mb CF card - they showed up fine on the camera viewfinder after the shots were taken. But as soon as I put the card in the card reader, I get a message saying:

"The disk in Drive E is not Formatted.
Do you want to format it now?
Yes / No"​

and since I've put the card back in the camera, I can't get preview them there either - when I try I just get a message saying "No image", but I know there are loads on there.

I have taken some unimportant photos using another CF card, and they show up fine on the card reader. Now - the only difference I can see is that one says FAT while another says FAT32. I haven't formatted the important card, as there are photos on there that I cannot replace.

What the hell am I doing wrong and have I lost them forever?

 

[Deleted account 220427002]

i thought it should be fat not fat 32

 

[Chunky]

i thought it should be fat not fat 32

Cards under 2GB are normally FAT 16 format so that they can be recongised by the majority of devices.

Cards over 2GB are FAT 32 to allow devices to recognise the larger capacity.

 

[Taff]

i thought it should be fat not fat 32

You could well be right, as the card that works is FAT. So, can I convert the FAT32 card to FAT without losing whats on it?

 

[Taff]

The computer chap at work reckons that "the card is shot" but that he knows a company who can recover most if not all of the photos for $40 (£20 approx). Does this make sense or am I being shafted?

 

[emjay]

Go to http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/ the free demo will tell you if there is anything on the card that can be recovered, if there is you can buy the programme online for $29. versions for Windows and Macs. I know a number of pro photographers who have it on their laptops just in case.

good luck

 

[Taff]

Thanks emjay. I'll get the computer chap at work to have a look at it tomorrow.