Take the card out and stop shooting
One new photo can land on top of the one you want back. Put the card somewhere safe and use a different card if you need to keep shooting.
What the format actually erased
A quick format usually clears the index and leaves the photos and video in place. Some cameras do a fuller format that erases the data itself, which is why we ask what camera formatted the card.
Recording anything after the format, or letting the camera 'repair' the card, reduces what's left.
Have this handy
- The camera or device that formatted the card.
- Roughly when the missing photos or clips were taken.
- Whether anything was recorded after the format.
Be careful with free recovery apps
Running free recovery apps on the card itself is the most common way we see a simple recovery go bad. Many write to the card, and some 'fix' the file system in ways that overwrite what was left.
If you want to try our free tools first, run them on a copy of the card and save what they find to a different drive, never back to the card.
What comes back
If the card's file system can be rebuilt, your folders and file names come back. If not, photos are found by recognising the files themselves: they come back complete, but with new numbered names. Video sometimes needs its index rebuilt before it will play.
Real results from formatted cards
A Sony ZV-E1 wedding card was reformatted: we reconstructed about 80 GB of 4K footage from a 128 GB SD card. A formatted 256 GB CFexpress card from a Sony FX3 gave back 184 of 194 cinema clips, checked by the client in DaVinci Resolve.
Bringing it in
Drop it off at #610 - 11012 Macleod Trail SE, Calgary, with no appointment needed: Monday to Thursday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Friday 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM. Outside Calgary, call (587) 387-2346 for packing instructions before you ship it; how it's packed matters.