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    Free recovery rescue program for Macs?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by Christina85, Jun 17, 2010.

  1. Christina85

    Christina85 Notebook Consultant

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    Hello everyone,
    I just hoped to ask you: is there any good FREE software for data rescue for Macs? (unformat of SD cards). My friend managed to format our pictures on a Canon camera and I'd like to recover them..the only thing I've found is CardRescue but this costs 40$.
    Recovering it from Windows seems not an option as my other computer (Lenovo X300) doesn't have an SD card reader and plugging the camera through an USB cable doesn't allow any recovery software I've tried to find the drive and thus search it.
    Thank you,
    christina
     
    Christina85, Jun 17, 2010
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  2. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    I seem to remember looking into this a while back, and I *thought* that the flash on the SD card was permanently erased once a file was deleted.
     
    Greg, Jun 17, 2010
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  3. Christina85

    Christina85 Notebook Consultant

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    Greg Ross, are you saying that recovery in this case is not possible? My friend performed a quick format (took about 1 sec on a 8GB SD card with 630 pictures on it) so I'd think that the data is still on it. Of course I didn't allow her to use this SD until we recover the lost data. Seems that CardRescue does allow me to see those files that I can recover in preview but only if I buy the software. Want to avoid the charge, is there any alternative?
     
    Christina85, Jun 17, 2010
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  4. Joel

    Joel coffeecoffeecoffeecoffee

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    Where I am you can take your SD Card into the local camera store and they can restore the photos for you. Email or call around see if you camera stores do it. As it's hard to find a free software for that kind of thing. Trust me, I've tried, and failed.
     
    Joel, Jun 17, 2010
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  5. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    All I am saying is that it is possible that the data is gone, but *I am not sure.* I could be very wrong.

    You made the right call...do not actually use that SD card until you know if the data can be restored. That CardRescue (which I have never heard of before) gives me hope.

    Interesting to note that Apple even lists it on their website.
     
    Greg, Jun 17, 2010
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  6. Seshan

    Seshan Rawrrr!

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    Unless it was written over with 0's or any other data you should be able to recover the photo's. When you delete something it's not usually gone, it just tells the card that it can now write over that space, but the data is still there. I don't know any free recover tools tho.
     
    Seshan, Jun 17, 2010
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  7. pjshots

    pjshots Notebook Consultant

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    A free program is Exif Untrasher - Carsten Blüm: Mac Development Exit Untrasher. A great little program I used last year on my SD card.

    As Seshan said, as long as the data hasn't been overwritten, exif-untrasher should be able to recover it.
     
    pjshots, Jun 17, 2010
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