Unmountable Sandisk 64GB CFast 2 card data recovery? RESULT

Hopefully this is the right forum for this question.  Feel free to move it if it belongs in Digital. 

Like many people, I've been using the above-named card that came with my Canon 1DX-2.  Aside from 2 or 3 corrupted files written to it by the camera (apparently), it's been working ok.  But during a recent trip the card completely went south on me, becoming undetectable by the camera and by all of my computers via USB.  This occurred only minutes after doing a bit of browsing on the camera LCD, followed by a bit of shooting.  Subsequent attempts to browse resulted in a "card not detected" message (or words to that effect) by the camera.  When connecting the card to various computers, the device never shows up in Windows Explorer.  Ditto for Macs. 

Under these circumstances, it doesn't appear that a bent pin could be the problem, as the issue didn't surface following any type of removal or reinsertion of the card.  It would seem to be a case of damaged electronics, possibly caused by high temperature?  This card does become quite hot when downloading files from it.  Maybe it also becomes quite hot inside the camera. 

Anyhow, these are more-or-less academic questions.  My real question is about data recovery.  I rather assume that the data is still intact and is recoverable.  Data recovery software won't work in this situation, so I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations as to whom I should trust to try this.  Naturally, the images are irreplaceable (night-time volcano semi-erupting in the Vanuatu Islands, Blainville's Beaked Whales, etc.).  Any success stories?  Swapping card components in and out of another card might be required.  What I most want to avoid is handing it to someone who'll destroy the data in their attempt to perform surgery on the card. 

thanks --

I've heard of a couple of things you can try before sending it out.

1. Try blowing out the holes where the pins go into with compressed air. This may not work since, in your case, it doesn't seem to be associated with removing or installing the card. Sometimes a bit of lint or debris enters the holes.

2. Try plugging the card reader into the back USB port on your desktop. This has to do with having enough power to operate the card reader properly.

3.  Try leaving the card in the reader for a half hour or so to see if the card is eventually recognized by the computer. Some people seem to have success by doing this.

I also found these threads that suggest using a Lexar card reader instead of a Sandisk:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/58703550


https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2198269

Thanks Joe, interesting things. Seems dumping the Sandisk card reader and replacing with a Lexar is a good move even if there are no visible problems. And on the Adobe thread, I haven't tried reading from the camera using Bridge but this presumably won't work since the camera itself can't even see the device. Now, when I put it into the camera, the red light indicating device access goes on solidly for several seconds, then goes out, and the camera ceases to function, e.g., nothing ever appears on the LCD, not even basic menus. As soon as I eject it, normal behavior resumes.

1. Tried blowing out the holes to no avail, and no visible lint or other obstructions.
2. Tried plugging the card reader into the back of a desktop (running XP). Behavior was slightly different, as it initially came up with "new USB mass storage device", but thereafter nothing, never appeared in Windows Explorer as a device.
3. Don't want to try leaving it plugged in for a half hour as it gets so hot so fast that I fear incinerating whatever data might still be there.

Sandisk is quick to say that their warranty doesn't include data recovery, only replacement of the card, but they do recommend LC Technology to do that job. Not sure if I trust them on that.

I will of course allow more experienced photographers to answer but when a compact flash card went south on me the first step to recovery was doing a "quick" format of the card. This way it is readable by the computer and can then be accessed by the recovery software. The quick format does not erase any data, simply removes the file allocation.

If all else fails, send it to E.J I believe he has a recovery service.

Was XP the OS system you tried the card on?
If it was I'd try the card on some newer OS's.

Neilyb wrote:I will of course allow more experienced photographers to answer but when a compact flash card went south on me the first step to recovery was doing a "quick" format of the card. This way it is readable by the computer and can then be accessed by the recovery software. The quick format does not erase any data, simply removes the file allocation.

Thanks Neilyb, but unless the card can be seen by the computer this is not possible.  I do understand your point though. 

Craig Browne wrote:If all else fails, send it to E.J I believe he has a recovery service.

Thanks Craig; I may PM EJ if he doesn't chime in. 

signgrap wrote:Was XP the OS system you tried the card on?
If it was I'd try the card on some newer OS's.

Thanks signgrap; I've tried this on XP and Windows 7 and a couple of Macs and other PCs whose OS I don't specifically know. Incidentally XP was the only one that even acknowledged that I'd stuck anything into the USB port. 

How much you willing to spend to have SanDisk recover.
Lexar has in thed past recoverd for me on a pro version card no charge.
Your images should be there, but sounds like the chip on the card went south. They should be able to take the card apart and replace the processor and try to recover. Maybe.....

Call Sanddisk and see what they think and suggest. Best of luck.

Try contacting cardrecovery.com. I formatted a card thinking I had already downloaded it. I goggled  card recovery and I choose card recovery.com. It worked very well. I got back the days shooting and a ton of other stuff. A friend did the same thing to her sandisk SD  card. She called Sandisk and they said forget about it. The shots are lost. She called me and I said come on over. I started card recovery, plugged in the camera and the software started working. After some time all her shots were recovered. Her mental state changed from depressed to

PV Hiker wrote:How much you willing to spend to have SanDisk recover.  
Lexar has in thed past recoverd for me on a pro version card no charge.
Your images should be there, but sounds like the chip on the card went south.  They should be able to take the card apart and replace the processor and try to recover.  Maybe.....

Call Sanddisk and see what they think and suggest.  Best of luck.

Thanks Patrick.  I agree with you that it seems like a hardware problem is preventing access to the data that's probably still intact. 

Sandisk says that they themselves have nothing to do with data recovery, and they recommend LC Technology, with whom I have an email request pending. 

Hi Mike, I'm on my way home from Ecuador now - see my PM

larrys@bex.net wrote:Try contacting cardrecovery.com. I formatted a card thinking I had already downloaded it. I goggled  card recovery and I choose card recovery.com. It worked very well. I got back the days shooting and a ton of other stuff. A friend did the same thing to her sandisk SD  card. She called Sandisk and they said forget about it. The shots are lost. She called me and I said come on over. I started card recovery, plugged in the camera and the software started working. After some time all her shots were recovered. Her mental state changed from depressed to

Thanks Larry, but cardrecovery appears to be designed to recover files from a corrupted file system, rather than from undetectable media. 

Hi Mike,
I've heard of problems with the CFast cards that came with the 1Dx2 although total failure isn't one of them. Probably not related but it's been suggested each time you download images that you not only format but run the Sandisk Full Format and Refresh tool on it.  That is said to fix the lost images problem you mentioned has happened a few times earlier but probably not related to your current situation. I have also heard that Canon has addressed that issue and the refresh isn't needed anymore but I've been using it anyway.  Good luck with that issue and I hope you post here what the outcome is. I realize you can't even try that now with it not being recognized. Jim

Jim Zipp wrote:Hi Mike,
I've heard of problems with the CFast cards that came with the 1Dx2 although total failure isn't one of them. Probably not related but it's been suggested each time you download images that you not only format but run the Sandisk Full Format and Refresh tool on it.  That is said to fix the lost images problem you mentioned has happened a few times earlier but probably not related to your current situation. I have also heard that Canon has addressed that issue and the refresh isn't needed anymore but I've been using it anyway.  Good luck with that issue and I hope you post here what the outcome is. I realize you can't even try that now with it not being recognized. Jim

Hi Jim,
I never used the Refresh tool but a couple of months ago I sent the camera in for routine maintenance and they updated the firmware which I thought contained the supposed fix.  But recently I had another corrupted file so I guess it didn't really fix that.  Or was that fix about performance and not corrupted files?

It might not be until March on account of travel but I'll surely post the results of the recovery attempt. 
Mike

The results:

I sent the card in to LC Technologies.  They called a few days later and told me they'd recovered nearly 2000 .cr2 files.  This was encouraging, although I'd only shot about 200 frames since last formatting, but I realized that the others would be leftover files that hadn't been overwritten.  

After downloading and bringing the files up in DPP, the disappointment set in.  Of the "current" 200 or so files that should have been there, only about 10% were present, and upon batch converting it was revealed that several of these were corrupted.  The most recent 25 or so files were the ones that were the least recovered.  The "old" 1900+ files predating the last formatting were relatively intact, with seemingly none missing.  Anyhow, the bottom line for me is that the files I'd most been hoping to recover were absent.  

I have no reason to believe that LC Technologies didn't do their job correctly.  It seems apparent that the file system (and many of the files themselves) had become corrupted, and that some sort of hardware failure had occurred nearby in time.  The card was returned home in a disassembled state.  

After this experience, I have no intention of using this type of card again for anything important, even though I'd been wanting to use it for 4K video.  Good thing the 1Dx-2 has a conventional CF card slot rather than dual CFast slots.

That is a shame Mike, had a similar experience with that Lexar CF card, I managed to recover hundreds of files but most of them had pink or green parts through them and were unusable.