How I Recovered Lost Photos When Digital Camera Shows 'Card Locked' Error

The best feature of digital camera is that we can view the images and videos soon after capturing them. Different from the film based cameras; it uses memory card to store the captured photos and videos.

The memory card is an electronic storage devices used to store digital information. It facilitates to re-record the photos and videos over them. Sometimes, due to accidental deletion, virus infection, or improper way of handling of digital camera; makes the stored data inaccessible.

Consider a practical case. In this summer vacations, I went to my Grand Parents home with my kids. The meeting was awesome as four generations of my family were there at the same time. I captured some very pleasant memories on my digital camera. My little brat pulled out the memory card out abruptly.
After some time, when I reinserted the card and switched on the camera, following error encountered:

"Card Locked"

After this error, I was unable to access any photo from the memory card. There is nothing worse than this can happen to me as I was in deep loss of all those precious photos.
While searching for the card recovery tool, I found the causes and resolution respectively:

The reason behind this error is; Read/ Write error like:

1. Switching off the camera during write process or the while the camera is saving the image.
2. Pulling out the card without switching off the camera.
3. Capturing the images or videos even after the camera is indicating 'low battery'.

After researching on internet and other online blogs, I found that either my card is physically damaged (which was not applicable with my case) or it has been corrupted due to mishandling.

My card may be corrupted; so I research on various card recovery software and tested some of them which recovers lost, deleted photos from corrupt card. Finally I got my photos back using one such wonderful software called Digital Photo Recovery.

The Software previewed all my photos and finally I purchased it only online with few bucks which are very less as compared to my precious photos.

Photo Recovery Utility – Recover deleted, corrupted photos

It's so common these days that digital photos get deleted from digital cameras either by virus attack or by accidental deletion. Such type of photo loss situation can be a disastrous one if lost photos are precious to you. We like to capture each and every special moment of our life in the form of digital photos. Photos are the reminders of these special moments since we can view these memorable moments any time in future. It's our duty to keep these photos safe since these memories can't be valued in terms of money, these are priceless. But since future is uncertain, no one knows when these priceless photos get corrupted or deleted. We must keep a proper backup of these photos so that these can be restored easily when required. But without backup, recovery is only possible with the help of photo recovery software.

These type of recovery utilities are easily available on internet. But you have to select the most appropriate one. Selection of recovery tool is not an easy task, it's quite onerous one. You might face difficulties if it doesn't meets to your requirements. So keep in mind the following points while selecting a recovery tool:

• It should be compatible with your digital camera.
• It should be compatible with all image formats such as JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP etc.
• It should be compatible with all storage media such as hard drive, memory card, external hard drive, memory stick etc.
• It should be a read only software which doesn't modify the original content.
• It should be compatible with all photo loss situations.

After selecting a comprehensive recovery tool, you can start recovery after installing it on your system. It doesn't required any technical skills to run this software. It recovers the deleted files in just three simple steps: Select, Scan and Save.

Can I recover lost or deleted data from memory card?

Digital cameras have made it possible for photography buffs to capture those wonderful moments spent with family, friends or colleagues. In fact, it seems it has also got easier more than ever to lose digital pictures, either by an act of accidental deletion or by memory card corruption. One frequently asked question which hits many digital camera users is: "Can I recover data from a corrupt memory card?", and "Do you think I have not lost pictures forever? Well, the reply to both the questions is a positive one. If your memory card gets corrupt or you end up deleting some cherished pictures, you can perform card data recovery by using appropriate tools.

As technology is advancing, the ways to go about data recovery are becoming easier for an average person. In years gone by, the lost data could only be recovered by technicians or experts. Now-a-days, it is possible for most of the people to recover lost photos or videos from memory cards with the assistance of their workstation/personal computer and reliable card recovery applications.

Is it possible to recover lost or deleted data?
Your mind must be working hard to find an answer to the above query. To explain, when a file is deleted from a memory card, it is never gone forever. A memory card only removes the entry of the deleted file from its file system, marking the space as available to be used by another file. The content of the deleted files, however, remains intact at the same location until it gets overwritten.

What can be done to ensure successful data recovery?
You can recover lost or deleted files till the time there is no overwriting. Therefore, in order to ensure no overwriting takes place, it is advised not to use a memory card for any subsequent task. This includes both writing or editing any file. A memory card can be used after you are through with card data recovery.

Which software delivers good results?
In order to achieve effective results, ensure you select a good recovery application. Additionally, bear in mind that you have to opt for a read-only software.

Among many third-party software available over the Web, Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery is the most user-friendly and versatile one. This card recovery application recovers lost or deleted photos, audios, videos, and other multimedia files from a range of memory cards including SD, MMC, XD, CF etc. The software, available for both Windows and Mac, performs recovery in three simple steps: select, scan and save.

How to recover deleted photos from Nikon D5000

The Nikon D5000 is a 12.3 Megapixel Digital SLR camera with Nikon 18-55mm lens. The Nikon 5000 is a great choice for the expert photographer. It is easy to use and has a smooth navigation controls. The D5000 has 2.7 inch LCD monitor, ISO ranging from 200 to 3200 with a Lo 1 setting of 100 and a Hi 1 setting of 6,400 and 3D tracking Multi-CAM1000 11-point AF system.

With no internal memory, Nikon D5000 uses SD and SDHC cards as it storage media. These storage media can corrupt in many instances and leading to data loss. To over come with such situation, you need to use some powerful photo recovery software.

For example, If you are rapidly clicking photos from Nikon D5000 camera and immediately you remove the card without switching off the camera. But, when you try to view or transfer the photos to your PC, you are shocked by the error message:

“The card cannot be used”

After the above error message you find your photos and other multimedia files stored on the memory card become inaccessible.

Causes:

These are the following reasons for the above error message:

• Corrupted or damaged SD and SDHC card on camera,
• Unformatted card on camera,
• card remove during the read/write process.

Resolution:

You can consider the following steps to over come with above problem:-

• Re-formate the SD/SDHC card in your digital camera.
• Restore the lost photos from a backup process.

If you are not successful in recover you lost photo from SD/SDHC card than download third party photo recovery utility from the Internet to recover your lost photos. It uses read only facility to recover lost photos, it not modify the the original data.

Use Recovery to recover lost photos, audio and video files of various formats from all most all storage media. For complete recovery, buy this photo recovery software programs to saves the recovered data in a desired specified location without modifying or overwriting the original data.

Photo recovery tips for Sigma DP1x users

The Sigma DP1x is a high-end digital camera with world's first full color image sensor. Incorporating 14.45 megapixels, True II Image Processing Engine and 2.5 inch LCD display, this powerful camera is sure to attract both seasoned and amateur photographers alike. The DP1x includes JPEG recording mode along with a RAW recording mode for retaining full image capture detail of the utmost quality. photos can be stored on either SD or SDHC cards. You can use these cards in Sigma DP1x camera in order to store countless photos. But, be careful while handling SD card and related operations. A minor mistake in handling a memory card can lead to corruption and grave data loss situations. In such instances, you can recover photos either from an updated backup or by using an appropriate digital photo recovery software compatible with your Sigma DP1x camera.

As a practical case, consider a scenario where you have gone to a college friends' wedding ceremony and clicked photos with old friends. You return home and load the SD card in your Sigma DP1x camera to re-view the valuable photos, and receive an error message:

“Memory card error”

As a result of the above error, you are not able to access photos of the memorable time spent with your friends.

Cause

The above behavior can be observed if an SD card becomes corrupt. Corruption in an SD card mostly occur due to interruption in read/write process. This may happen if you continue clicking photos on low batteries or if your Sigma DP1x experiences an unexpected shutdown while writing a photo to an SD card.

Resolution

You must try and consider the following steps in order to perform photo recovery:

• Connect the camera to a computer and access the photos there
• Connect the camera to a computer via card reader and access the photos
• Check for a backup
• If nothing goes in your favor, format the SD card in your Sigma DP1x camera and perform photo recovery

Since formatting erases all the older entries, it becomes necessary for you to hunt a suitable and feature-rich recovery application. A third-party photo recovery utility employs improved and effective scanning algorithms and extract lost photos within a minutes time.

Simply use Photo Recovery is a versatile and easy-to-use software which recovers lost, deleted or formatted photos from all major cameras including Sigma, Sony, Nikon etc. The photo recovery software recovers all formats and is available for both Windows and Mac users.

Canon CRW Photo Recovery

Canon Cameras use the CRW file format for storing images. These are RAW image files which save pictures without applying any in-camera compression to them. The files are stored on memory cards which are highly prone to corruption. The slightest mistake during the read-write process of the card causes corruption. Taking a back-up of the card data, i.e., the photos, videos, etc., is the best prevention for permanent data loss. These back-ups, however, are not always accessible to the user. In such situations, one should use a Photo Recovery Software to recover lost or deleted pictures and videos.

For example, you have a new Canon camera, and you decide to change the memory card used in it. You pull out the memory card currently in use and replace it with a new one.

Later when you try to upload pictures from the old memory card, you find that all your pictures on it are inaccessible. You get error messages saying that the memory card is corrupt or that the card needs formatting.

Cause:

The above problem occurs due to errors during the read-write process of the data. When this process is interrupted mid-way, the card tends to get corrupted. This process could have been interrupted in several ways:
When the card is pulled out from the camera while pictures are still being written to it.
When the camera is on and the card is pulled out.
When the camera is switched off immediately after clicking photos.
In all the above cases the read-write process gets broken off. This causes the photos thereon to become inaccessible.

Resolution:

The first thing to do when a card is giving trouble, and the pictures and files thereon are still accessible, is to back-up the data on it. This back-up should preferably be taken on another storage device and not the same one.

You can then try and format the card. After formatting the card, pictures, videos, and other data on it become inaccessible, you can use a Photo Recovery Software to Recover Lost Photos. Not all software support CRW file, which are generated by Canon cameras.

While selecting the software to perform recovery, ensure that you select a trustworthy, well reputed tool. There are umpteen make-believe applications that damage the files while recovering them.

Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery is a Photo Recovery Tool developed to safely recover photos from all kinds of storage devices—Memory Cards, External Hard drives, Digital Cameras, Computer hard drives, etc. The software works on both Windows and Mac OS. It supports all popular camera file formats; CRW, CR2, NEF, ORF, SR2, MRW, etc.