A quick format rewrites the index and leaves every photograph in place, and cameras only ever use quick formats. That is why most card recoveries succeed — provided nothing new has been written since, and provided you declined the camera’s offer to repair it. A partial example: a shoot overwritten on a microSD.
$ bdr diagnose /dev/sdb → Device: SanDisk Extreme · 128 GB SDXC → Status: CORRUPT — card asks to be formatted → Client: confidential · Oxford, Oxfordshire $ bdr engineer-working → Read-only image: taken · card untouched → File system: rebuilt from image → Photos + video: carved · CR3 + MP4 $ bdr verify → ✓ RAW photos — 2,140 files → ✓ video clips — 318 files → ✓ card recovered — memories back
Cameras offer to repair or format a card the moment you power on with it inserted, and photographers accept out of habit. That single tap rewrites the index a recovery would have used. Remove the card and decline every prompt.
Cards fail in a small number of predictable ways, and most of them leave the images intact.
Almost every SD and microSD card is a single fused package, which shapes the entire recovery route.
There is no separate controller and flash to work on independently — both are sealed into one component with nothing removable inside. Where the card still reads and the fault is logical, that makes no difference at all: the images are recovered by rebuilding the index or carving by signature, and the work is straightforward.
Where the controller has failed, the route is to locate the internal test points on the monolith and read through them, which requires the correct pinout for that specific package. That is slower and more specialised than working on a discrete device — it is why a card that is entirely undetected is a different proposition from one that simply will not mount.
The physical format matters less than the construction and the fault.
Full-size cards from cameras, camcorders and audio recorders, including write-protected and undetected units.
From phones, drones, dash cameras and action cameras — the smallest and most frequently damaged format.
Professional camera media, including older CF cards from equipment long since retired.
Legacy and proprietary formats where the reader itself is now hard to find.
Snapped, bent, cracked or water-affected — where the package is intact the data usually is too.
One price whatever the format.
Memory cards are from £250 +VAT, confirmed after a free 48-hour diagnostic and a written quote, with most jobs no fix, no fee.
Send the card on its own in a small rigid case — not inside the camera. If you know roughly how many images are missing and when they were taken, mention it; on a partial recovery it confirms the right material has come back rather than simply a large amount of it. Full write-ups: an SD card formatted in one click.
Send the card in for its free diagnostic with a brief note on what happened; an engineer evaluates it and confirms the exact quote in writing before any work starts.
Getting your data back starts with getting the card to us. Pack it safely, enclose your contact details, and once we've run the free diagnostic we confirm your exact quote in writing before any work begins.
Posting it? A tracked, insured service is what we’d recommend. Rather drop it in? You’re welcome Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm — just package the device up as above first.
Need a scoped quote first? Describe the card and fault on the form and an engineer will assess it and reply with a tailored quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 01865 593000.
The technical questions we get most about failed memory cards.
Usually. Cameras and computers use quick formats, which rewrite the index and leave the image data physically in place. The photographs can be recovered by rebuilding the index or carving them out by signature. Stop using the card immediately.
Take it out and decline the offer to repair or format. That message usually means the allocation structures were left inconsistent — removed mid-write, or the battery died during a burst — while the images remain untouched.
Somewhat. Try a different reader first, as built-in laptop slots fail often. If it is still undetected the controller has probably failed, and because cards are monolithic that means reading through test points on the sealed package — slower, but frequently successful.
Suspiciously cheap, an unusually large capacity for the price, and sudden catastrophic corruption once a lot of data is on it. Fakes report more capacity than they contain and discard writes beyond the real limit — recovery is confined to whatever landed on genuine flash.
Only from a copy, and only if the card still reads reliably. Software that writes to the card, or a card that is physically failing, can destroy what would otherwise have come back.
From £250 plus VAT, fixed in a written quote after a free 48-hour diagnostic, with most jobs no fix, no fee. Send the card on its own rather than inside the camera.
Free diagnostic, a flat £250 + VAT per card, no fix no fee on most jobs, and SD, microSD and CF cards of every make recovered, photos and videos alike. Start your recovery today.