JPEG and RAW files begin with fixed, recognisable byte patterns, which means images can be rebuilt from a card even when the file system is gone entirely. A formatted card and a corrupted one are much the same problem — provided nothing new has been written over them.
$ bdr diagnose /dev/sdb → Device: SanDisk Extreme SD (256 GB) · camera → Status: FORMATTED — photos intact, file system reset → Client: confidential · Reading RG1 $ bdr engineer-working → Forensic image: taken · originals untouched → Carve: JPEG + CR3 RAW signatures → Found: 4,820 photos · 180 video clips $ bdr verify → ✓ raw_photos — 2,140 files → ✓ jpeg_photos — 2,680 files → ✓ every shot recovered — intact
On a camera, the next frame you take is written into the space your deleted images occupy — and a burst can overwrite dozens in seconds. Remove the card, leave it out, and decline every offer from the camera to repair or format it.
Photographs are among the more recoverable file types, but the route in matters.
This is the technical reason photo recovery succeeds so often.
JPEG files begin and end with fixed byte markers, and RAW formats — CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, ORF — have their own recognisable structures. That means images can be reconstructed from the raw card or disk by signature alone, without any working file system. A formatted card and a corrupted one are, from this angle, much the same problem.
What carving loses is the filename and folder structure, which lived in the catalogue rather than the image. Recovered photographs typically come back correct but numbered sequentially. Embedded EXIF data survives, so capture dates and camera settings are intact and the set can usually be re-sorted chronologically without much difficulty.
Different media, same principle.
Including cards that are undetected, reading at the wrong capacity, or physically damaged.
Where the images never reached a card, or the library lived on a hard drive or external that has since failed.
Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Olympus and Panasonic, plus video containers from the same bodies.
Where the catalogue is recoverable, we return it too — which restores organisation as well as images.
Tell us roughly how many images and when they were taken; it confirms the right material has come back rather than simply a large amount.
By media type, not by how many images return.
Memory cards and USB media are from £250 +VAT; a hard drive, SSD or external holding a photo library is from £300 +VAT. Free 48-hour diagnostic and a written quote before any work, and most jobs are no fix, no fee.
Send cards on their own in a rigid case rather than inside the camera. Full write-ups: Seagate Momentus Recovery: Files Open but Corrupt.
Send the device in for its free diagnostic and tell us briefly what happened; an engineer reviews it and confirms your exact quote in writing before anything starts.
Getting your data back begins with getting the device to us. Pack it up safely, pop your contact details inside, and send it over — once we’ve run the free diagnostic, we’ll confirm your exact price in writing before any work starts.
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.
Want a bit more detail first? Fill in the form with more about your issue and an engineer will review it and send you a custom quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 01865 593000.
What people most often ask about getting lost photos back, memory cards especially.
Usually, if nothing has been written since. Deleting removes the catalogue entry rather than the image data, and photographs carve back well because JPEG and RAW files have recognisable byte structures. Take the card out and stop shooting immediately.
Probably not. Cameras use quick formats because the card must be usable again in seconds, so the images remain physically present. A full format is different, but cameras rarely perform one.
Usually not — names and folders lived in the file system catalogue. Photographs typically return correct but numbered sequentially. EXIF data survives, so capture dates and camera settings are intact and the set can be re-sorted chronologically.
Yes. CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, ORF and the other major RAW formats all have recognisable structures and carve back the same way, as do the video containers from the same camera bodies.
Try a different reader first — built-in laptop slots fail often. If it is still undetected the controller has probably failed, which is physical work rather than software, but frequently still recoverable.
From £250 plus VAT for memory cards and USB media, and from £300 plus VAT for a drive holding a photo library — fixed in a written quote after a free 48-hour diagnostic.
A free diagnostic, no fix no fee on most jobs, and photo recovery from any card, camera or drive. The sooner you stop, the more comes back — start today.