Steps to Recover Flash Card on Windows
FAT and NTFS are the two major types of file system used by Windows Operating system. Generally, FAT file system is supported by all versions of Windows Operating system whereas NTFS file system can only be used in Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Typically, flash memory cards are formatted with FAT32 file system so that they can work well in computers as well as in all other portable devices like digital cameras, PDA’s, MP3 players and other handheld devices. FAT file system is simple compared to NTFS and supports all versions of Windows OS. FAT32 is the latest version of FAT file system, which is able to manage up to 2TB of data. FAT file system uses its disk space more efficiently i.e. it uses smaller clusters to store data. Flash memory cards are able to store large amount of data i.e. up to 2TB. Generally, digital cameras make use of flash cards to store photos. Photos stored on these flash memory cards may get deleted or lost due to common human errors. When images gets accidentally deleted from flash card in digital cameras, it is possible to restore flash card used in digital cameras and restore those images.
Accidental deletion of photos, abruptly ejecting flash memory card, accidentally formatting flash memory card, flash memory card corruption, power surge problems, virus attack etc are the other common scenarios for photo loss in flash memory cards
Memory card corruption: Flash memory cards can be connected to computer through card reader. Abruptly removing memory card from card reader during transfer of photos from flash memory card to computer may result in memory card corruption resulting in photos loss. However, you can recover damaged memory card using a third party recovery software.
Virus attack: Virus attack is the most common problem for photo loss. Viruses are responsible for corrupting or deleting photos stored on flash memory card. Sometimes, viruses may corrupt the file system of flash memory card resulting in photo loss. Once if the file system gets corrupted then you may not be able to access those photos from flash card
Accidental deletion of photos: Photos may get deleted accidentally using Shift + Del keys. Sometimes, instead of deleting unwanted photo you may accidentally delete other essential photo resulting in photo loss. If you have deleted any photo from flash memory card in computer then it does not move to Windows Recycle Bin instead it bypasses the Recycle Bin
Therefore, before deleting any photo from flash memory card, make sure that the photo, which you are deleting is not important to you. Use "Safely Remove Hardware" feature to properly eject flash memory card thereby avoiding photo loss. If the photos have been accidentally deleted from flash memory card then stop using flash memory card immediately to avoid permanent photo loss and use good recovery software to recover photos from flash card. Recover Flash Card (Windows) is the best way to retrieve deleted files from flash card. This software supports recovery on different types of flash memory cards like SD cards, MMC, XD cards, CF cards etc. Along with photos, this software is also able to recover different types of media files such as video files, audio files, text files and all other types of files. The software can also restore flash card files after format on Windows and Mac. In case your flash card gets corrupted due to any scenario, you can easily recover lost files from corrupt flash card and retrieve your photo files from it easily.
You need to follow below mentioned simple steps to recover lost or deleted photos from flash memory cards,
Step 1: Connect your flash card to your computer. Download and install Recover Flash Card (Windows) and then launch it
Step 2: Select "Recover Photos" option from the main screen as shown in Figure 1. If you want to recover accidentally deleted photos then select "Recover Deleted Photos" option or if you want to recover lost photos then select "Recover Lost Photos" option from the next screen
Figure 1:Main Screen
Step 3: Select flash memory card to recover lost or deleted photos from it and then click "Next" button. You can even select file types to be recovered based on their unique signature otherwise you can skip this step using "Skip" button as shown in Figure 2
Fig 2: Select File Type
Step 4: This software scans your entire flash card to recover deleted or lost photos. Once the scanning is completed, it displays list of recovered photos. You can preview those photos using "Preview" option as shown in Figure 3
Fig 3: Recovered files
