Devices · SD & camera cards
Cards fail just when you need them (i.e., during an important trip), or just as your second copy was being made. We get many of these types of failures sent to us by our customers from Maidenhead. And usually, if no one formats the card before we receive it, a blank, locked or unreadable card posted in from Maidenhead will give you back nearly everything.
Describe the fault to an engineer
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| The symptom | The likely cause | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Canon: Cannot access the memory card / Memory card error | The camera will no longer see your file system | Take the card out and then stop |
| Canon DSLR: Card cannot be accessed. Reinsert/change the card | Dirty contacts, or a failing controller | Do not let the camera format the memory card |
| Nikon: This memory card cannot be used. Insert another card | The memory card is either corrupted, or not recognised by the camera | Avoid formatting within the camera |
| Card locked / Card is write-protected | Either the small slider on the side of the card has been slid into the lock position, or the controller has locked itself as it fails | If you've already slid the slider to be up, there's something wrong with the card |
| You need to format the disk in drive X: | Windows may show the card as RAW, as there is no way for Windows to access it as a file system, but the images underneath are still intact | Refuse the offer to format |
| No memory card, when one is obviously inserted | A dead controller (or dead contact pads) | Microscopic chip analysis after this point |
Nothing is chargeable until you say yes. Every item gets a case number of its own immediately upon receipt, an engineer determines what has failed, and you get a clear picture of which files have a real possibility of being recovered. The single quote that follows is fixed, written down and does not cost anything.
The clone is made exactly bit-for-bit before we do anything else. We then put the card back in its sleeve and don't touch it again with anything we run afterwards.
All repairs are done on the clone. Folder name repair occurs when we can restore the file tables. Otherwise, each frame of images is pulled out using header signatures, regardless of whether the frames are RAW or JPEG.
A file count proves absolutely nothing. The recovered shoot is opened frame by frame, and each image is examined to see if it displays completely, at the correct size.
You don't get charged anything until you've confirmed and authorised that everything is fine after seeing the entire list of what was recovered. Any recovered items are returned via brand-new storage media and the postage costs for these are covered by us. We do not consider a project complete here until we receive confirmation that you have been able to successfully access and review every item you received back.
The figure that does not exist: nobody has reliably measured what percentage of cards that are sold are fake. Both laboratories and manufacturers claim that the problem is widespread, and we have seen fakes arrive here enough times to know it exists, but any exact percentage you see was made up by the person publishing it. One thing survives all of that: whatever was written beyond a counterfeit's real capacity is beyond the reach of any laboratory.
By breakfast the 512GB SanDisk that had been used for a whole wedding the night before was reading as empty. A clone was first made from that original card, then the file system was built back onto that clone, then a deep carve was done to gather up any orphaned data. Every frame was recoverable and the photographer kept the client happy.
No. The format creates brand-new file tables directly over the records we would otherwise use to rebuild your folder names and file names; leave it alone, and more will come back, better organised.
Yes. Each format has an identifiable header (NEF, CR3, DNG, ARW and RAF) that carving can identify, as well as video files. A fair number of the cards we book in are from professionals.
Often not. A monolith card holds everything in one die, so if the break didn't get the die, then we can still read the data at the chip level. Regardless, the card itself is finished.
Cards are our fastest turnaround project work: two to three working days is typical for most, and sooner if there's a looming deadline. Just let us know what day you need this done by and we will make sure it's done by that time.
Every additional power-up asks for even more of a drive that is already starting to fail. First open a case with us, and let the free diagnosis tell you how much remains.