Topic: Help with recovery from a bad SD card

[musicjaime]

I have checked the index of topics in this area and have not seen a solution to an issue I am having....turning to this group for some advice/help.

I had a run of shows that I taped and didn't have time to transfer immediately to my computer. When I went to do so, I had big time problems with the SD card and I am afraid the recordings may be lost.

Sequence of events:
1) Put the card in the USB adapter I always use and plugged it into the PC...could see all files (about 😎 and briefly listenedd to one to check sound quality and all seemed good.
2) Went to do my usual copy/paste to the PC and got a message that it could not access the files.
3) Went back to the card folder on the PC and saw only about 3 lines of gibberish, not the normal wav file names. Could do nothing with them.
4) Right clicked on the card drive and checked properties and could see that there are 10GB of files on the card.
5) Ejected card and now when I insert it the card is not recognized at all by the PC.

I have tried everything I can think of...tried a different computer, tried different USB drive input, different card/USB adapter, put the card back in the recorder and it was not recognized. Not sure what other options I have at this point.

Does anyone have any ideas of anything else I can try? Also, I assume it is more of a physical card issue since I could see the 10GB at the beginning. I assume there must be some micro-memory in there where the files still exist. Are there recovery services where they might be able to take the card apart and offload the files from whatever internal memory there may be inside? The "lost" shows include both Jason Isbell Radio City shows from 2 weeks ago, including the Shelby Lynne and Alejandro Escovedo opening sets and Jason's first night in Boston last weekend...really want to get them!

Thanks for any thoughts. Feel free to PM if you prefer.

[morst]

I'm not sure the best way to go about cleaning the pins but I wonder if crud buildup on one pin could garble it?
Do they look dirty?


Try a soft cloth, then maybe isopropyl alcohol like 70% and give  it a moment to dry before reinserting.

[musicjaime]

Thanks Morst...a simple thing that I have not tried! I'll give it a shot. I do think it is something like that...the pins are bad or something. I appreciate the thought.

[Datfly]

I have had this fix "0" files and cards that my PC could not read at all.

I'm on a PC so if you are try this.

Open you command prompt -

Type cmd in the windows box
once it opens type chkdsk [driveletter]: /f

driveletter is whatever slot your card is on.

This has not failed me yet!