NicoX Posted October 29, 2023 Share #1 Posted October 29, 2023 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi folks, So there I am, with my Q3, enjoying my time with my family, taking pictures of my 2 year old on a carrousel.... But then in the middle of a sequence, I get an error message from the camera. Something along the lines of a SD error, couldn't capture file, whatever. As the Q3 has a history of crashing, I think to myself "it's all good, I remove the battery, I remove the SD card, and it should work OK". Except it doesn't. At all. I can no longer boot the camera with said SD card. The camera displays "Error SD card", and I can't do anything. Can't go in the menus, can't format, can't take pictures (obviously). The SD card is now completely unreadable. I tried on several computers, with another camera, nothing does it. No device can read the card. Heck, my computer doesn't even recognise there's a card when I plug it in. I've tried all the stuff I read on the internet (chkdsk, listdsk, and other ways to "force" the computer to identify the card), nothing works. Before I jump out the window and learn my lesson... has this ever happened to anyone? Is it even worth contacting the manufacturer? Or should I just take my loss and shut up? Any help would be welcome! All the best! Nick Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted October 29, 2023 Posted October 29, 2023 Hi NicoX, Take a look here Leica Q3 - R.I.P. SD 64GB X-PRO 90 Class 10 U3 V90 UHS-II.... I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
LocalHero1953 Posted October 29, 2023 Share #2 Posted October 29, 2023 (edited) Have you tried another card? If it's just the card, then I have an immediate solution: bin it and buy a new one. Your images are too valuable to risk on a dodgy card. This is the same solution I have adopted since 5.25 inch floppy disks. Edited October 29, 2023 by LocalHero1953 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicoX Posted October 29, 2023 Author Share #3 Posted October 29, 2023 I have tried another card and it works fine. What I'm hoping to do is obviously to recover my pictures before binning it indeed. 😞 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
idusidusi Posted October 29, 2023 Share #4 Posted October 29, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, NicoX said: Before I jump out the window and learn my lesson... has this ever happened to anyone? Is it even worth contacting the manufacturer? Or should I just take my loss and shut up? Any help would be welcome! All the best! Nick Before you open the proverbial window, have you tried SD Card Formatter Edited October 29, 2023 by idusidusi Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokkie Posted October 29, 2023 Share #5 Posted October 29, 2023 (edited) In the future, I'd always format my SD card in the camera I'm going to use it in. Even if you bought a preformatted card. There is a range of software for data recovery and I recovered my wife's photos from her micro SD card in her phone. It cost money and it took time. Depending on how many photos you took of your two year old it may be worth trying. (Don't reformat the card before using the recovery software.) Good luck. Edited October 29, 2023 by Stokkie pre- 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
idusidusi Posted October 29, 2023 Share #6 Posted October 29, 2023 1 minute ago, Stokkie said: Don't reformat the card before using the recovery software.) Good luck. Thank you I should have mentioned that, as it is important. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted October 29, 2023 Share #7 Posted October 29, 2023 Advertisement (gone after registration) Fortunately as long as you don’t overwrite the card reformatting does not erase the files. However if no device will recognize the card the standard recovery software will not be able to do its work. If your computer does still see the card try SanDisk Rescue Pro. It is one of the better recovery programs which can read formatted cards. If the card cannot even be recognized there are specialized forensic recovery services but they are not cheap. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicoX Posted October 29, 2023 Author Share #8 Posted October 29, 2023 I'm afraid none of my devices "see" the card so there's no action I've been able to perform so far... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
idusidusi Posted October 29, 2023 Share #9 Posted October 29, 2023 1 minute ago, NicoX said: I'm afraid none of my devices "see" the card so there's no action I've been able to perform so far... Have you tried to have it read somewhere else on a different computer? On Windows/Mac or perhaps in this circumstance better on a Linux box. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokkie Posted October 29, 2023 Share #10 Posted October 29, 2023 (edited) Time to buy a fresh SD card and see if it works ok in your Q3. Put the old SD card away and see if you can have the images recovered. But all the forensic recovery firms are expensive. I might be tempted to take fresh pictures with your two year old. I don't have a Q3 yet, but the camera shouldn't be crashing. If it works then update the firmware. Current version is 1.3 Edited October 29, 2023 by Stokkie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cogito Posted October 29, 2023 Share #11 Posted October 29, 2023 about 10 yrs ago I had a CF card fail on me, was a professional shoot and I didn’t have redundancy. took a couple days and about $2,000 to recover with a forensic recovery company (I remember because it was about the same as my fee.) That’s when I switched from Canon to Sony, because sony had redundant SD cards. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobtodrick Posted October 29, 2023 Share #12 Posted October 29, 2023 On a regular basis (as in every couple weeks) I download all my images from my cards and format the card. Many just delete images, but this just allows you to overwrite the images on the card. Think of it like the old days when you record and re-record on a VHS/BETA tape…eventually you got problems. As well in the grand scheme of things memory cards have gotten pretty inexpensive. Every couple years I replace my cards…lost images/memories are just not worth the hundred or two dollars it costs to replace every couple of years. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Albertson Posted October 30, 2023 Share #13 Posted October 30, 2023 If you buy the equivalent SanDisk card in that class, it generally has a coupon with a download code for their recovery software. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegobi Posted October 30, 2023 Share #14 Posted October 30, 2023 Seems simple, but check that there is no corrosion on the card contacts -- they should be shiny gold. If they are not, give them a scrub with something slightly abrasive like a toothpick until shiny again. Worth a try... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicoX Posted October 30, 2023 Author Share #15 Posted October 30, 2023 To answer the various suggestions that people kindly made: - I've tried reading the card on 4 different computers (3 running Windows, 1 Mac). The computer acknowledges a new device is plugged-in (it makes the "sound") but nothing after that. - Looking at the card, I don't see any corrosion whatsoever. It looks spotless as far as I can tell. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
idusidusi Posted October 30, 2023 Share #16 Posted October 30, 2023 43 minutes ago, NicoX said: To answer the various suggestions that people kindly made: - I've tried reading the card on 4 different computers (3 running Windows, 1 Mac). The computer acknowledges a new device is plugged-in (it makes the "sound") but nothing after that. - Looking at the card, I don't see any corrosion whatsoever. It looks spotless as far as I can tell. Wow that is a conundrum what make of card is it? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobtodrick Posted October 30, 2023 Share #17 Posted October 30, 2023 (edited) 9 hours ago, NicoX said: To answer the various suggestions that people kindly made: - I've tried reading the card on 4 different computers (3 running Windows, 1 Mac). The computer acknowledges a new device is plugged-in (it makes the "sound") but nothing after that. - Looking at the card, I don't see any corrosion whatsoever. It looks spotless as far as I can tell. This is, unfortunately something that happens. We do data recovery at our shop, and at least the instances of card failure have drastically decreased over the years. I’d say we have about a 95% success rate with card recoveries…but there are times where no matter what we do…it just doesn’t work. I deal with a couple of major newspapers. All their photographers, when photographing an important event would switch out their cards every few minutes in case there was a card failure…of course most new cameras have dual card slots so that isn’t necessary. But unfortunately, just like the ‘blue screen of death’ on your computer, total card failure is always a possibility. It’s also why I always tell customers carrying a couple or three small cards is better than one big one. Edited October 30, 2023 by bobtodrick 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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