fotografr Posted November 7, 2006 Share #1 Posted November 7, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) I've had an awakening of sorts as a result of a recent screw-up on my part. First, I deleted a favorite image from one of my memory cards thinking I had saved it to my hard drive. I discovered, after formatting the card, that I actually had not saved the image. After several years of digital imaging, this is the first time I know of that I've dumped an image. So that was lesson #1: Never delete from the card until you KNOW you have stored the image somewhere. On to lesson #2: I remembered I had put the image on my website (72 ppi with a size of 960 pixels on the longest side), so decided to download it from there and see what I could do with interpolation. Using the latest version of Genuine Fractals, I up-resed the file 400%. What I got was a 35.7M file sized at 12.5 x 11.25 inches @ 300ppi that I literally cannot distinguish from the original. I just made a print and it looks absolutely great. And that's what's scary. We like to think our images are safe being posted because they are such low res nobody could use them for anything but web. But with new interpolation programs, anybody can download our stuff and do pretty much whatever they want with them. This is the photo I recovered: Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/8702-two-scary-lessons/?do=findComment&comment=86597'>More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted November 7, 2006 Posted November 7, 2006 Hi fotografr, Take a look here Two Scary Lessons. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Guest guy_mancuso Posted November 7, 2006 Share #2 Posted November 7, 2006 Pretty good save Brent . Okay i will leave my lecture out. You already know what i am going to say. LOL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografr Posted November 7, 2006 Author Share #3 Posted November 7, 2006 Pretty good save Brent . Okay i will leave my lecture out. You already know what i am going to say. LOL Yeah (hanging my head). I've given it to others already. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert_parker Posted November 7, 2006 Share #4 Posted November 7, 2006 Brent You got it back, even down to the hairy collar !! It's great you got it back but it does show what could be done if someone were minded to. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografr Posted November 7, 2006 Author Share #5 Posted November 7, 2006 Brent You got it back, even down to the hairy collar !! It's great you got it back but it does show what could be done if someone were minded to. Good thing everyone out there is honest ;-). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Roberts Posted November 7, 2006 Share #6 Posted November 7, 2006 Good thing everyone out there is honest ;-). Or cheap Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucek Posted November 7, 2006 Share #7 Posted November 7, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) I discovered, after formatting the card, that I actually had not saved the image. . Brent: I'm sure you know this but I figured it might bear repeating: Just because you formatted the card doesn't mean that the image is gone. Many (most?) image rescue programs can recover files from formatted cards so long as they haven't been used since the format. Usually a format only erases the File Allocation Table and does not destroy or overwrite the data itself. Bruce Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wparsonsgisnet Posted November 7, 2006 Share #8 Posted November 7, 2006 Brent: I'm sure you know this but I figured it might bear repeating: Just because you formatted the card doesn't mean that the image is gone. Many (most?) image rescue programs can recover files from formatted cards so long as they haven't been used since the format. Usually a format only erases the File Allocation Table and does not destroy or overwrite the data itself. Bruce Bruce, Do you have any of these programs to recommend? tnx. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted November 7, 2006 Share #9 Posted November 7, 2006 Some Sandisk cards come with a recovery program in the packaging. PC only, but desperate times need desperate remedies... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucek Posted November 7, 2006 Share #10 Posted November 7, 2006 Bruce, Do you have any of these programs to recommend? tnx. Bill: My Lexar USB Memory Stick came with one for both the PC and Mac, named (I think) MediaRecover. There are a slew of them out there, though, for both the PC and Mac (although you have to look harder to find them for the Mac). That said, I only had to use a program like that once, many years ago. Since then I have managed to avoid erasing cards that weren't already backed up. In some playing around I found that some would recover RAW files and some wouldn't. Fortunately many of the programs out there are Shareware so you can try them and at least find out if they can recover any files at all before you buy. I hope that helps. Bruce Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografr Posted November 7, 2006 Author Share #11 Posted November 7, 2006 Thanks for offering the advice. Unfortunately, I did use the card again after formatting. I ran it through Digital Image Recovery but was unable to get anything prior to the format. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overgaard Posted November 7, 2006 Share #12 Posted November 7, 2006 Disk Warrior 3.x should be the optimum for Mac to save lost data and lost anything (lot harddrives for example). It's a 100$ software but there is many free software online that can do a small job. Yes, it's scary how much data you can loose on one card by loosing it, destroying it or simply think you got it downloaded when not. However, I recently made VERY sure I had everything down on a portable computers harddrive. Then two days later, I lost the harddrive! 8 GB of pictures flushed. Anyway, had mailed and FTPed the important ones and was about to archive. But it is amazing how well you can live without something - when you first have realized there is no other choice. Will have the pleasure of trying to get it back one of these days. Hope nobody ever wants one of the photos that aren't there anymore. Bought 500 GB backup disks to 'celebrate' the loss though. But haven't made any preparations of backing up my portable when on tour. Maybe I should do that too. Those portables are the risky ones that you drop, get stolen, drop in the spa or simply get ruing of traveling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nryn Posted November 7, 2006 Share #13 Posted November 7, 2006 I used a piece of shareware for the Mac called PhotoRescue on a 1GB card with excellent results. In the interest of full disclosure (of my scatterbrain tendencies) I did download the card to my computer, but while trashing a bunch of files from my desktop, trashed the files downloaded from the card. I then formatted the card in the camera and proceeded to shoot more photos over several sessions. Well, Photorescue recovered probably 85% of the files I wanted from the trashed session, and even some files from many, many moons ago. I tend to reformat cards between sessions (a lot easier than "erase all") and on this day, anyway, I never filled up the card, which would have certainly erased any lingering data from the first session. Anyway, Photorescue did a great job, despite its clunky and arcane UI. I have Diskwarrior too, but Photorescue did a much better job. YMMV. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert_parker Posted November 7, 2006 Share #14 Posted November 7, 2006 I don't intend this as a criticism, just curiosity - is there a professional reason why it's best practice to format tha card after use, rather than just using the camera's 'erase all' function referred to above (or for that matter deleting the files whilst the card is in the reader attached to the PC) ? Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografr Posted November 7, 2006 Author Share #15 Posted November 7, 2006 I don't intend this as a criticism, just curiosity - is there a professional reason why it's best practice to format tha card after use, rather than just using the camera's 'erase all' function referred to above (or for that matter deleting the files whilst the card is in the reader attached to the PC) ? Thanks The reason for formatting frequently, rather than just erasing the files, is that the cards can become heavily fragmented and formatting essentially defrags them. It is advisable to do this in the camera rather than on the computer, and the same goes for erasing files and folders. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert_parker Posted November 7, 2006 Share #16 Posted November 7, 2006 Brent That's interesting - thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlaurpic Posted November 7, 2006 Share #17 Posted November 7, 2006 Regarding interpolation programs, the one I have heard about most is probably genuine fractals, but I haven't tried it yet. Do you have an opinion or have you heard anything about Alien Skin's "Blowup", which apparently does the same thing? Which is considered better and why? I have used to good effect AlienSkin's Exposure, which makes it possible to apply a filter to a file that will make the file look like various films, both color and black and white. So I am wondering whether Blowup might be as good as genuine fractals or better and we just haven't heard about it. Regarding recovering files, I thought I had lost everything on an SD card a couple of years ago when I accidentally hit "erase all" instead of erase this file in a Digilux 2. The card showed no images. I called a buddy who is good at this stuff and he gave me the names of a couple of file recovery programs. Actually all you have to do is put "recover lost images" in google and you will probably find several programs you can buy and download from the internet. I tried two different ones and they both worked although I ended up losing about 10% of the files completely. The others I got back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimmel Posted November 8, 2006 Share #18 Posted November 8, 2006 I'm very glad you were able to recover; it's a great photo. Was this taken with the M8? If so, what lens? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ho_co Posted November 8, 2006 Share #19 Posted November 8, 2006 Brent-- It's a beautiful shot! Glad you could get it back, though as you said, the means for doing so also introduces some other issues. I've always heard about Genuine Fractals, and it clearly works. Did you also try the process with one of the interpolation models in Photoshop CS2? Someone told me that Bicubic Sharper or Bicubic Smoother (I've forgotten which he recommended) resampling worked as well. Just curious if anyone has made the comparison. Thanks! --HC Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografr Posted November 8, 2006 Author Share #20 Posted November 8, 2006 I'm very glad you were able to recover; it's a great photo. Was this taken with the M8? If so, what lens? I wish it had been done with the M8, but I'm still waiting for one. I shot this with my LX-1. Thanks for the comment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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