CF Card FAT- NTFS headscratcher, can anyone help?

Flash In The Pan

Flash In The Pan

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Ok, so I did a shoot today, 100 or so images on two cards in different cameras (D300 and S5 Pro), came home, stuck them in the card reader and it says both are corrupted.

Tried the cards in another pc, same problem and the "Nikon D300" one is now named NKKN D300. Had a look at the properties for the cards and they came back as FAT, when they should be NTFS - is there any way to change the discs to NTFS and/or get the files off the discs?
 
Can you still see the images when the card is in the camera? If so - can you connect the camera directly to the pc and download via nikon software? Or can you download using the in camera controls?

I dont think you can reformat the card without destroying the data on the card.
 
Yes, i can see the embedded jpegs from the Fuji, the D300 ones have now disappeared. I'm on the Microsoft site and it looks as if I can change the file type without formatting, but I think I'll do a bit more reading first.....
 
I wouldn't change the file format before trying to recover to be honest...the file allocation table that needs to redone to change from FAT to NTFS is like the index to the disc. I would think therefore that re-writing this index before trying to recover may cause more problems...
 
I know you can change a hardrive from fat to ntfs without losing any data, so in theory it should be the same. But i think id still try and recover the pics first.
 
Better safe than sorry (or at least trying to be safe!!)
 
I would...the least you do to the card whilst trying to recover the better. I certainly wouldn't change the file format until it becomes a last resort to be honest. If it comes to it the command in DOS is CONVERT driveletter: /FS:NTFS
 
It's FAT32 for larger capacity cards. Did you format as NTFS in the reader? Mine won't allow it.

Recovery software will work with data on cards that have been formatted several times, so long as the data hasn't been overwritten. The golden rule is to only read from the storage device until you've recovered everything you want . . . or have thrown in the towel. Good luck!
 
Managed to get the images off the Fuji's card via the usb cable, but the Nikon one ( which has most of the shots on it) is now showing one HUGE file with a file type in hieroglyphics :bang:

I can see a D3 in my future :LOL:
 
photon said:
It's FAT32 for larger capacity cards. Did you format as NTFS in the reader? Mine won't allow it.

Recovery software will work with data on cards that have been formatted several times, so long as the data hasn't been overwritten. The golden rule is to only read from the storage device until you've recovered everything you want . . . or have thrown in the towel. Good luck!
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They're only 2gb cards, but I still don't know how they ended up as FAT, unless I inadvertently did something when I was formatting the sd card for my notebook :shrug:

I'll persevere, this isn't going to beat me :geek:
 
It should be FAT or FAT32 for cards. My first 2GB SD card turned out to be a fake SanDisk. When I got a genuine one I had to get a new reader as it was SDHC and FAT32. Also had to abandon Win98 as the driver wasn't up to the job. Best to leave the formatting to the camera.
 
photon said:
It should be FAT or FAT32 for cards. My first 2GB SD card turned out to be a fake SanDisk. When I got a genuine one I had to get a new reader as it was SDHC and FAT32. Also had to abandon Win98 as the driver wasn't up to the job. Best to leave the formatting to the camera.
Click to expand...

I always format in camera, that's the weird thing, 2 different cameras, both cards formatted in-camera before the shoot :shrug:

The cards have both worked faultlessly for ages and both came from good sources...
 
Sandisk recovery should get all your images, Geraldine.

Never heard of anybody trying NTFS as a format for cameras though.

FAT16 or 32 is the norm.
 
Mikesphotaes said:
Sandisk recovery should get all your images, Geraldine.

Never heard of anybody trying NTFS as a format for cameras though.

FAT16 or 32 is the norm.
Click to expand...

Thank you Gertrude, on further research it was correct as being FAT, but something (I can only assume it was the card reader as it was the only common factor) corrupted the file type on both cards. It took three in-camera reformats before the cards started working correctly again, didn't manage to get the images back off the D300 card though :shake:
 
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