topic Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS Rebel T7i photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

leifsok — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 13:51:17 GMT

Hello,

Canon EOS Rebel T7i

Lexar SD Card

I had over 100 photos existing on the SD Card. Camera was turned off. Turned on again. Two photos taken and when I reviewed the photos, all others were gone and only the two most recent photos were present on the SD Card. I have tried a number of different software packages to try to recover photos, but when they scan the SD Card, none have found deleted or corrupted files.

I'm not sure where all the photos went. The card wasn't formatted and the files were not manually deleted - so where did they go?

Appreciate the help of the community.

Kirk

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

Peter — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 15:10:55 GMT

Don't write anything to the card because overwritten data will never come back.
Which recovery software have you tried?

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

leifsok — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 16:19:49 GMT

tried Recuva, easeUS, ZAR.

I have only run the scans - none of which detected any files other than the system hidden files and the two existing photos.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

ebiggs1 — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 14:05:22 GMT

Seeing the photo on the back LCD screen is not a confirmation they were saved to the SD card. Can you verify that the photos were actually on the SD card? I say this because if "Recuva, easeUS, ZAR" did not find anything I doubt anything is there to recover.

Try the SD in a computer or card reader.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

Peter — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 19:06:38 GMT

With older camera models, like 7D, Canon caches the images (5-10). If this is true also for your T7i it means there is a chance you only reviewed the cached images and not on the memory card saved images. But if you have 100 images and still was able to see more than the last 10 taken images they must have been saved to the memory card.

As ebiggs1 wrote the chance to recover is low if you failed with Recuva etc. I use Photorec and its whole disk search feature, but I don't see how it would help you here.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

BurnUnit — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 14:10:10 GMT

@leifsok wrote:

. . . Lexar SD Card

This is a full-sized SD card, correct? Not a micro SD card with an adapter . . .?

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

leifsok — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 15:14:48 GMT

Correct, full size.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

leifsok — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 15:16:19 GMT

Thanks for the responses. Confirmed new photos with SD card in card reader on computer.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

leifsok — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 17:06:28 GMT

prior to turning the camera off there were over 100 photos that had been saved successfully. after the camera was off and then turned back on (about 15-30 minutes later) all those photos were gone and only two photos were visible on the LCD. I then put the SD card in a reader and could only see the two photos on the computer.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

kvbarkley — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 17:24:12 GMT

Do you whatever software you are using on the computer set to delete images on import? (Which is a bad idea, in general, IMHO, just because of cases like this.)

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

ebiggs1 — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:29:16 GMT

"I then put the SD card in a reader and could only see the two photos on the computer."

I fear they are truly gone and unrecoverable. Either they were never saved to the SD card or they got deleted by hook or crook somehow.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

leifsok — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:33:16 GMT

I think so too. So strange. I wonder if some partition / data table was overwritten but I can't see any recoverable partitions when I try a partition recovery tool.

Thanks for the responses.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

Waddizzle — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 17:17:09 GMT

@leifsok wrote:
I think so too. So strange. I wonder if some partition / data table was overwritten but I can't see any recoverable partitions when I try a partition recovery tool.

Thanks for the responses.

Did you format the memory card in the camera prior to first use?

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

leifsok — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 17:22:51 GMT

I format the memory card every so often in the camera after downloading photos. This issue came about just by turning off the camera and then turning it back on 20-30 minutes later.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

Waddizzle — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 08:23:26 GMT

@leifsok wrote:
I format the memory card every so often in the camera after downloading photos. This issue came about just by turning off the camera and then turning it back on 20-30 minutes later.

I would stop using that memory card. Make sure that you select "low level format" for SD memory cards. I use Sandisk cards, thumb drives, and memory sticks, and have never had a problem with any of them in more than 15 years. I guess I must be lucky, because I have had experienced several failures with other brands.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

Tinamarie425 — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 21:48:51 GMT

Wait. I just bought the t7 used it for the first time Friday. All pictures were visible in camera after shooting. All images were there for transfer to computer. Yesterday. They transferred fine. I didn’t delete from the camera and it was turned off. But I did delete the files off my computer. Went to look at something today and poof! 300 pictures and 7 videos gone! Did I do something wrong? Are the files NOT recoverable? I did try 2 other devices and a card reader and nothing! Is all lost. Because if it Is I am kind screwed as I was on Assignment

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

Peter — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 21:57:50 GMT

Write protect the card, you know the thingy on the card, download Recuva for Windows and start recover the files.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

Tinamarie425 — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 22:01:18 GMT

Is there an official site I can download that from everywhere I have seeen looks sketchy.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

Waddizzle — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 22:08:34 GMT

How are you transferring the files? Are the files still visible in the camera when you press the [>], play, button?

If you used the EOS Utility to download images from the camera, it will only display “new” files that have never been previously downloaded. You would to use the option to manually select the images in order to download them a second time using the EOS Utility.

Many users remove the card from the camera and use a card reader on their computer to download files.

Re: photos disappeared - not deleted not formatted

Tinamarie425 — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 22:20:25 GMT

Plugging the caner into of with usb cord.
nope not visible on camera at all or in any other device. I tried 3 other and a card reader. They are just gone. I didn’t use any kind of software just straight download to pc. It was a workstation pc not my personal one. But when I deleted the files from the pc. Camera wasn’t even on or plugged in