All my pictures I took no longer show on my card. What gives?

[Dream57]

I took pictures over a few hours and even reviewed some. Later I noticed none of the pictures were on the card. There were, however, a few from the day before. I don't remember changing anything. Any advice? I was using a SDHC 32GB card.

[TCampbell]

I wonder if you've created a new folder without realizing it.

Most people don't bother to create "folders" on their card.  But it is possible.  Suppose I've got two different events I plan to shoot and I don't want to intermingle the photos.  You can tell the camera to create a new folder on the card.  All the shots you take will go into that folder and when you review your shots it will only display that folder.  (you can switch folders to see what else is on the card.)

You didn't mention your camera model, so I can't help you with menu navigation.  

You could also put the card in your computer and browse the contents.

Canon (and frankly every photographer) will recommend that you always format your cards (even new cards before the first use -- don't trust the pre-formmatted cards) and do this ONLY using the camera to format (never the computer... if you do happen to format a card using the computer, then re-format it on the camera again before using it.)

Do you own more than one card and is there a possibility that you switched cards?

[Dream57]

It's an EOS Rebel T3i. I checked the card on my computer and saw the following folders: 

100Canon

EOSMISC

MISC

The few pictures (taken the day before) were in the 100Canon, and the other two were empty.

Thanks.

[Skirball]

Have you added any more photos to the card since?  I would use a SD Card recovery software to see if you can save any.  Both Sansdisk and Lexar come with software, but there are plenty of good free ones you can download.

When you delete a photo on a card all you really do is hide it, the information is still there.  However, if you take more photos then eventually the information will be over-written by the new file.  Data recovery software can get those photos back so long as you haven't over-written them.

[Dream57]

Thanks! I'm going to try it.