Sandisk Extreme Pro 128gb -cannot playback images on my 70d

[LMPhotography75]

I am besides myself. Photographed a clients 3 young children (about 100 or so photos), completed the session, was showing one kid some pics and turned the dial to quick and all of a sudden “cannot playback image with a ?” Came up on every photo I took that day (including some from the previous day. These were all raw files and when I either hook my camera up to my Mac or even put the sd card in the reader it says “preview unavailable for this file” in Lightroom, but shows the size of the image. And when I try to pull it up or import it, it says “the file appears to be unsupported or damaged”. I am seriously at a loss for words. Are my photos just gone?!! HELP!! 🙁

[RobertTheFat]

This is just a wild stab; but the fact that all images are affected suggests that the damage may be to the file system rather than to the individual files. When you put the card in the card reader, can the computer see all the files? If so, I'd try to copy them to the computer and see if they're readable there. If that doesn't help, the next step would be to try one or more of the recovery programs that are out there. Some of those are supplied by the card manufacturers, and one may have come with the card. (Usually it's in the form of instructions on how to download it.) If that doesn't work on your Mac, you could then try it on a Windows computer.

[ebiggs1]

"If that doesn't work on your Mac, you could then try it on a Windows computer."

This is a good idea.  I would try it ASAP.  The few times I was involved with this type situation it was always on a Mac.  Also get a good recovery program like Bob suggested, too.  The card manufacturer, if it is a top line SD card will have one.

I might suggest if you are truly wanting to do this kind of work, for hire especially, you need a camera that uses two card slots.  If on the other hand you are just a hobbyist it isn't so important.  As a working pro for over 40 years I can say I never lost "all" the shots from a shoot !  But memory cards do fail and they will do it without notice or symptoms.

Always buy the best SD card you can and don't buy the largest capacity.  Less is more, here.

[LMPhotography75]

The problems started right on my memory card. I have done every recovery program to no avail. 😞 I am a professional Photographer and have been doing this for 8 years now and this has never happened to me.

[MikeSowsun]

I would contact Sandisk. They should be able to recover the files if you send the card to them.

I once had a similar problem with a Lexar card. I sent them the bad CF card and they sent me back a new card with the recovered files on a CD. 

[RobertTheFat]

---

@LMPhotography75wrote:
The problems started right on my memory card. I have done every recovery program to no avail. 😞 I am a professional Photographer and have been doing this for 8 years now and this has never happened to me.

---

I don't think you've been doing it with a 128GB card for eight years, because I don't think 128GB cards have been around that long. I realize that it doesn't help your current situation, but my advice would be to stop using cards that large. If there's a design flaw or implementation bug in a card's file system, it's more likely to show up in a card that's pushing the envelope of what's currently feasible than in a smaller, more commonplace card. Even if you follow Ernie Biggs's good advice and use a camera with two slots, I still think smaller cards are safer.

And this may be a case where a studio photographer could take a page from the event photographers' book and never do an important shoot with only one camera.

[ebiggs1]

" I still think smaller cards are safer."

+1   Save fewer photos to more SD cards and cut you chance of loss.

[LMPhotography75]

Yes but how much did they charge you for doing that?

[MikeSowsun]

They charged me nothing. All it cost me was postage to send the card to them.

Big memory card companies like Lexar and Sandisk want to protect their market share. The last thing they need is for photographers to start telling their friends "don't buy "XXX cards because they tend to get corrupted and you might lose your files".

They also want to determine why the card became corrupted to prevent it from happening on other cards. 

[LMPhotography75]

Awesome thank u. Will call them tomm!