How to Rescue Files on a Corrupted SD Memory Card with PhotoRec

Using PhotoRec (All Operating Systems)

1. Download the PhotoRec software. PhotoRec is a free data recovery program that runs from a command line interface. It is not as flashy or intuitive as other recovery programs, but it is one of the most powerful free data recovery solutions, and works on virtually all operating systems.

   1. PhotoRec can be downloaded from the CGSecurity website. Ensure that you are downloading the correct version for your operating system.

2. Extract the program. PhotRec is a lightweight program, and does not need to be installed. Instead, open the ZIP file after it is downloaded and copy the folder to an easy-to-access location on your hard drive, such as the root of C: drive or your desktop.

3. Run the program. Double-click on the "photorec_os" file in the TestDisk folder. The os part of the name will be replaced with whatever version you downloaded. For example, if you are using Windows, the file will be called "photorec_win".

4. Select the card. Ensure that the SD card has been inserted into your computer's card reader, or that it is inserted in the camera and the camera is connected to the computer via USB. When PhotoRec starts, you will be given the option to choose which disk you want to recover data on. Use the arrow keys to select your SD card.

   1. If you have multiple partitions on the disk, you will be asked to select which partition you want. Most memory cards aren't partitioned, so you won't need to choose.

5. Set your options. You are given a few options before the recovery process starts. Most users can leave these at their defaults, but if you want to recover files even if they are corrupted, you can enable that on this screen.

   1. Enabling "brute force" will recover fragmented files, and is very CPU intensive.

6. Define what file types you are looking for. By default, all of the file types are highlighted. If you know exactly what files you are looking for, you can narrow it down to speed up the search. Each extension in the list has a brief definition next to it to help you determine what kind of file it is.

   1. If you are recovering for a camera, you will want to focus on RAW and CR2 files, as well as JPG

7. Select the file system. PhotoRec will need to know what file system type the memory card has. Most memory cards are formatted in one of the systems in the "Other" category.

   1. If you aren't able to get any results, try running the scan again with the other file system option.

8. Tell PhotoRec what space to check. PhotoRec will give you two options for space checking: Free or Whole. If your memory card is corrupt, you will get better results with the Whole option. The Free option will only look for files that have been specifically deleted.

9. Set the location for recovered files. The last thing you need to do before you start scanning for files is set a location for recovered files to be saved. You will need to select a location on your computer and not on the memory card you are trying to recover from. Use your arrow keys to change directories.

10. Wait for the scan to finish. You can see the scan results update as the scan is performed. PhotoRec will make at least two passes on the card to try to find as many files as possible. This will take several minutes.

11. Browse your results. After the scan is complete, the recovered files will be available in the directory you set before the scan started. The original filenames will almost always be lost, so you will need to manually change them back to whatever you want.^{[1] X Research source}

    1. If the files you need are still corrupt, there is likely no way for them to be fully recovered.