Help: Camera flooded, memory card got wet, is photo recovery hopeless?

[kelemvor]

You can try removing the plastic casing from the SD card. There could be salt or other matter in there shorting some of the contacts. Here's what a card looks like after the casing has been removed and it's been taped back up:

If you do get your card going again by removing the casing and physically cleaning the electronics, I wouldn't stick it back into a camera. They are a pain in the butt to remove from a card slot without the casing attached.

 

[fmerkel]

Flooded a number of them. But, always immediately soaked in fresh water, then dried. They worked fine, and I'm still using them. They are solid state and damn robust.
So, another recommendation for a good freshwater soak, dry, and try again. Cleaning the contacts is not a bad idea. Won't hurt as long as the cleaning is not destructive.

CRITICAL! - Do not attempt to USE the card, take pictures (like in your husbands camera), format, or otherwise write to the card. This could alter the index of the card and make retrieval more difficult or impossible.

Unless the card is really screwed up the pictures are there, but it could have had the index messed up. That's why it won't read. Picture recovery software is designed to READ the card, (only) without needing the index, find pictures, re-name/number them, and download them where ever you indicate. You can do a Google search on programs that are specifically designed to do this both free and paid. As long as the program ONLY READS, it will not further harm the card. You can try several programs safely. Some are faster, some are slower and more thorough.

If you can download via your husbands camera....do it.
If you can't, use a card reader. GET A GOOD ONE! There are a LOT of cheap crap card readers that will screw up a perfectly good card. You can re-format, and start over but every time you switch platforms you get grief. Throw away cheap card readers and never go there again.

NOTE - Best to never format your card in the PC. Always format IN THE CAMERA. You are less likely to get hassles with index corruption this way.

 

[dmoore19]

Pretty good responses for a 6 year old thread.

 

[fmerkel]

Damn! Well, maybe some poor soul doing a frantic search will reap some benefit.

 

[robd]

www.recoverfab.com/index.php
Is the best. I used them 2yrs ago, after flooding my camera in the Cayman's with no downloads done all week. His pricing on right on the website. You do have to send the card to him in Germany. And then a few weeks later I received and email with sample pics he was able to get to. Best part is if he cant restore your data. You pay NOTHING! If all else failed why not?

 

[sea_ledford]

Wow, double zombie! Impressive!

(sets calendar to reply to this thread in 2027...)