Lost photos on CF card

[Teekay]

I have a SanDisk 32gb card which had numerous photos on it. Thankfully I downloaded my nieces Formal photos without a problem on Friday, phew.

But yesterday, I took some photos and when I connected the card to the computer, it looks like the directories are there but there is nothing in them. I put the card back in the camera and there are no photos on there.

I ran the SanDisk rescue pro software and all it found were 90 files. All of them old.

I have a feeling all is lost, but thought i would ask on here if there is anything else I could try.

So bizarre.

Edited October 21, 2019 by Teekay

[Brian]

Unfortunately, you are looking at Extreme Data recovery. It’s not cheap but probably your best bet. Friends of mine have used these guys in the past:

https://www.gillware.com/

The worst thing you can do is keep dorking around with that card with scan after scan. I’d contact Gillware and get a quote. Also, I’d replace the card at this point. 
 

Data on cards is stored sequentially so if you use the same card over and over, writing the same areas over-and-over and delete images in camera, that makes data recovery much more difficult.

Also, is this a CF card? If so get a flashlight and look at the pins in both the camera and card reader if you use one. You’d be surprised on just how much a bent pin in a CF slot can screw things up. I’ve seen cameras blow up and short out due to a bent pin in the slot. It kills the card and if you use that shorted out card in multiple devices, the problems could follow the card. A wedding photographer friend of mine killed two 5D Mark III bodies during a wedding. Fortunately he had a second shooter with a backup body and they were able to finish the gig. 
 

I don’t care if people say Flash Media should last decades, cards go bad for no other reason than, “...just because.” :) 

[Teekay]

Thank you for your help Brian. Camera is, thankfully, working fine with a different CF card so hopefully no major damage. I am just so grateful I got my nieces formal pics off before the card messed up. I've only lost some family pictures of a day out on our boat so I'll just count myself lucky and bin the CF card at this point ?