Devices · SD & memory cards
Memory cards fail at the worst possible moments — the morning after the wedding, halfway through the holiday, mid-transfer of the only copy. Most 'blank' and 'corrupt' cards give everything back, if nothing else touches them first.
Talk it through with an engineer
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| The message | What it means | First move |
|---|---|---|
| Canon: Memory card error / Cannot access the memory card | The camera can't read the card's file system | Pull the card, stop shooting |
| Canon: Card cannot be accessed. Reinsert/change the card | Contact or controller fault | Don't reformat to 'fix' it |
| Nikon: This memory card cannot be used. Card may be damaged | Card unrecognised or corrupt | No in-camera format |
| Card is write-protected / Card locked | The lock tab — or a controller locking itself as it fails | If the tab's fine, it's failing |
| You need to format the disk in drive X: | The computer sees a RAW card full of your photos | Decline, every time |
| No memory card (with a card inserted) | Dead controller or contacts | Chip-level read territory |
Your device is logged with its own case reference the moment it arrives. An engineer assesses the fault, confirms what's actually recoverable, and you get a fixed price in writing — no diagnosis fee, no obligation, and no paid work until you say go.
The card is cloned bit-for-bit first, so no tool — ours or anyone's — ever works on your only copy.
If the file system is repairable we rebuild it on the clone; if not, every image and video is carved out by its own signature, RAW files included.
Recovered shoots are checked image-by-image, not just counted — you get files that open, at full resolution.
Before you pay the recovery fee you approve a full listing of what came back. Your data returns on new media with free return postage, and the case only closes once you've confirmed everything opens on your side.
An honest number, honestly missing: there is no reliable public figure for how many SD cards in circulation are counterfeit — vendors and labs call it widespread, and we see it weekly, but anyone quoting a precise percentage made it up. What is certain: data written past a fake's real capacity is unrecoverable by anyone.
512GB SanDisk, fine at midnight, empty by morning. Forensic clone first, file system rebuilt on the copy, a deep carve behind it for anything orphaned — the couple got every frame, and the photographer kept the client.
Don't. A format writes new structures over the ones we use to rebuild your file names and folders. Recovery straight from the unformatted card is cleaner and more complete.
Yes — CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, DNG and the rest are carved by their own signatures, alongside video formats. Professionals' cards are most of what this bench sees.
Not necessarily. On monolith cards the memory sits in one die; if the die survived the break, chip-level reading can get the data even when the card will never work again.
Cards are the quickest jobs in the lab — most complete in two to three working days, faster where a deadline is at stake. Tell us the date you're working to.
Every restart of a damaged device costs data. Open a case first — the diagnosis is free either way.