Please Help! Images from CF card disappeared!

I'm not sure what happened...but I had about 5,000 images on my SanDisk Extreme Pro 128 GB card and now they are gone.

Is there any way to recover them?

Thank you so much for any help!

Hello and welcome.

Is there any way to recover them?

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There most likely is a way, but to help us help you, how about telling us the background to your problem:

You got 5,000 images on your SanDisk from? - a camera I presume. And then you did what? Tried to download them to your Mac? Which Mac, Year, Model, Operating System.

And what happened? And how do you know they're gone?

Please understand that whilst this might be tedious for you, we are in the dark as to your setup and how all this came about.

Please post back with as much info as you can, and we will do our best to help.

Ian

Yes, a camera.

The night before it happened, I got a message saying something was not ejected properly, which I assumed was my Seagate EHD because it ejects itself {without me doing anything} on a regular basis.

The last thing I did was download some images from the card via my card reader. {Not removed, just downloaded/copied.} The next day, the card said there were no images on the card.

I have a 2011 Mac desktop running OS X 10.6.8

I know they are gone because the next day the camera said I had 999999 images left to take instead of the few hundred from the night before. Also, when I scroll through the images, the only ones there on the card are the ones I took at church yesterday.

The last thing I did was download some images from the card via my card reader. {Not removed, just downloaded/copied.} The next day, the card said there were no images on the card.

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Downloaded how and with what program? iPhoto or Photos will ask if you wish the images removed from the card or camera after downloading them. Could that be what happened?

In any event, since the images are gone do not attempt to use the CF card again until you can recover what was deleted. There are several apps that can recover images that have been deleted from a CF card but they are not free.

CF card recovery - Stellar

CF card recovery

One thing I should mention.... your version of macOS is so old that some of the recovery apps may not work. One of the hazards for not updating your Mac on time.

I plugged the card into my card reader and transferred the images from the card onto my computer.

Ok, thank you so much for all your help.

Hisacorn said:

I plugged the card into my card reader and transferred the images from the card onto my computer.

Ok, thank you so much for all your help.

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Hello Hisacorn, again.

Your comments, quoted above, cause me some confusion.

Are you saying that the transfer to your computer has gone okay and all is well; or are you just telling us what you did and that your problem is still unresolved?

It would be great if it was the former rather than the latter.

Ian

I hope that your last post is, as it seems to be, that the problem has been solved.
I little general advice though if you dont mind.
Your Desktop computer has exceeded it's predicted lifespan and your operating system is both old and unsupported. I note you also mention that your EHD ejects itself from time to time and that is definitely not good for the device. It may simply indicate that the USB connection is worn or damaged but the inevitable outcome is that the EHD will in time become corrupted and or unreadable.
I would strongly suggest that you backup the entire device as soon as possible using the built in Time Machine app if you havent already. We see far too many people who loose everything when their device dies which is inevitable after all.

I transferred the images from the card to my computer with no problem. At the time, the card had over 5,000 images on it.

After the transfer, I got the "improperly ejected" message. I thought it was the EHD {which is used with Time Machine}, because it ejects itself all on it's own on occasion.

When I went to use the camera the next day, there were no images on the card.

I'm not sure where the confusion lies.

I ran the first program that chscag recommended, and only a handful of the 5,000 images showed up. Also, some of the images I took {after the 5,000 disappeared}, have gray areas at the bottom of them.
I believe that indicates corruption.

So....it looks like the 5,000 images are lost.
It also looks like there is corruption on the card.

Can that corruption be fixed? Is the card no good now? Will formatting/reformatting fix it?

Thank you

Can that corruption be fixed? Is the card no good now? Will formatting/reformatting fix it?

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Unfortunately, CF cards that suffer corruption rarely can be corrected. I've also had them go bad and had to throw the bad ones away. Keep trying with both of the programs that I suggested to you to see if you have any luck.

If you reformat the card, everything will be lost. Besides, I would not trust that card any longer. Best to buy another card.

Dang! I JUST got this card in February!!! Why would it go bad so fast???

I've had them go bad right out of the box. Supposedly the more expensive CF cards will last longer but I don't believe that.

So, all the images are on your PC? They’re just not on the card?

The best thing to do now, is copy all the images you want to keep, even if they may be corrupted, then put the card in the camera, and re-format the card in the camera.