Camera deleted all pictures to make space for newer pictures

[Zack Brown]

I was taking some pictures with my Nikon D5600 the other day. Last time I checked the gallery on my camera, it had around 990 pictures, all shot in RAW, in a SanDisk 32GB Extreme Pro. Only after shooting a couple more pictures, I checked my gallery again, only to see I only had 8 pictures in the card. I freaked the hell out. There were some really important vacation photos on that card. I expected the camera to give me something along the lines of 'memory card full' error, hence why I kept shooting, expecting the error message to pop up at any moment. I then immediately switched to my other SD card.

 

So my understanding is, what happened was the SD card got full and it deleted all previous photos to make space for newer ones.

 

This doesn't make sense to me. Why would that happen??? Camera has 1000 pictures, nope, gonna delete all 1000 to make space for newer ones. I'm 1000% sure I did not accidentally format the memory card.

 

So, here goes my questions:

 

1. How can I prevent this from happening in the future? I did look through the menus on my camera but did not find any option related to that.

 

2. Is there any way I can recover the photos? I guess the first 8 photos have already been overwritten, but what about the other ones? I'm willing to pay for a recovery software if it's gonna retain at least the majority of the pictures.

 

3. Was this supposed to happen? 

 

Note: I'm not back from vacation until Tuesday the 18th. So, I still didn't check the SD card contents on my computer. I feel stupid saying this, but I still kind of have a tiny bit of hope that the other pictures are inside the card, in some hidden folder.

 

All the help is appreciated guys, thanks in advance.

[Enderman]

Try recuva to get the pics back.

[RadiatingLight]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

Try recuva to get the pics back.

+1

 

Any standard recovery software would be good at getting these pics back. as it stands, they should be pretty easy to recover.

 

do not write any data to the SD card. if it has a toggle to go into read only mode, flip it.

 

the important part in data recovery is to not overwrite the old data, do any writes your system does, even if it's just routine disk maintenance or something, could royally fuck up your images. toggle read-only mode to keep your stuff safe.

[Jurrunio]

4 minutes ago, Enderman said:

Try recuva to get the pics back.

Probably won't work on all pictures since it's been overwritten, but OP should definitely try recover as much as possible

 

1. Keep a close eye on the remaining picture counter. I think what happened to you will make this impossible to forget.

 

2. If other ones aren't overwritten, then you can copy all of them to a computer.

 

3. It shouldn't, but I guess making it save .raw files overrides some of these settings.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Jurrunio

[Enderman]

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

Probably won't work since it's been overwritten, but OP can still try.

 

1. Keep a close eye on the remaining picture counter. I think what happened to you will make this impossible to forget.

 

2. If other ones aren't overwritten, then you can copy all of them to a computer.

 

3. It shouldn't, but I guess making it save .raw files overrides some of these settings.

Only eight have been overwritten, he should be able to get everything else back.

 

[LienusLateTips]

10 minutes ago, Enderman said:

Only eight have been overwritten, he should be able to get everything else back.

 

No, read closely.

 

There were 990 photos in total. Only 8 are left. How many have been overwritten?

 

 

In the form of a elementary school's word problem in the math textbook.

[Enderman]

Just now, JDE said:

No, read closely.

 

There were 990 photos in total. Only 8 are left. How many have been overwritten?

 

 

In the form of a elementary school's word problem in the math textbook.

Deleting is not overwriting.

There were 990, they were erased, 8 new pictures were written.

990-8=982 pictures should be recoverable.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Enderman said:

Deleting is not overwriting.

There were 990, they were erased, 8 new pictures were written.

990-8=982 pictures should be recoverable.

+1 unless it entirely formats it and cleans it shiny (I'm sure it doesn't) then they are recoverable

 

13 minutes ago, JDE said:

No, read closely.

 

There were 990 photos in total. Only 8 are left. How many have been overwritten?

 

 

In the form of a elementary school's word problem in the math textbook.

 

[LienusLateTips]

13 minutes ago, Enderman said:

Deleting is not overwriting.

There were 990, they were erased, 8 new pictures were written.

990-8=982 pictures should be recoverable.

Well, it depends. What if he was shooting in some ridicoulous format that took up the entire SD?

[Enderman]

Just now, JDE said:

Well, it depends. What if he was shooting in some ridicoulous format that took up the entire SD?

He was most likely shooting at the same settings as all the other pictures, as he said that he just kept taking pictures even though he got a warning.

It probably won't be exactly 8 that he loses, since image size will also depend on what he took a photo of, but it will be around there.

The huge majority should be recoverable.

[Zack Brown]

38 minutes ago, Enderman said:

Try recuva to get the pics back.

Will do, thanks!

 

5 minutes ago, Enderman said:

even though he got a warning.

I did not get a warning, I just expected to get an error. If I did get a warning then I would have acted immediately.

 

And, thanks guys, you have given me hope that I would be able to retrieve the files. I will post an update when I'm home on Tuesday.

[Enderman]

Just now, Zack Brown said:

Will do, thanks!

 

I did not get a warning, I just expected to get an error. If I did get a warning then I would have acted immediately.

 

And, thanks guys, you have given me hope that I would be able to retrieve the files. I will post an update when I'm home on Tuesday.

My bad, misread that part.

[AkiraDaarkst]

1 hour ago, Zack Brown said:

So my understanding is, what happened was the SD card got full and it deleted all previous photos to make space for newer ones.

Unless there's a bug with the camera firmware, cameras do NOT automatically delete files in the memory card to make room for new ones.

 

Did you by chance press the two shortcut button combo that formats the memory card?  Which is usually the TrashBin button and one button on the top for the right hand finger side, though looking at the photos of a D5600 I don't see buttons marked for formatting shortcut.

 

1 hour ago, Zack Brown said:

it had around 990 pictures, all shot in RAW, in a SanDisk 32GB Extreme Pro

As you take photos the camera automatically creates the files with incremental file name.  For example, if the first photo was DC_0001 and it reached DC_9999 inside a folder labeled 100Nikon, it creates a new folder labeled 101Nikon to continue.

 

By the way, did you actually load the memory card into a computer to see that only 8 were left?

 

1 hour ago, Zack Brown said:

Is there any way I can recover the photos?

You bought a Sandisk Extreme Pro memory card, it didn't come with a free 1 year license code for their memory recovery software?

 

Additionally I find it strange that you manage to fit nearly 1000 RAW files into a single 32GB SD card, 24MP raw files can usually average around 40-50MB per file.  Unless of course you weren't using 14-bit uncompressed RAW.  And Nikon cameras do indicate when the memory card is full.

[Zack Brown]

6 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Did you by chance press the two shortcut button combo that formats the memory card?

I'm certain I did not.

6 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

As you take photos the camera automatically creates the files with incremental file name.  For example, if the first photo was DC_0001 and it reached DC_9999 inside a folder labeled 100Nikon, it creates a new folder labeled 101Nikon to continue.

Yes, that's what I thought happened too. But if it did create a file named 101Nikon, the other pictures in 100Nikon will still be visible in the camera gallery, correct?

6 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

By the way, did you actually load the memory card into a computer to see that only 8 were left?

Nope, not yet. As I said I'm in vacation so I can't check until I'm back.

6 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

You bought a Sandisk Extreme Pro memory card, it didn't come with a free 1 year license code for their memory recovery software?

Yes, it did! I completely forgot about that as I didn't think I'd need it. Guess who's wrong. Well, I still have the SD card box with me back home so I'll install it and try that. You think it's better than recuva?

6 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Additionally I find it strange that you manage to fit nearly 1000 RAW files into a single 32GB SD card, 24MP raw files can usually average around 40-50MB per file.  Unless of course you weren't using 14-bit uncompressed RAW.  And Nikon cameras do indicate when the memory card is full.

Me too. I looked online and thought the card would max out at around 700 pictures, but somehow I did manage to fit nearly a 1000, all in 14-bit RAW. (Not sure about the uncompressed bit, lol.)

[AkiraDaarkst]

29 minutes ago, Zack Brown said:

I'm certain I did not.

Yes, that's what I thought happened too. But if it did create a file named 101Nikon, the other pictures in 100Nikon will still be visible in the camera gallery, correct?

Nope, not yet. As I said I'm in vacation so I can't check until I'm back.

Yes, it did! I completely forgot about that as I didn't think I'd need it. Guess who's wrong. Well, I still have the SD card box with me back home so I'll install it and try that. You think it's better than recuva?

Me too. I looked online and thought the card would max out at around 700 pictures, but somehow I did manage to fit nearly a 1000, all in 14-bit RAW. (Not sure about the uncompressed bit, lol.)

I would use the software that comes with the memory card since you are going to get the full version with that free code, unless Recuva is also 100% complete and is free.  Never really needed to use any recovery software so can't tell you how each performs.

 

Each time you buy a memory card and they include the license for the data recovery software, just keep them safe.  You never know when you may need them.  I have a big collection.

 

I'm a Nikonian myself but I haven't exceeded the number of photos necessary for the camera to start a new folder in quite a number of years and can't remember how the in-camera preview works.  I just load a fresh card into my camera each day and my cameras all have dual memory card slots.  I'm thinking (and hoping) the case is that you didn't lose any of your files, the camera just started a new folder and only showing you the preview for the files that exist only within that new folder.  Isn't there any computer available on your vacation, maybe at the hotel's business center (if they have one), where you can load the memory card?  Check your camera settings, there should also be a setting that lets you preview everything regardless of folder.

 

http://www.dummies.com/photography/cameras/nikon-camera/how-to-choose-which-nikon-d7100-images-to-view/

[Zack Brown]

58 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

I'm thinking (and hoping) the case is that you didn't lose any of your files, the camera just started a new folder and only showing you the preview for the files that exist only within that new folder. Check your camera settings, there should also be a setting that lets you preview everything regardless of folder.

 

http://www.dummies.com/photography/cameras/nikon-camera/how-to-choose-which-nikon-d7100-images-to-view/

Guess what. I put the SD card in my camera, switched it on, went to the playback menu, and saw that the playback folder was set to 'ALL'. I went to pic 1/8, clicked the button to see the previous picture, and there they were. All 999 pictures are still in the card! Thanks a lot!!! It did indeed just create 101Nikon. And I would probably not have realized that until I was back home, if not for your comment. Thank you again.

 

Would it be safe using the same card now? I will get a memory card full error when it's full, right?

 

 

 

But the real question is, how did it fit 1007 14-bit RAW pictures?

[AkiraDaarkst]

2 hours ago, Zack Brown said:

Guess what. I put the SD card in my camera, switched it on, went to the playback menu, and saw that the playback folder was set to 'ALL'. I went to pic 1/8, clicked the button to see the previous picture, and there they were. All 999 pictures are still in the card! Thanks a lot!!! It did indeed just create 101Nikon. And I would probably not have realized that until I was back home, if not for your comment. Thank you again.

 

Would it be safe using the same card now? I will get a memory card full error when it's full, right?

 

 

 

But the real question is, how did it fit 1007 14-bit RAW pictures?

I don't think the card or camera has any issues so it'll be no problem to keep using them.  Unless you have spare cards you can use since the first card might be close to being full.