I do a few minor repairs on cameras and phones that have got wet, e.g.
dropped into a loo or streams and other things that can easily be fixed.

I have been handed a camera memory stick to look at. I was told that it
was dropped and was now not working.

Is this possible? I would have thought that it was light enough not to
hit the floor with very much G.

Neither of the 2 computers here recognizes that it is in the card reader
(2 readers, one on each computer) I have cleaned up the contacts, but it
is still not readable.

Any ideas, anyone?

Dave

Dave wrote:
I have been handed a camera memory stick to look at. I was told that it
was dropped and was now not working.

Is this possible?
Not happened to me before with camera memory sticks, but it's
certainly possible (and I've had it with the usb drives).

In any case, there's not a great deal you can do - if you've cleaned
the contacts, and tried it in two PCs and it's not even recognised as
attached (let alone readable) you're basically stuffed. With camera
memory, there's not really anything significant in the way of casing
or similar you could open up and fiddle with, even if you were very
handy with a soldering iron and gaffer tape :-)

You could try it in a camera too but not much else to suggest. If
it's recognised as attached but not readable, try reformatting the
stick either on a camera or a PC.

If you get no joy, well at least these things are getting cheaper and
cheaper.

Ed

wrote:

Dave wrote:

I have been handed a camera memory stick to look at. I was told that it
was dropped and was now not working.

Is this possible?

Not happened to me before with camera memory sticks, but it's
certainly possible (and I've had it with the usb drives).

In any case, there's not a great deal you can do - if you've cleaned
the contacts, and tried it in two PCs and it's not even recognised as
attached (let alone readable) you're basically stuffed.

That was my immediate thought

With camera
memory, there's not really anything significant in the way of casing
or similar you could open up and fiddle with, even if you were very
handy with a soldering iron and gaffer tape :-)

:-) Agreed

You could try it in a camera too but not much else to suggest.

Owner has tried it in his camera, so I have come to the conclusion the
the stick is dead. As you say, they are so cheap, that they can be
bought for a few quid. Mind you, I did advise him to buy smaller memory
cards and not to put all his eggs in one basket again. He had photos of
his very young daughters on the card that he has just lost.

Dave


Many thanks for your time

Dave

Dave wrote:

Is this possible? I would have thought that it was light enough not to
hit the floor with very much G.

It would still be possible to break an interconnect wire between the
connector and the flash. It only takes a lifted track or pin on the
connector etc.

Neither of the 2 computers here recognizes that it is in the card reader
(2 readers, one on each computer) I have cleaned up the contacts, but it
is still not readable.

Any ideas, anyone?

Depends on the value of the data. Taking apart and retouching all the
soldered connections may solve it, but on small surface mount devices
this is not an easy task, and best left to someone who has experience of
doing this and the required equipment. Another possibility would be a
professional data recovery company. If the flash device is undamaged
then chances are that it still has a record of the data and it is just
access that is impaired.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
Dave wrote:

Is this possible? I would have thought that it was light enough not to
hit the floor with very much G.


It would still be possible to break an interconnect wire between the
connector and the flash. It only takes a lifted track or pin on the
connector etc.

Neither of the 2 computers here recognizes that it is in the card
reader (2 readers, one on each computer) I have cleaned up the
contacts, but it is still not readable.

Any ideas, anyone?


Depends on the value of the data.

True.

Taking apart and retouching all the
soldered connections may solve it, but on small surface mount devices
this is not an easy task, and best left to someone who has experience of
doing this and the required equipment.

I have all that, but the cost to time ratio does not add up. Better to
bin the card and live and learn from the experience. (eggs in one basket
comes to mind)

Another possibility would be a
professional data recovery company. If the flash device is undamaged
then chances are that it still has a record of the data and it is just
access that is impaired.

Once again the cost to time ratio kicks in. I have lots of specialist
software that can recover the photos, but only after I can read the card.

I think I will advise him to try formatting the card and see what
happens. Total loss will be less than £20-00 at the most, if the card is
dead. Compare this to the cost of data recovery and it does not add up.

Dave

"Dave" wrote in message
...
wrote:

Dave wrote:

I have been handed a camera memory stick to look at. I was told that it
was dropped and was now not working.

Is this possible?

Not happened to me before with camera memory sticks, but it's
certainly possible (and I've had it with the usb drives).

In any case, there's not a great deal you can do - if you've cleaned
the contacts, and tried it in two PCs and it's not even recognised as
attached (let alone readable) you're basically stuffed.

That was my immediate thought

With camera
memory, there's not really anything significant in the way of casing
or similar you could open up and fiddle with, even if you were very
handy with a soldering iron and gaffer tape :-)

:-) Agreed

You could try it in a camera too but not much else to suggest.

Owner has tried it in his camera, so I have come to the conclusion the the
stick is dead. As you say, they are so cheap, that they can be bought for
a few quid. Mind you, I did advise him to buy smaller memory cards and not
to put all his eggs in one basket again. He had photos of his very young
daughters on the card that he has just lost.

What make was it? If it was a recognisable make like SanDisk or Kingston I'd
get in touch with the company to see if they can do anything for you.
Nothing to lose plus the chances are it will still be under warranty.

I've had 2 cards fail on me. One compact flash fell from pocket height on to
a lino floor. It was a no make PQI. It wasn't recognised in any device and
after asking about I put it down to a stress fracture. It was exchanged no
problem.
The other was a SanDisk memory stick that got corrupted in a card reader.
Regardless of endless customer support from SanDisk it still couldn't be
recognised in any device. Again it was exchanged no problem.

I certainly no longer think these flash memory devices are indestructible.

T.

Dave wrote:

I think I will advise him to try formatting the card and see what
happens. Total loss will be less than £20-00 at the most, if the card is
dead. Compare this to the cost of data recovery and it does not add up.

Don't tell him to reformat the card!!! If the pictures are irreplacable
then they are worth a lot more than the material cost of the card, which
is now peanuts (check Amazon, Ebuyer).

There are utilities such as Photorec that will work at a low level
ignoring file system problems, to recover images.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

There are also companies that may be able to help.

Like http://www.retrodata.co.uk/

--
Adrian C

On Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:17:24 +0000, Dave wrote:

I do a few minor repairs on cameras and phones that have got wet, e.g.
dropped into a loo or streams and other things that can easily be fixed.

I have been handed a camera memory stick to look at. I was told that it
was dropped and was now not working.

Is this possible? I would have thought that it was light enough not to hit
the floor with very much G.

Neither of the 2 computers here recognizes that it is in the card reader
(2 readers, one on each computer) I have cleaned up the contacts, but it
is still not readable.

Any ideas, anyone?

Dave
==================================
It might be worth trying an hour or so in the 'fridge to try and recover
the data. This sometimes works with ailing hard drives. I know it's
different technology and probably won't work but you've got nothing to
lose by trying.

Cic.

--
===================================
Using Ubuntu Linux
Windows shown the door
===================================

"Dave" wrote in message
...
John Rumm wrote:
Dave wrote:

Is this possible? I would have thought that it was light enough not to
hit the floor with very much G.


It would still be possible to break an interconnect wire between the
connector and the flash. It only takes a lifted track or pin on the
connector etc.

Neither of the 2 computers here recognizes that it is in the card reader
(2 readers, one on each computer) I have cleaned up the contacts, but it
is still not readable.

Any ideas, anyone?


Depends on the value of the data.

True.

Taking apart and retouching all the soldered connections may solve it,
but on small surface mount devices this is not an easy task, and best
left to someone who has experience of doing this and the required
equipment.

I have all that, but the cost to time ratio does not add up. Better to bin
the card and live and learn from the experience. (eggs in one basket comes
to mind)

Another possibility would be a professional data recovery company. If the
flash device is undamaged then chances are that it still has a record of
the data and it is just access that is impaired.

Once again the cost to time ratio kicks in. I have lots of specialist
software that can recover the photos, but only after I can read the card.

I think I will advise him to try formatting the card and see what happens.
Total loss will be less than £20-00 at the most, if the card is dead.
Compare this to the cost of data recovery and it does not add up.

How will he be able to reformat the card if nothing recognises it? If it can
be reformatted (recognised) then it should be able to get the data back.

TD wrote:

"Dave" wrote in message
...

wrote:


Dave wrote:


I have been handed a camera memory stick to look at. I was told that it
was dropped and was now not working.

Is this possible?

Not happened to me before with camera memory sticks, but it's
certainly possible (and I've had it with the usb drives).

In any case, there's not a great deal you can do - if you've cleaned
the contacts, and tried it in two PCs and it's not even recognised as
attached (let alone readable) you're basically stuffed.

That was my immediate thought


With camera
memory, there's not really anything significant in the way of casing
or similar you could open up and fiddle with, even if you were very
handy with a soldering iron and gaffer tape :-)

:-) Agreed


You could try it in a camera too but not much else to suggest.

Owner has tried it in his camera, so I have come to the conclusion the the
stick is dead. As you say, they are so cheap, that they can be bought for
a few quid. Mind you, I did advise him to buy smaller memory cards and not
to put all his eggs in one basket again. He had photos of his very young
daughters on the card that he has just lost.


What make was it? If it was a recognisable make like SanDisk or Kingston I'd
get in touch with the company to see if they can do anything for you.
Nothing to lose plus the chances are it will still be under warranty.

You could well be right here. Owner is an Afghan refuge. He has been
over here for well over 6 years and has brought his wife over and raised
a family. Good luck to him.

The card is branded Sony, but I do not know when he purchased it

I've had 2 cards fail on me. One compact flash fell from pocket height on to
a lino floor. It was a no make PQI. It wasn't recognised in any device and
after asking about I put it down to a stress fracture. It was exchanged no
problem.
The other was a SanDisk memory stick that got corrupted in a card reader.
Regardless of endless customer support from SanDisk it still couldn't be
recognised in any device. Again it was exchanged no problem.

I certainly no longer think these flash memory devices are indestructible.

Many thanks for that. I am going to print this out for is information

Dave

Adrian C wrote:

Dave wrote:

I think I will advise him to try formatting the card and see what
happens. Total loss will be less than £20-00 at the most, if the card
is dead. Compare this to the cost of data recovery and it does not add
up.


Don't tell him to reformat the card!!! If the pictures are irreplacable
then they are worth a lot more than the material cost of the card, which
is now peanuts (check Amazon, Ebuyer).

There are utilities such as Photorec that will work at a low level
ignoring file system problems, to recover images.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

There are also companies that may be able to help.

Like http://www.retrodata.co.uk/

Whoops :-(

Noted

Dave

Cicero wrote:

On Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:17:24 +0000, Dave wrote:


I do a few minor repairs on cameras and phones that have got wet, e.g.
dropped into a loo or streams and other things that can easily be fixed.

I have been handed a camera memory stick to look at. I was told that it
was dropped and was now not working.

Is this possible? I would have thought that it was light enough not to hit
the floor with very much G.

Neither of the 2 computers here recognizes that it is in the card reader
(2 readers, one on each computer) I have cleaned up the contacts, but it
is still not readable.

Any ideas, anyone?

Dave

==================================
It might be worth trying an hour or so in the 'fridge to try and recover
the data. This sometimes works with ailing hard drives. I know it's
different technology and probably won't work but you've got nothing to
lose by trying.

Worth a punt :-)

Thanks

Dave

"Dave" wrote in message
...
I do a few minor repairs on cameras and phones that have got wet, e.g.
dropped into a loo or streams and other things that can easily be fixed.

I have been handed a camera memory stick to look at. I was told that it
was dropped and was now not working.

Is this possible? I would have thought that it was light enough not to hit
the floor with very much G.

Neither of the 2 computers here recognizes that it is in the card reader
(2 readers, one on each computer) I have cleaned up the contacts, but it
is still not readable.

Any ideas, anyone?

I had one that took a knock that badly flexed it and so it wasn't working.

I took the board and chip out of the case, plugged it in to the USB socket
and flexed it gently until I got the 'dink donk' that told me that it had
been recognised.

I then held it still and copied the contents into a folder on my PC.

OG wrote:
"Dave" wrote in message
...

I do a few minor repairs on cameras and phones that have got wet, e.g.
dropped into a loo or streams and other things that can easily be fixed.

I have been handed a camera memory stick to look at. I was told that it
was dropped and was now not working.

Is this possible? I would have thought that it was light enough not to hit
the floor with very much G.

Neither of the 2 computers here recognizes that it is in the card reader
(2 readers, one on each computer) I have cleaned up the contacts, but it
is still not readable.

Any ideas, anyone?


I had one that took a knock that badly flexed it and so it wasn't working.

I took the board and chip out of the case, plugged it in to the USB socket
and flexed it gently until I got the 'dink donk' that told me that it had
been recognised.

I then held it still and copied the contents into a folder on my PC.

If it is that easy, I might just give it a go, but I am not going to
waste much time on it.

Dave

On 13 Nov, 19:25, Adrian C wrote:
Dave wrote:
I think I will advise him to try formatting the card and see what
happens. Total loss will be less than £20-00 at the most, if the card is
dead. Compare this to the cost of data recovery and it does not add up.

Don't tell him to reformat the card!!! If the pictures are irreplacable
then they are worth a lot more than the material cost of the card, which
is now peanuts (check Amazon, Ebuyer).

There are utilities such as Photorec that will work at a low level
ignoring file system problems, to recover images.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

There are also companies that may be able to help.

Like http://www.retrodata.co.uk/

--
Adrian C

I've used Zero Assumption Recovery successfully to retrieve seemingly
lost data on a camera card.

Rob

Dave wrote:
If it is that easy, I might just give it a go, but I am not going to
waste much time on it.

Just print out this thread and give it to your "customer".
:-(

--
Adrian C

On 13/11/2007 17:17, Dave wrote:

I would have thought that it was light enough not to
hit the floor with very much G.

Being light means less force, but it doesn't reduce gravity ;-)

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:26:09 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:

On 13/11/2007 17:17, Dave wrote:

I would have thought that it was light enough not to
hit the floor with very much G.

Being light means less force, but it doesn't reduce gravity ;-)

If it's light enough compared to its surface area then air resistance will
make it fall slower. Hitting the floor slower will reduce the rate of
decelleration that it experiences, which is of course frequently measured
as multiples of g. That's what I understood Dave's post to refer to.

Just to be really pedantic, the memory card of course also possesses a
miniscule force of gravity and the lighter it is, the less gravity it has!

SteveW

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:30:07 UTC, Steve Walker
wrote:

Just to be really pedantic, the memory card of course also possesses a
miniscule force of gravity and the lighter it is, the less gravity it has!

Following the pedantic line, that would of course be "minuscule"...!

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

On 15 Nov 2007 18:04:06 GMT, Bob Eager wrote:

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:30:07 UTC, Steve Walker
wrote:

Just to be really pedantic, the memory card of course also possesses a
miniscule force of gravity and the lighter it is, the less gravity it has!

Following the pedantic line, that would of course be "minuscule"...!

You're right. One question though. Were you just correcting my spelling or
were you cleverly using minuscule in its usage as referring to lower case
letters where I'd used g rather than G too?

SteveW

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:25:18 UTC, Steve Walker
wrote:

On 15 Nov 2007 18:04:06 GMT, Bob Eager wrote:

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:30:07 UTC, Steve Walker
wrote:

Just to be really pedantic, the memory card of course also possesses a
miniscule force of gravity and the lighter it is, the less gravity it has!

Following the pedantic line, that would of course be "minuscule"...!

You're right. One question though. Were you just correcting my spelling or
were you cleverly using minuscule in its usage as referring to lower case
letters where I'd used g rather than G too?

No, I wasn't being that clever! But a good point!

I just couldn't resist the spelling bit, since the word 'pedantic' had
been used. At least you didn't say you were a 'pendant', which seems
reasonably common!
--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:25:18 UTC, Steve Walker
wrote:

On 15 Nov 2007 18:04:06 GMT, Bob Eager wrote:

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:30:07 UTC, Steve Walker
wrote:

Just to be really pedantic, the memory card of course also possesses a
miniscule force of gravity and the lighter it is, the less gravity it
has!

Following the pedantic line, that would of course be "minuscule"...!

You're right. One question though. Were you just correcting my spelling
or
were you cleverly using minuscule in its usage as referring to lower case
letters where I'd used g rather than G too?

No, I wasn't being that clever! But a good point!

I just couldn't resist the spelling bit, since the word 'pedantic' had
been used. At least you didn't say you were a 'pendant', which seems
reasonably common!

Aren't they the people that just hang about waiting for others to make
mistakes?

Steve Walker wrote:
On 15 Nov 2007 18:04:06 GMT, Bob Eager wrote:

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:30:07 UTC, Steve Walker
wrote:

Just to be really pedantic, the memory card of course also possesses a
miniscule force of gravity and the lighter it is, the less gravity it has!
Following the pedantic line, that would of course be "minuscule"...!

You're right. One question though. Were you just correcting my spelling or
were you cleverly using minuscule in its usage as referring to lower case
letters where I'd used g rather than G too?

g would be acceleration due to gravity, and G would be the universal
gravitational constant - as in g = (G x m1 x m2) / d^2


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/