Business Week Online talks about your options if you accidently erase (or reformat) your camera's memory card.
* Send card to flashfixers.com or lc-tech.com. Cost of recovery ranges from US$50 to $200 -- free if they can't recover anything.
* Buy recovery software from the two companies listed above, or from card vendors: Image Rescue from lexar.com ($29.95) or RescuePRO from sandisk.com ($40). Software is also available from mediarecover.com ($29.95) and datarescue.com ($29).
* Some high-end cards include the recovery software.
In all cases, you can download demo software that lets you see if the card has recoverable images; if yes, you pay and get the fully-functioning software.
The article includes these tips to help keep images from becoming corrupted:
* Don't take out memory card while camer is still on.
* Wait for the camera's busy light to finish flashing before turning off the camera.
* Reformat the card in the camera, rather than erasing all images.
* Also reformat when using the same card in different cameras.
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