Doing the test of the UHS-II card the other day I accidentally (or thoughtlessly) erased a card that was half full of new images from new shooting. Pictures I really wanted. And can't take again.
Augh.
In my early days with digital I inadvertently deleted one file that I really wanted. Fortunately I have a print of it, and still have the print. So the image isn't lost. (My son's first day of second grade.)
But I'm pretty sure that's the first time I ever deleted a card before downloading it. Is that kind of mistake just inevitable, or what?
Mike
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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
Dick Drake: "I think you should be able to recover those images from the card with software."
Mike replies: I'm going to try that.
Carl: "Commercial shooting got me in the habit of having exact procedures, almost rituals, to failsafe equipment and film. For memory cards my rule is never to format a card until I've checked to see that the downloaded files have been backed up. Just downloaded isn't good enough. Also, this kind of mistake is most likely to happen when we're doing something different from our usual routines—something just like the write-speed test you were running."
Gordon: "My camera, a Nikon D750, comes with two card slots, and I have configured the second slot to capture duplicates of images stored on the first. When it comes time to delete images from the cards the camera requires me to delete from each slot separately, an added measure of protection. I have so far managed not to accidentally delete anything with previous cameras, but I am always concerned that a card may go bad so having the dupes gives me at least a little piece of mind. I try to take the same care, for similar reasons, with images transferred to disk...although I'd like to find a good and inexpensive cloud solution to that problem."
Henning: "Yes, it's inevitable. I've done it once, and that was a strong lesson that made me pay more attention. It's of course akin to all the ways that film could get ruined or the shots not recorded prior to getting put safely into a negative sleeve after development.
"Years ago, on the last day I saw my grandfather go out on his bike and shop at the local outdoor market, and talk to all the people I knew, I took a roll of film to document this, as I was going to go home the next day and likely not see him for a couple of years. After we left the market I realized that the film had not caught on the take up spool. I think that was the last time I made that mistake."
Stephen Gilbert: "Maybe everyone has to do it once, and you're good from now on."
Robert: "As has been mentioned, the way to prevent this is workflow. I use Downloader Pro for the download and for the deleting: the programme does not let you delete a file that has not been downloaded. The other essential part of the workflow is that I do not delete in camera. About formatting: formatting in camera only replaces the folder structure, something to remember if you ever want to get rid of a card."
