Emergency · camera card and transfer drive
Files missing after ejecting a card during transfer
What should I do after ejecting a card while files were copying?
Short answer
First compare, do not resume: files on the destination may be truncated, while the originals on the card are often intact unless a move already removed them. Check exact file sizes on both sides, never restart a move, copy complete originals again, and scan the card read-only only for what is missing.
The situation
The card or reader was disconnected before the copy operation finished.
Pulling a card mid-transfer cuts the operation at the block level, and the file system on both sides is left with entries whose data never arrived. The destination is the unreliable side; the card usually still holds complete originals unless a move had already removed them.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
An unsafe removal is worse than a cancel because nothing gets a chance to finish cleanly. Write caches that were still pending are lost, so a file can be listed at its final size while part of its content never reached the disk. On the card, directory updates that the system had queued may also be missing, which is why a few recent files can vanish from the listing.
The destination can contain truncated files while the source may have intact originals unless the operation also deleted them.
Check the last known path, trash and backups without writing to the original device.
02 / Protect the source
Preserve the best recovery chance
- 1
Put the card back into a reader without opening it in a camera, and let the system mount it once, then leave it alone.
- 2
Check the last files on both sides by size and by opening them, since a size that looks right proves nothing after a cache loss.
- 3
Copy the intact originals again with a plain copy operation, one folder at a time, and eject properly when the transfer ends.
- 4
Scan the card read-only only for files that are missing from the card listing as well, and export them to the transfer drive.
Do not resume the interrupted operation, especially if it was a move, and do not accept the repair the system offers for the volume after an unsafe removal. A repair writes to the card, and a resumed move can delete originals whose copies are incomplete.
03 / Choose the method
Match the tool to the source
For stable, readable exFAT, NTFS and FAT16/FAT32 or uncompressed IMG, DD, RAW and BIN images.
Unconfirmed exports are marked .UNVERIFIED.
Data that a write cache never flushed was never on the medium, so no scan of either side finds it. File Recovery Hero reads exFAT, NTFS and FAT sources without changing them, and returns files as they exist rather than repairing partial ones.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
Trust only files that open completely from the destination while the card is disconnected. For the file that was being written at the moment of the removal, compare byte sizes and play or display it to the end; a cache loss usually shows as a clean start and an abrupt stop.
Keep the source until two verified copies exist. One working preview is not enough.
Sources and technical references
FAQ
Questions about this recovery case
Can camera card and transfer drive be recovered in this situation?+
Pulling a card mid-transfer cuts the operation at the block level, and the file system on both sides is left with entries whose data never arrived. The destination is the unreliable side; the card usually still holds complete originals unless a move had already removed them. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not resume the interrupted operation, especially if it was a move, and do not accept the repair the system offers for the volume after an unsafe removal.
Does scanning write to my memory card?+
Your memory card is only read. Nothing is saved to it.
How do I know whether the result is complete?+
Trust only files that open completely from the destination while the card is disconnected.