Photos & RAW · recovered JPEG and original card
Recovered JPEG is incomplete or only partly visible
Why does a recovered JPEG show only part of the photo?
Short answer
Usually because the recovered range holds wrong or missing data between valid markers: a JPEG can keep intact start and end markers while blocks in between belong to another file or were overwritten. Gray areas show where the decoder hit damaged data. Compare the size with originals and decode the full image instead of trusting its thumbnail.
The situation
The image opens but contains gray blocks, truncation, or only the upper portion.
Grey blocks and a picture that stops halfway are not a viewer problem. They mark the point at which the decoder read data that no longer belongs to this photograph, which means the recovered range covered both markers but not all of the scan data in between.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
A JPEG is decoded sequentially, and every block depends on what came before it. When a recovery keeps a valid start marker and a terminal marker while the blocks between them were partly reused by another file, the decoder runs correctly until it meets the foreign data and then renders grey or shifted areas for the rest. The file opens and is still incomplete.
A JPEG start and end marker can exist around damaged or wrongly bounded image data.
Check the last known path, trash and backups without writing to the original device.
02 / Protect the source
Preserve the best recovery chance
- 1
Keep the incomplete result, because it identifies the frame and its place in the sequence even if it never becomes usable.
- 2
Check the original card, the camera and every import folder for a second, undamaged copy of the same picture.
- 3
If the source card is still unchanged, rescan it read-only and compare the size of the new candidate with the damaged one.
- 4
Export any better version to a separate drive and compare both decodes side by side before deleting anything.
Do not re-save the broken file in an editor to crop the grey area away, and do not run a repair tool against the source card. A re-save writes a new and genuinely shorter image, destroying the evidence of how much of the original was actually recovered.
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.
File Recovery Hero recovers files from readable exFAT, NTFS and FAT16/FAT32 sources, but it does not repair damaged individual images and cannot recreate scan data that is gone. A partly overwritten photograph stays partly overwritten, whichever tool opens it.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
The usable version decodes evenly from top to bottom, matches the resolution of the camera, and has a file size in the range of neighbouring frames from the same shoot. If every attempt breaks at the same row, the missing data was overwritten and no further scan will change it.
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 recovered JPEG and original card be recovered in this situation?+
Grey blocks and a picture that stops halfway are not a viewer problem. They mark the point at which the decoder read data that no longer belongs to this photograph, which means the recovered range covered both markers but not all of the scan data in between. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not re-save the broken file in an editor to crop the grey area away, and do not run a repair tool against the source card.
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?+
The usable version decodes evenly from top to bottom, matches the resolution of the camera, and has a file size in the range of neighbouring frames from the same shoot.