Photos & RAW · exFAT camera card
JPEG photo series: recover after an interrupted recording
What can I do with a deleted JPEG photo series after a recording interruption?
Short answer
Usually the frames written before the interruption can be saved, those still in the camera buffer cannot. Power loss or a card error mid-burst often leaves directory entries unwritten or the last JPEG truncated. Switch the camera off, remove the card, scan it read-only and check the final frames for a missing end marker.
The situation
a deleted JPEG photo series is missing, too short or unreadable after power loss, a card error or an unsafe stop.
An interruption splits the series in two. Frames the camera had already written and closed are on the card and recoverable; frames still in the buffer when the power went were never stored, and no tool can retrieve them from the medium afterwards.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
During a burst the camera buffers images and writes them out in the background, updating the directory entries afterwards. If power fails or the card is pulled mid-write, the last frame can end without its terminal marker, and the entries for several frames may never have been committed. The card then looks shorter than the shot count although most data is present.
The payload may have been written before duration fields, indexes, directory entries or closing structures were committed. For JPEG photo series, this matters because each image should contain a valid JPEG start, complete scan data and a terminal marker.
Check the last known path, trash and backups without writing to the original device.
02 / Protect the source
Preserve the best recovery chance
- 1
Switch the camera off properly if it is still on, take the card out and let the body write no index to it.
- 2
Compare the frame count on the display with what the folder shows, so you know how many frames are really missing.
- 3
Scan the card read-only for JPEG, and treat the last frames of the run as the ones likely to be truncated.
- 4
Export everything to a separate drive and check the closing frames first, since that is where the interruption landed.
Do not let the camera or the operating system repair the card to clear the error, and do not continue the series on the same medium. A repair pass rewrites the very structures that still describe the interrupted run, and the results afterwards are considerably poorer.
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 reads exFAT, NTFS and FAT16/FAT32 cards read-only and exports complete JPEG files; it repairs no truncated frame and reconstructs nothing that never reached the card. If the interruption came from a failing card, the fault itself needs a laboratory.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
A frame counts as saved when it decodes from its start marker through to a proper terminal marker at the full image size. Expect the final frame to fail that test; if the frames before it pass, the recovery has taken everything the interruption left behind.
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 exFAT camera card be recovered in this situation?+
An interruption splits the series in two. Frames the camera had already written and closed are on the card and recoverable; frames still in the buffer when the power went were never stored, and no tool can retrieve them from the medium afterwards. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not let the camera or the operating system repair the card to clear the error, and do not continue the series on the same medium.
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?+
A frame counts as saved when it decodes from its start marker through to a proper terminal marker at the full image size.