Photos & RAW · exFAT image card
Recover deleted TIFF image files
How can I recover deleted TIFF files from an exFAT card?
Short answer
First scan the unused card read-only for TIFF and export to another drive. TIFF is tricky: its directory offsets can look valid even when later strips or tiles are missing. Prefer results whose size matches retained file-system evidence, then decode every page, strip or tile completely instead of trusting the first rendered area.
The situation
TIFF masters or camera images were deleted from removable media.
TIFF is the awkward case among image formats. There is no fixed end marker, only a chain of directories with offsets, so a candidate can look structurally sound while the strips carrying the later part of the picture were never recovered at all.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
A TIFF begins with a byte-order mark and a pointer to its first image file directory, and that directory lists where the strips or tiles of the raster live. When the file is deleted from an exFAT card, the entry that recorded its real length disappears too. A scan then has to reconstruct the length from the offsets, and any block already reused breaks that chain silently.
TIFF directory offsets can be plausible even when later strips or tiles are incomplete.
Check the last known path, trash and backups without writing to the original device.
02 / Protect the source
Preserve the best recovery chance
- 1
Disconnect the card from the device that wrote it and mount it through a reader that triggers no automatic repair.
- 2
Note the typical size of the TIFF masters from this camera or scanner; that figure is the yardstick for every candidate.
- 3
Scan the card read-only for TIFF and prefer results whose length matches retained file-system evidence over bare header hits.
- 4
Export to a separate drive and open each file in an application that decodes every page rather than showing a cached preview.
Do not save anything back to the card, not even a corrected copy of a recovered file, and do not run a file-system repair on it. Avoid judging results in a gallery view as well: the system caches thumbnails and shows an image that no longer exists in full.
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 media read-only and exports whole TIFF files; it does not repair a file whose strips are missing and cannot recover data that later writes replaced. Multi-page masters are exported as found, not reassembled.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
Open every recovered TIFF completely: check that the dimensions match the original master, that each page, strip and tile decodes, and that the bottom of the raster is real picture data rather than a flat block. A file whose size falls well short of comparable masters is incomplete.
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 image card be recovered in this situation?+
TIFF is the awkward case among image formats. There is no fixed end marker, only a chain of directories with offsets, so a candidate can look structurally sound while the strips carrying the later part of the picture were never recovered at all. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not save anything back to the card, not even a corrected copy of a recovered file, and do not run a file-system repair on it.
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?+
Open every recovered TIFF completely: check that the dimensions match the original master, that each page, strip and tile decodes, and that the bottom of the raster is real picture data rather than a flat block.