Cameras · Sony card with database warning
Sony Recover Image Database warning: image the card first
Should I run Recover Image Database on a Sony camera?
Short answer
Not on the original card before imaging it. The function writes new management data; playback may improve, but deleted entries are not preserved by it. Create a complete image of the card first, recover from that image, and if you still want the camera repair afterwards, run it only on a disposable clone.
The situation
The camera offers to rebuild its image database after files disappear.
The camera is offering to rewrite its management data, and that means writing to the very card you want to preserve. Playback may indeed improve afterwards, but nothing in the operation is built to bring back entries that were already deleted.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
Sony bodies keep an index of the card's contents, and when it stops matching the folders the camera asks to recover it. The function rebuilds that database from what it can currently see, writing fresh management files as it goes. Recordings whose directory entries are gone are not part of that view, so they do not return, and the new data lands in free space that may hold them.
The repair writes management data and may improve playback, but it is not a substitute for preserving deleted entries.
Check the last known path, trash and backups without writing to the original device.
02 / Protect the source
Preserve the best recovery chance
- 1
Answer no to the prompt, switch the camera off and take the card out before anything at all is written to it.
- 2
Attach the card through a reader and create a complete uncompressed image of the whole volume on a healthy drive.
- 3
Run the scan read-only against that image file and export whatever it finds to a third drive.
- 4
Only afterwards, if you still want the camera repair, clone the image onto a spare card and run the function there.
Do not accept the prompt on the original card, and do not invite it again by putting the card back in to see what happens. Formatting after a failed database recovery compounds the loss, and repair utilities on the computer write to the card exactly as the camera does.
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.
An image preserves the current state of the card, not a state from before earlier overwrites. File Recovery Hero reads exFAT, NTFS and FAT volumes plus uncompressed IMG, DD, RAW or BIN images read-only; it neither repairs the camera database nor images media whose sectors already fail.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
The image is trustworthy when its size matches the card capacity and it was produced without read errors. Judge the recovered files by opening them: stills at full resolution in a converter, clips playing their full recorded length. Anything that merely appears in a result list has not been proven yet.
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 Sony card with database warning be recovered in this situation?+
The camera is offering to rewrite its management data, and that means writing to the very card you want to preserve. Playback may indeed improve afterwards, but nothing in the operation is built to bring back entries that were already deleted. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not accept the prompt on the original card, and do not invite it again by putting the card back in to see what happens.
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 image is trustworthy when its size matches the card capacity and it was produced without read errors.