I am scrupulously careful about backing up my photos onto 3 hard drives and I make a point of not keeping all the HDs in one place - just in case there’s a fire. So I feel pretty smug that i’m so organised and have good practices!! Well, my smug smile soon disappeared last week, when I discovered that I had lost nearly all my recent pastel anemone shots - they weren’t on any of the hard drives. I can only think that when I was transferring the images I somehow deleted them from the base HD and so they weren’t there to transfer over. And worse - knowing I had backed up to all my hard drives I had formatted both of the SD cards in my camera! So the option of returning to the SD card wasn’t even there. I felt I was under a grey cloud for a few days as I tried to come to terms with the loss of these photos, which of course represent loss of potential income!
A few days later I emerged from the grey cloud and decided to try to approach the situation more positively and maybe even to find a solution. I looked for software which might help me to retrieve the photos but quite honestly, even though I am normally optimistic by nature, I had very little hope. I found a software programme which promised to help me but it was quite expensive and, as I didn’t even have faith it would work, I passed. But then I came across Stellar Photo Recovery and for approximately 35 Euros I could have an annual subscription (useful if I mess up again!) and I decided to go for it. I downloaded the software, inserted the said formatted SD card into my computer and went to make a cup of tea, whilst the software scanned the card.
The fact that I am writing about my drama, and my attempt to retrieve the photos, has probably suggested to you that the story ended well. And if that was your guess you would be right! To my complete amazement and delight I retrieved my lost photos! It was slightly confusing because the retrieved photos had different reference numbers assigned to them but that was a mighty small inconvenience which I can live with, whilst I enjoy the glory of having my pastel anemone images back.
So the moral of the story is don’t just back up your photos but make sure they are all present and correct, ready to be backed up!!
And below are some of the photos which I am so happy to have back in my life! Little things make me happy :)
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