PhotoRescue is a data recovery program from DataRescue. It retrieves pictures, camera RAW files and video clips from the memory cards used in digital cameras. It runs on Windows and Mac OS X. The demo scans a card and shows which files it can recover. Saving the files requires a paid registration key.
The typical cases are pictures erased in the camera, a card formatted by mistake, or a card corrupted after a crash. PhotoRescue handles CompactFlash, SD, Memory Stick, xD, SmartMedia and MMC cards and other removable storage. PhotoRescue can also scan non-system hard drives, but not the system drive or partitions.
Connecting the card
PhotoRescue needs low-level access, so the card must appear as a USB mass storage device. A dedicated USB, FireWire or eSATA card reader is the recommended route. Some cameras and printers expose their contents only through WIA or TWAIN, which cannot be used for recovery. PhotoRescue can also reach media that no longer shows a drive letter but still responds electrically. It only reads from the card.
Quick and advanced recovery
The start screen offers quick recovery, advanced recovery, card backup and registration. In a quick recovery you select the card, and PhotoRescue allocates a temporary cache on the computer’s disk. It then scans the media with several recovery methods in turn. Sometimes only the last method finds files. Its unfragmenting technique rebuilds pictures whose pieces are not stored in one continuous run. PhotoRescue can also rebuild some files with minor corruption. Advanced recovery exposes more settings, including turning the cache off when it causes problems.
Previews and saving
PhotoRescue builds thumbnails from the recovered picture data itself rather than from each file’s small embedded thumbnail. The embedded thumbnail can look intact when the main image is gone. You select all or some files and enter a registration code if needed, without losing the scan. You then choose or create a destination folder. Original file names are often lost with deletion.
Photo, RAW and video formats
Recovery is tuned for JPEG, TIFF, GIF and BMP. PhotoRescue also recovers RAW formats such as CR2, CRW, NEF, ORF, MRW and RAF, many movie file types and other files. RAW support is updated over time and is not reserved for a more expensive edition.
Card images and DRDD
Backup Card copies the whole card bit by bit into an uncompressed .cib image about the size of the card. Load Card Backup scans that image instead of the device. PhotoRescue then reads a failing card only once. Later passes run at internal-disk speed, and the contents survive a mistake such as reformatting. This requires roughly double the free disk space. DataRescue’s free DRDD tool also creates .cib or raw .dd images for cards that hang during analysis. It can create partial images by sector range.
A phone that works as a USB mass storage device appears to PhotoRescue as an ordinary drive. PhotoRescue can recover deleted camera pictures on Android the same way, provided new photos or apps have not overwritten them.
Wizard, Expert and Advanced editions
PhotoRescue has been offered as Wizard, the guided program, Expert, the fully controllable version, and Advanced, for specialists. Expert adds settings such as a recovery range that skips an area causing a crash and manual entry of the card size. A license does not expire, allows unlimited recoveries and works with both the Windows and Mac OS X versions.
Overwritten data cannot be recovered, and damaged JPEG or RAW files generally cannot be repaired.
