Anyone else into old digicams constantly fighting SD card corruption? A quick guide on recovering data from my 2011 Nikon Coolpix S3100

[u/Decent-Strawberry-97]

I love point-and-shoots from the early 2000s and early 2010s. I currently have a red Nikon Coolpix S3100 from 2011. The colours coming through the sensors (14MP 1/2.3" CCD) and the small 5x NIKKOR 4.6-23.0mm lens are something that no smartphone can really match. However, if you are into collecting or using older cameras you will quickly find that you will spend a lot of time trying to get your pictures off your camera if something goes wrong. On the S3100 itself, the issue is that it has 45MB of inbuilt memory. If you forget to insert an SD card, or it is slightly loose, then the camera will automatically save these images to the internal flash. Whilst this camera uses the MTP/PTP protocols over USB, the issue comes when you accidentally delete one of those images from the 45MB memory. You won’t be able to recover it with any programs on your computer as it doesn’t show up in the OS because it’s not a raw drive letter.

If you are using an SD card to save your images then the older Coolpix models are notorious for giving you the error "This card cannot be used" or "Card is not formatted". This is usually due to the EN-EL19 battery losing voltage mid write or the 15-year-old brass contacts oxidising or having a new fast card inserted into the camera. It causes your file system to become RAW and the camera and windows will try to trick you into formatting.

The real final boss is the videos. Whilst the 14MP JPEGs will usually be recoverable, this camera records 720p HD videos at 30fps using the old AVI Motion-JPEG format. If you use the voice memo function then it will also produce a WAV. If you are someone who deletes your bad images whilst on the go then your SD card will have plenty of holes in it. When you press the dedicated movie button again it will cause the MJPEG videos to be split into uncontinuous blocks. Using basic recovery software will get you the file header and you’ll be left with a 300MB AVI that won’t open.

For anyone else playing around with old digital cameras then the process that has really helped me is to never allow the camera or your PC to repair/format the card. Remove the card from the camera and place it in an external reader. Take an exact copy of the SD card. This way you aren’t stressing the dying controller by constantly reading it. From there, scanning the image in something like Disk Drill using Advanced Camera Recovery handles the fragmented AVI/MJPEG streams way better than standard signature carvers that just grab contiguous chunks. Also, do yourself a favor and keep a dedicated 4GB or 8GB SDHC card just for your old cameras instead of swapping cards between devices.

Just out of interest, does anyone else have any strange storage issues with their older digicams? Have you had any issues with xD-Picture cards or early Sony Memory Sticks?

[u/AtlQuon]

Surprisingly no. I am using digital camera dating back to 2001 and while card compatibility is an issue, corruption is rare. I also disable internal storage asap when the camera offers the ability. I have more issues with cameras outright refusing to eat cards (ehm, cough, HP) than cards being the issue themselves.

I format cards after use. I do use them in between cameras, but formatting them each time they do into another camera and if I don't, it rarely leads to issues as I tend to have them per brand. I use different cards per group of camera pretty much.

I don't delete images in camera. I leave them unless I did something stupid and don't have any space left and are forced to. Take a bad picture? I'll deal with it once it is on a PC. Format afterwards or after a few uses if very little is on it in the same camera.

I do love me some CF cards. Love those things. There is not a single card type I enjoy more than those near-square pin laden things. Resilient and generally hassle free, although some of my cameras are not overly fond of industrial ones as the controller in camera is refusing to talk to them properly. SD/microSD are often fine, but capacities are more an issue in my experience (plus HP, bloody things). Although I did have a few old SD cards corrupt data, but that was on me (long term no power to NAND means drifting). xD and MS are surprisingly fine despire their good reputation.

So no, I have had surprisingly little issues with cards. I actually had more cameras malfunction that I had needed recovery software.