SD card problem: could view photos on camera yesterday, but only those taken yesterday have disappeared?

Can you still view the photos on the camera? Are they only missing when you look for them on the computer?

I play Mr. Tech Support for my family, and camera/SD card related issues are one of the most common. Unfortunately, 99.9999999% are really just user error.

We need more details from you: When you say, “but today when I tried to upload them to my computer”, what do you mean? What is your process for getting the files from your SD card to the computer? Do you use a card reader or do you do USB from camera to pc? And when you “upload” them, what exactly does that mean? Do you use Windows’ built-in “import photos” feature or do you simply browse to them via Windows Explorer and just treat the SD card like any other drive?

To me it sounds like you probably accidentally deleted all of the photos while viewing them last night on the camera. There’s also the possibility that your camera organizes photos in some kind of folder format, so the photos are there, but they’re not immediately visible because you used some import feature or something. There’s also the possibility that you use some proprietary software to “upload” the photos to the camera. If that’s the case, all bets are off.

My computer has a built-in SD card reader. I don’t use a program or feature to upload them, I just navigate to My Computer and then to the SD card folder, then copy and paste them into a folder I create in My Pictures.

I don’t even know how to delete photos taken only on a certain day (like I’d mentioned, only those taken yesterday are missing). The last thing I used my camera for yesterday was to take one final photo, then I viewed it, then put the camera away after turning it off.

Today they are “missing” when I view them on my camera and when I navigate to the SD folder (via My Computer). But as I’d mentioned, all the other photos (e.g. those taken two days ago) are there.

@coelacanth – Thanks for the update. That’s very helpful. Note: I think your method is perfect. It’s the least likely to result in any problems.

That said, I don’t think there is any reasonable explanation here. I don’t think SD cards work this way (selectively – and without user involvement – delete certain photos). I’ll take your word for it that nobody had access to it, and you didn’t delete the photos. But all evidence points in that direction. So, maybe you can chalk it up to a freak incident. Be careful with the SD card for awhile and make sure you get them off the card as often as possible. Good luck.

I’ll go with freak accident. :)

If you haven’t taken any more pictures, the ones that got “deleted” might be recoverable.
There was a recent Question that addressed recovering “deleted” pics from an SD card.

@dabbler Oh?

This Q

Ah, unfortunately the photos still don’t appear when I run Pandora Recovery, and I haven’t taken any photos since yesterday. Wudda weird situation.

What kind of computer do you use? A Mac? May the photos be transferred to a photo program that deleted them after downloading them to your computer?

@whitenoise PC, nope, and nope!

You could try SD card recovery software

@flutherother I did try Pandora Recovery as mentioned above (unsuccessful) but perhaps this Wondershare product mentioned in the link you sent over will work…

@coelacanth Worth a try. I think they have a free trial version. Good luck!