User_4754088 Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>I use a Macbook Air when I'm on the road shooting and Aperture 3. Since the hard drive isn't all that big, after each job, after I've sent the selected images to my editor and made back ups of the selects, I dump everything left in Aperture into the trash and empty it.</p> <p>Well I screwed up last week and after dumping everything left in Aperture into the trash, and emptying the trash, I realized I need some of those images back. Unfortunately I've shot two jobs since and all my flash cards have been written over. But nothing else has been done on that MacBook Air since I emptied the trash and I'm wondering if anyone here has had any luck retrieving NEF files off a Mac, after those files had been emptied out of the trash. I've done some research on the Web about recovery programs, but most of the reviews say they just don't work and are a waste of money.</p> <p>Has anyone here had any luck retrieving deleted NEF files off a Mac hard drive? And if so, what was your procedure?</p> <p>Thanks,<br> -Tim</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>While I use a Mac (and several PCs) on a daily basis, I know very little about recovering files. However, small (in size) portable drives, either the traditional mechanical with spindle type or solid-state flash memory type, are very affordable in these days. You can buy a 2T portable drive using USB 3.0 for less than $100 from Costco, among other stores. Therefore, the size of the drive inside the laptop is not at all an issue.</p> <p>Additionally, I strongly advocate 64G memory cards or even higher-capacity ones for travel precisely for that reason. You want to keep the image files around for a while so that you can go back to them.</p> <p>As far as your lost images go, as long as you have not formatted the drive (which is unlikely when that is your only drive on a laptop) and have not over-written those files, they should be recoverable. Consult some IT experts.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User_4754088 Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>Thanks Shun.</p> <p>I'm really hoping to find someone here who has personal experience with one of the recovery programs.</p> <p>Best,<br> -Tim</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>Tim, I happen to have graduate degrees in computer science, but I develop software for a living, not fixing computer repair. For your question, you are probably much better off asking that in some computer repair, IT type forum, rather than a Nikon photography forum. You are trying to recover deleted files from a disk drive; it doesn't matter much whether those are program files, executable software files, or data files such as raw or JPEG image files. As long as the content has not been overwritten by either hard formatting or new content, there should be software to recover the original file boundaries and therefore the original content. The underlying operating system on a Mac is UNIX, so I am sure there are a lot of solutions.</p> <p>For the time being, I wouldn't use that Mac again or you'll risk overwriting something.</p> <p>Good luck.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgelfand Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>Here are some leads:</p> <p>https://www.google.com/#q=recover+deleted+Mac+files</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User_4754088 Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>Shun,</p> <p>In my research on this I have discovered that it is more complicated than just recovering files on a Mac. All the files were in NEF format (ergo my asking on a Nikon forum). You are correct, many of the programs out there claim to recover JPEG, TIFF and other image formats. The only ones I have found so far that claim they recover NEF format files, also have reviews from users who say the programs don't work. And since they are priced anywhere from $59 - $149, I'd like to hear from someone who has actually tried to recover NEF files from a Mac hard drive, and hear their experience before putting down my hard earned money.</p> <p>I tried one program and it successfully recovered a bunch of images files, which the recovery program claimed to be NEF files, but in actuality they were just random jpgs. I'd like to find if there exists a program specifically for Nikon NEF files that someone who shoots Nikon, may have used with success.</p> <p>Best,<br> -Tim</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spearhead Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 <blockquote> <p>In my research on this I have discovered that it is more complicated than just recovering files on a Mac. </p> </blockquote> <p> <br> Something is wrong with this statement. All files are the same, collections of 1s and 0s. This is as true on a Mac as it is on a PC. What the various references to specific file types do is find those files specifically. That's not necessary. Recover your files and you can tell what they are.</p> Music and Portraits Blog: Life in Portugal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>Tim, I see your point. Hopefully someone can provide better info. I would also check with Nikon and other folks that provide Nikon NEF converters as they know that format better than anybody else. You may have better luck with those small shops that provide converters.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User_4754088 Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>Okay, just talked with an IT guy from one of the bigger software companies that makes recovery software. Turns out there's this thing with laptops that have solid state drives like the Macbook Air. Something called Trim. Which helps keep as much space available on the hard drive as possible as some of these SSD drives are pretty small.</p> <p>Anyway, the way Trim works is when you empty trash, it immediately writes over the files you just deleted, which cleans the space up for new information to be written there, but it also means that no recovery software can retrieve those deleted files. And this was from an IT guy at a software company that would like to sell me recovery software.</p> <p>So the NEF files are gone for good. Bummer.</p> <p>Thanks everyone for your help.</p> <p>Best,<br> -Tim</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>Oh well, thanks Tim. I learned something new today.</p> <p>BTW, by any chance those images may still be on your memory cards?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User_4754088 Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>Hey Shun, unfortunately not. I've shot three jobs since then, and I always format the memory cards between jobs, so they've been overwritten at least three times now.</p> <p>Learned a valuable lesson.</p> <p>Best,<br> -Tim</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>Tim, excuse me for being persistent on this topic, but unless you have hard formatted your cards by overwriting the entire cards or shot all the way until the card is completely full, some old images will remain on the cards even though you have formatted them on camera. The luck of the draw will determine what is still available, but it probably doesn't hurt to run image recovery on the cards just in case something useful shows up.</p> <p>I once ran image recovery on a card for fun and all sorts of very old images showed up.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User_4754088 Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>Hey Shun, already did that. First thing I did because I have a program for erased CF cards. Went through all six cards that I use in rotation, found images from the three latest jobs, but none from the job I need. I usually shoot anywhere from 700 - 1200 RAW files for each job, and since I use 4 8GB cards (D4) and two 4GB cards (D700), I fill them up (overwrite what was there) pretty quick.</p> <p>Best,<br> -Tim</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dieter Schaefer Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>Did you check whether TRIM is actually active on your Macbook Air - believe it is by default but maybe you get lucky?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User_4754088 Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>I did check and unfortunately, it was active.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uhooru Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>There are companies that recover "lost" info off of drives. Try doing a google search for a forensic data recovery company and tell them what the story is and find out what they say. I've not used them myself, but I've heard it is an expensive process. Also, if you really need to get them back. I wouldn't use your Macbook air at all until they get a chance to look at it. I have no idea if they are recoverable, but you want to avoid overriding those sectors. I've read that data is available if you haven't "zero'd out" your drive so if its really critical, you maybe need to consult with someone.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User_4754088 Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>Hi Barry, read above, the SSD drives, like in the MBA, have a feature that writes over all data that goes into the trash and gets emptied. So the data is gone.</p> <p>Expensive lesson learned.</p> <p>Time to move on.</p> <p>Best,<br> -Tim</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CvhKaar Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 <p>mm There seem to be many utilities commercialy available that say they can recover those deleted files ..</p> <p>Example : <a href="http://macbook.undeletemac.org/how-to-get-back-deleted-files-on-macbook-air">http://macbook.undeletemac.org/how-to-get-back-deleted-files-on-macbook-air</a> </p> <p>The text in this article talks about SSD's so it looks like all is not always lost then...</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spearhead Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 <blockquote> <p>The text in this article talks about SSD's so it looks like all is not always lost then...</p> </blockquote> <p> <br> One more time...this depends on the TRIM setting. If TRIM is enabled, which is the default, then it is going to be very difficult to recover anything. One reason TRIM is enabled is that it reduces the number of write cycles necessary to write, which extends the life of the SSD.</p> Music and Portraits Blog: Life in Portugal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johne37179 Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 <p>I hate to say it, but it looks like you are toast and you have fallen butter side down. I use a similar setup with a Macbook Air (iMac back home) and a 2 TB portable drive. The first thing I do, if I am using the Air is to backup the files to the backup drive. I will later backup those to my RAID system when I get back home. <br> This really is a workflow issue and it is critical to establish a workflow that protects your work and not deviate from it. I think most of us have learned the same lesson you have learned and done it the hard way, too.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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