Perspective...

I'm an optimist and one of the things that I try to teach my kids is to always look on the bright side but sometimes, I just can't seem to find the bright side. Recently, I lost a big chunk of files from one of my photo sessions for a very loyal client. I realize that this is not the most devastating thing that can happen in a person's life, but it really weighed me down. Anyhow, hopefully I am not the only person to "lose" files from a memory card so here's my non-techie review:

Keep in mind that I needed a quick fix, or at least figure out if the files were recoverable. Also, the cards had been reformatted more than a few times since the client's files were deleted.

PC Recovery (FREE)-I just couldn't figure out how to use it fast enough. Probably too comprehensive for what I needed. I'm guessing this works if you delete files from the Recycle Bin but too confusing for someone who was low on sleep and anxious to see some results.

Klix (FREE for one file, then $30)-super easy to use. You pop in your camera card, browse to it, and all these lost images show up. There were some images from Dec 2008--but it didn't find the pictures that I was looking for.

File Scavenger (FREE up to a certain size, then $49)-pretty easy to use. It seemed to find more files than Klix--but alas, could not recover the files for my dear client.

The good news-my client was very understanding and ended up comforting me rather than the other way around. And maybe one day you will stumble upon this post and instead of despairing over potentially lost photos, you can skip the agonizing and see if one of the above programs works for you.

Okay--onto happier things...