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A belated review: File Juicer.
23 Apr 07 06:02 pm Filed in: Geekery
About a year ago our
home suffered a break-in. Few things are worse than
backing up the driveway and seeing a security screen
half torn off and a window open. We lost a laptop -
Kathy's - we were spared the second since I take mine
to work, my external backup drive (password protected,
thankfully) some ID documents and cheques of mine which
started a whole other sordid story I'll spare you, and
Kathy's much prized digital Canon EOS 300D.
The last was particularly heart-breaking since we'd only returned recently from NZ where we'd been to Dad's funeral and the only copies of the pictures of all family, friends and the beautiful photo montage of Dad's life (which was on the coffin lid) were - you guessed it - on Kathy's laptop and the Canon Digi's flash card.
The last was particularly heart-breaking since we'd only returned recently from NZ where we'd been to Dad's funeral and the only copies of the pictures of all family, friends and the beautiful photo montage of Dad's life (which was on the coffin lid) were - you guessed it - on Kathy's laptop and the Canon Digi's flash card.
We were the only ones who'd taken photos of the
event, and we were going to send copies to the
family. Especially precious were aforementioned
photo's of the montage. Irreplaceable.
I must at this point take my hat off and give my heartfelt thanks to my local bank manager (hello Sandra!) and to the local constabulary, also a couple of sharp Constables from the Property Crime Division. Without their understanding and support (for which we're both extremely grateful) we'd have had a much worse go of it. Anyway, this is a software review, not Days of Our Lives: on with the story. The salient fact is said sharp Constables of PCD went above and beyond and identified the Canon Digi in some recovered stolen property by one of it's identifying marks (we hadn't recorded the serial number.) They returned it to us but naturally the flash card was blank.
A week or so later I had a vague recollection of reading about software that could do a sort of un-delete on flash cards, so started searching and came upon File Juicer. I downloaded it, hooked the flash card up with a reader and just for a laugh (with, I'll admit, a touch of scepticism) let it loose.
I have to say I literally broke out in tears* as it effortlessly recovered all of the images we were after. As File Juicer is shareware, I quickly went to the site to check the price. It worked out to about AU$13. I couldn't believe that that's all they ask for such an excellent piece of software! Naturally I grabbed the nearest credit card and paid my dues.
I simply cannot tell you how good it felt calling my mum in NZ and telling her (after having to tell her they were lost) that the images were now found again.
File Juicer does exactly what it claims to do and then some. I can't speak for its other functions but if you've had problems with a flash card on a camera, File Juicer is well worth a look and a steal at the modest price they're asking. Get it, try it, and do thank Henrik if you find it useful. I know it made my whole year!
Backups are always king, but when that's not available, good file recovery can be a life-saver.
We now, of course, store our weekly backups of all machines off-site in a safe that's in a secure area (and onsite machines and backup devices are tethered with kevlar-core K-locks), but it's really really good to know that there are valuable tools like this around when all else fails.
Thank you Henrik. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
* - Yes, I know, your typical Aussie male is supposed to just sniffle and mutter 'damn, got somethin' in me eye...', well I'll happily be atypical.
I must at this point take my hat off and give my heartfelt thanks to my local bank manager (hello Sandra!) and to the local constabulary, also a couple of sharp Constables from the Property Crime Division. Without their understanding and support (for which we're both extremely grateful) we'd have had a much worse go of it. Anyway, this is a software review, not Days of Our Lives: on with the story. The salient fact is said sharp Constables of PCD went above and beyond and identified the Canon Digi in some recovered stolen property by one of it's identifying marks (we hadn't recorded the serial number.) They returned it to us but naturally the flash card was blank.
A week or so later I had a vague recollection of reading about software that could do a sort of un-delete on flash cards, so started searching and came upon File Juicer. I downloaded it, hooked the flash card up with a reader and just for a laugh (with, I'll admit, a touch of scepticism) let it loose.
I have to say I literally broke out in tears* as it effortlessly recovered all of the images we were after. As File Juicer is shareware, I quickly went to the site to check the price. It worked out to about AU$13. I couldn't believe that that's all they ask for such an excellent piece of software! Naturally I grabbed the nearest credit card and paid my dues.
I simply cannot tell you how good it felt calling my mum in NZ and telling her (after having to tell her they were lost) that the images were now found again.
File Juicer does exactly what it claims to do and then some. I can't speak for its other functions but if you've had problems with a flash card on a camera, File Juicer is well worth a look and a steal at the modest price they're asking. Get it, try it, and do thank Henrik if you find it useful. I know it made my whole year!
Backups are always king, but when that's not available, good file recovery can be a life-saver.
We now, of course, store our weekly backups of all machines off-site in a safe that's in a secure area (and onsite machines and backup devices are tethered with kevlar-core K-locks), but it's really really good to know that there are valuable tools like this around when all else fails.
Thank you Henrik. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
* - Yes, I know, your typical Aussie male is supposed to just sniffle and mutter 'damn, got somethin' in me eye...', well I'll happily be atypical.