What to do right now
- Take the card out of the camera and stop shooting.
- Scan the card with a recovery tool that supports RAW formats.
- Check the content first with the preview JPEG embedded in each RAW.
Step by step
Keep the card aside
A single RAW is 20 to 60 MB, so a few new shots overwrite a large area. Take the card out and keep it safe.
Connect with a card reader
Connect the card to the PC with a card reader. If Windows offers to format it, click cancel.
Run a scan
Select the card in FileFix Ultimate's deleted file recovery and scan. Deleted files with surviving records come back with their names; after a format, signature search finds them.
Filter by RAW format
Filter for CR2 and CR3 (Canon), NEF (Nikon), ARW (Sony), DNG, ORF (OM System and Olympus), RW2 (Panasonic) and RAF (Fujifilm). From version 1.0.4 these are found by signature.
Save to another disk and open in a raw editor
Open the saved RAWs in Lightroom or your camera maker's software to check them. If one will not open, you can still extract its embedded preview.
Why RAW is harder than JPEG
Most RAW files are built on a TIFF structure that each manufacturer extends differently, and CR3 uses a box structure similar to MP4. There is no clear end-of-file marker, so signature search has a harder time finding the exact size, and tools that do not know the format sometimes find only the preview JPEG embedded inside each RAW.
RAWs shot one after another on a freshly formatted card are usually stored in one piece and recover well. On a card used for a long time with many deletions, large RAWs may be fragmented and come back only partly.
When recovery will not work
- Shooting continued after the format or deletion and overwrote the files.
- A low-level format was run in the camera.
- Part of a fragmented RAW was replaced by other data, so raw editors cannot read it.
How FileFix Ultimate helps
- From version 1.0.4, finds CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG, ORF, RW2 and RAF by signature.
- Restores deleted files on FAT32 and exFAT cards with their original names.
- From version 1.0.4, attempts recovery of fragmented files on FAT32 and exFAT.
- Also finds and validates JPEG and HEIC photos.
FileFix Ultimate is free, works offline and never writes to the drive you are recovering from. Check the signature before you run it.
Frequently asked questions
The JPEGs came back but the RAW files did not.
Tools that do not know a RAW format can miss it and find only its embedded preview. Scan again with a tool that supports RAW signatures.
Can CR3 files be recovered?
From version 1.0.4, FileFix Ultimate finds the major RAW formats including CR3. Overwritten parts cannot be recovered.
A recovered RAW will not open in Lightroom.
Part of the file may be damaged. Try another raw editor; if that fails, extract the embedded preview JPEG.