How do I get photos off a camera or memory card?
Copying from a card safely, why formatting in the camera matters, and what to do when a card will not read or appears empty.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 30 min
- Read
- 3 min
Short answer
Use a card reader rather than connecting the camera, copy the whole folder from the card to your computer, verify the photos open, and only then format the card in the camera itself. Never delete individual files from a card using a computer.
Memory cards are reliable until they are not, and most of the failures people experience come from a small number of avoidable habits.
Step by step
- Use a card reader if you have one.It is faster than connecting the camera, does not drain the camera's battery, and avoids the driver problems that make some cameras invisible to a computer.
- Copy rather than move.Copy the entire folder from the card to the computer, leaving the card untouched. A move that is interrupted can lose files that exist in neither place.
- Copy the whole structure, not selected images.Cameras store images in numbered folders, and some formats keep a separate sidecar file alongside each image. Copying the whole folder keeps them together.
- Verify before deleting anything.Open several photographs, including the last few taken, and check the file count matches. Only then consider clearing the card.
- Back up before you clear the card.Until the photos exist in two places, the card is one of the two. Copy to a second drive or the cloud first.
- Format in the camera, not the computer.The camera writes the folder structure it expects. Formatting or deleting from a computer is the commonest cause of a card the camera then refuses to use.
- Eject properly.Use the eject or safely-remove option before pulling the card out. Removing a card mid-write is how they get corrupted.
- Retire cards on age, not on failure.Cards are cheap and wear out. Replace ones that are several years old or that have shown any error, rather than waiting for the failure that matters.
Tips
- Set the camera's date and time correctly. It is what everything sorts by afterwards, and correcting hundreds of wrong timestamps later is tedious.
- Two smaller cards are safer than one large one — a failure loses half the trip rather than all of it.
- Cards from marketplace sellers at improbable prices are frequently fake, reporting a larger capacity than they have and losing data once past the real limit.
Common mistakes
- Deleting individual photos from the card on a computer — It leaves the card's structure in a state the camera did not expect, which causes errors and occasionally makes the whole card unreadable.
- Reusing a card straight after copying, before backing up — Until there are two copies, formatting the card removes one of them. Back up first, format second.
If it doesn't work
Card not recognised by the computer
Cause: Reader, adapter or card fault — Fix: Try another reader and another port. If the camera still reads the card, transfer via the camera instead and then replace the card.
Card appears empty although the camera shows photos
Cause: Reading the wrong folder, or a damaged file table — Fix: Look inside the DCIM folder, and enable showing hidden files. If it is genuinely empty, stop using the card and try recovery software before writing anything to it.
Card is write-protected
Cause: The small lock switch on the side of a full-size SD card — Fix: Slide the switch back. If it is loose, the card will keep reporting itself as locked and should be replaced.
Photos copied but will not open
Cause: Interrupted transfer, or a failing card — Fix: Copy again from the original card. If they fail again, run recovery software against the card before formatting it.
Questions people ask
Can I recover photos from a card I formatted?
Often, yes, if you stop using the card immediately. Formatting rewrites the index rather than the data. Free and paid recovery tools exist; write nothing new to the card first.
Do photos on a card degrade over time?
Cards left unpowered for many years can lose data. They are for transfer, not for archiving. Copy anything you want to keep onto drives and cloud storage.