Free CF Card Recovery Software to Retrieve Data on Windows/Mac

Once lost data is overwritten by new content, it cannot be recovered. Therefore, immediately stop using the storage device and recover your data as soon as data loss occurs.

CF Card Data Loss

CompactFlash (CF) is a mass storage device format introduced by SanDisk in 1994. It usually uses flash memory in a standard form factor and is one of the common types of memory cards (others including SD cards). Due to its size, capacity, and speed, it is employed in various portable electronic devices like cameras, DSLRs, camcorders, music players, and gaming devices.

However, with the popularity of CF card, data loss from it is quite common due to various reasons. The causes for CF card data loss include:

• Deletion
• Format operation
• File system corruption (CF card shows as RAW file system)
• Virus attack

A CF card can range in capacity from 2 MB to 512 GB, which could mean a lot of pictures (since CF cards are mainly used in digital cameras). To recover all lost files from your CF card, all you need is free data recovery software – tools Data Recovery Wizard.

Free CF Card Recovery Software

Data Recovery Wizard is not just for CF card data recovery, it can do more. Apart from retrieving data from CF cards of all brands like SanDisk, Lexar, Toshiba, Kingston, and PNY, it also helps recover deleted, formatted, or lost files from computers or other external storage devices.

This free CF card recovery software allows you to recover 2 GB of files for free. So, if the files you want to retrieve are less than 2GB in size, then this free software will perfectly meet your needs. In addition, it supports CF card recovery on both Windows and Mac. Get the right version now and recover data from CF card immediately.

Step 1: Connect your SD card, memory card, or CF card to the computer and launch the Memory Card Recovery software on PC. The SD card will be listed under "Devices". Select it and click "Scan" to start searching for lost data.

Step 2: The software will start to scan automatically. The scanning function is powerful enough to find all your lost files, even those that have lost their file names. When the scan is finished, you can find your deleted items in the tree view on the left panel. If you're looking for a specific type of file, like photos, documents, videos, or emails, click on "Filter".

Step 3: You can preview the contents by double-clicking on them. Then, select the files you need and hit "Recover" to restore them to a secure location on your computer or any external storage device.

As you know, when you recover photos with data recovery software, some items might get corrupted. This means that while you can retrieve the lost pictures, you cannot open them and view their content. However, this will not happen if you choose Data Recovery Wizard tool. The software repairs damaged photos (.jpg or .jpeg) during the recovery process – a silent but effective process. When the CF card recovery software finds corrupted images, it fixes them automatically and displays the full image to you.

How to Prevent Data Loss from CF Card

While data recovery software can usually retrieve lost photos or files in most cases, it's still best to try and avoid losing data on your CF card or any other storage device in the first place. Here are some tips to prevent data loss on your CF card.

Delete item carefully

Unlike with files deleted from a computer, data removed from a CF card does not go into a Recycle Bin or Trash folder, which gives you the opportunity to recover accidentally deleted items. As such, be careful when deleting files from a CF card.

Carefully format the device

I understand that in certain situations, you might need to format a CF card to fix errors on your device, like virus attacks or the device turning RAW. However, since formatting will erase all photos from the device, it's advisable to first perform data recovery from the infected or inaccessible CF card using tools like Data Recovery Wizard to ensure the safety of your data. While this tool allows you to recover a formatted CF card, it's more preferable to do data recovery first to minimize the risks.

Back up important files to another location

Developing a habit of regularly backing up important files can greatly help prevent data loss. Should the original file be lost, you can still rely on your backups. For backup options, you can manually copy and paste files from your CF card to another device, use a free backup software, or sync your files to cloud storage. Choose the method that best suits your needs.

Bottom line

As long as the lost data is not overwritten, you can use the Data Recovery Wizard tool to successfully perform CF card recovery. Knowing how to retrieve lost data is important, but learning how to prevent data loss on devices like CF cards is equally significant. Hopefully, this guide has helped you recover the files you need.