Of everything that lands on the bench, photographs are what people most dread losing — and they're among the most recoverable things we handle. A deleted or reformatted card hasn't wiped your pictures; it has simply marked their space as free, and the frames sit there untouched until new data lands on top. Put the card down, bring it to us, and deleted, formatted and corrupted shots come back on our own bench.
$ edr diagnose /dev/sdb → Device: Lexar Professional CFexpress (512 GB) · cinema → Status: DELETED — clips cleared in-camera → Client: confidential · Edinburgh $ edr engineer-working → Forensic image: taken · originals untouched → Carve: ProRes + RAW clip signatures → Found: 312 clips · 1,880 stills $ edr verify → ✓ raw_clips — 312 files → ✓ stills — 1,880 files → ✓ full card recovered — intact
Each new frame and each new save could come down on top of the very photos you're trying to rescue. So stop shooting on that card, don't “repair” it with a format, and keep recovery apps from writing onto it directly. Eject it, tuck it somewhere safe, and get in touch — it's the early stop that saves the pictures.
In nearly every case the pictures are still sitting on the card, unread rather than gone — but how they were lost decides how many return. Here are the situations that reach the bench most often.
Photographs come back from every format of card and drive we see, whatever the brand on the label — the memory from a camera, the storage in a phone, or the disk inside a computer.
Every sort of camera and drone card · SD, microSD and CompactFlash · USB sticks · external and portable drives · and the drives living inside Macs, PCs and laptops.
Getting photographs back is a copy-first exercise from start to finish. A full image of the card or drive is taken, and every recovery step then runs against that image — lifting shots from the file system when it holds together, and carving them straight out of the raw sectors when it doesn't.
Tell us the card or device and how the photos went missing; we gauge how many frames survive and come back with a written price, usually within 48 hours.
Before a single other step, the card or drive is cloned read-only, and everything that follows happens on that clone — nothing is ever written back to your original.
When the file system is still intact, the pictures return with their original folders and filenames — the tidiest outcome there is.
For frames the file system has lost track of, we carve them out by their signatures — JPEG, HEIC and every RAW format, plus video, all included.
Each recovered image is opened and checked for damage, and we can show you a preview so you see exactly what has come back before anything leaves the lab.
The photographs are handed back sorted and ready to use, written to fresh media.
We put the recovered photos on an external drive and post it to you, or set up a free download of up to 75GB — whichever you prefer.
Whether the card was deleted, reformatted, corrupted or simply won't read, the photos and video come back — JPEG, HEIC, every RAW variant and more — always worked from a read-only image, so the card is never put in harm's way.
Describe what went missing and an engineer replies personally — usually within the half-hour in working hours.
An engineer will reply shortly. If it can’t wait, ring 0131 202 0491.
The free diagnostic comes first; a fixed figure in writing follows before any work starts. Cards and USB sticks sit at £250 + VAT, hard drives at £300 + VAT; if a physical repair is called for, a 50% deposit covers parts and bench time and the rest is only due if the photos come back.
A handful of photo jobs off the Princes Street bench, spanning different cards and devices — the media and the result shown, the customer kept anonymous.
Nothing had been shot over the top, so we imaged the card and carved the JPEGs and RAWs back out by signature — the day returned near-complete.
The format had been a quick one, so the footage sat untouched underneath; we rebuilt the structure from the image and brought the video back whole.
The interrupted write had scrambled the file system while leaving every photo in place; rebuilding it gave the whole shoot back.
Named, verified reviews from Edinburgh photo jobs will go up here as customers send them in — genuine ones only, never invented.
Nothing fabricated goes here. We're gathering verified, named reviews from Edinburgh customers and will post them as they arrive. Until then, you're welcome to ring and talk a problem through with an engineer on 0131 202 0491.
Send the card or device in, or drop it round, with a line on what went wrong — an engineer looks it over and confirms your exact price in writing before any work starts.
To start, get the card or device onto the Princes Street bench. Pack it carefully, drop your contact details in the box, and post it across — the assessment is free, and a firm written price waits for your approval before a single sector is touched.
Sending it by post? Use a tracked, insured service. Bringing it in yourself? We're open Monday–Friday, 9am–6pm — pack it the same way even so.
Not ready to part with the card yet? Describe the fault in your own words on the form and an engineer will reply with a quote shaped around your case.
We'll be back in touch shortly. If it can't wait, call 0131 202 0491.
What people ask us most when a shoot or a folder of photos goes missing.
Most of the time, yes — it's among the jobs we see most. A deletion only releases the space the photo held; the image itself stays put until something writes over it. Set the card aside straight away and the chances of a full return are strong.
Rarely. A camera's format is the quick kind, which lays a fresh empty index over pictures that are still whole beneath it. So long as nothing has been shot onto the card since, we can carve those photos back out of the raw sectors.
Yes. A card demanding a format, or showing empty, almost always means a broken file system rather than lost photographs. Don't let it format — we rebuild the structure from an image of the card and lift the pictures out from behind it.
This one's tougher, and we won't pretend otherwise. Handsets use SSD-type memory with TRIM, which wipes deleted data fast, so photos deleted from phone storage are often beyond reach — check your cloud backup before anything else. Pictures on a removable card inside the phone are another matter, and usually come back.
Yes — as well as JPEG and HEIC, we handle the camera RAW formats (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG and the rest) and video too, carving each back out by its signature when the file system can't point the way.
Photos on a card or USB stick are £250 + VAT; on a hard drive, £300 + VAT. The assessment costs nothing, most jobs carry no fee unless they succeed, and the exact figure is confirmed in writing before any work starts.
Bring the card to Princes Street on a weekday between 9am and 6pm, or post it in a padded envelope. Tuck a note inside with your name, address, phone and email; we'll book it in, run the free diagnostic and set a price in writing.
Whether they were deleted, formatted or corrupted, the shots usually sit on the card until something writes over them. Stop using it, send it across, and we'll bring back what's there. Free assessment, and no fee on most jobs unless it works.