I just took some pictures with my N95, plugged it into my Dad's computer, opened the phone as a mass storage device, showed my Dad the pictures and then when I went back to look at the pictures in my phone after they'd all gone Why? How? Any suggestions on how to get them back?

Oh dear, that's not good. Unfortunately, any form of removable storage is open to the foibles of Windows-dom when you remove the cards. As robust as they ought to be, sometimes the removal process causes the memory to spike and you lose everything. It's happened to me, two of my daughters and my best mate. Not good. Worse, though, is the possibility that the card is now fubared and you'll need to buy a new one.

However, before you do anything rash, check the card out. It could be your phone being a bit grumpy. Try the card in a card reader attached to your computer (if you don't have one, it's worth getting one; I hate getting pics from my camera directly, it's so damnedably sloooow!) and see if it picks anything up.

If the file structure is there, it may be worth checking out your Dad's computer; if it ran the picture capture wizard, it probably used the default setting of "Delete pictures off the memory card". In which case you can put them back. I suspect you might have noticed that, but it's worth checking anyway.

If it doesn't, then it's probably buggered. You can try reformatting it, sometimes that makes it usable again, but it depends on whether it's a glitch or actual damage.

The problem with any flash memory device is that it is electrosensitive and doesn't take very kindly to having power removed from it mid access (read or write) and if it gets just one hiccup at the wrong point, you can lose everything. When using removable storage, always use the "safely remove hardware" tool, as this will make sure that all read/write operations are stopped first.

SD memory cards, in my experience, are among the most stroppy bloomin' things in existence. They are very unstable, but all might not be lost.

Firstly, some of the settings on Windows can automatically download photos and delete them from the original memory card - this is for people who regularly want to clear out their camera. In theory they should all be hiding on the PC somewhere so you'd just need to copy them back. That's the good option.

If it's the bad option, then the card corrupted. There are bits of data retrieval software out there that can do a very good job of scanning media and picking up old files, even ones that were deliberately deleted! Don't overwrite anything on the card otherwise you might not have a chance of getting them back. Have a search on the web if it seems likely that this is what happened, there are usually things out there to help in those circumstances. http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&s...ery&spell=1

Ta. I didn't download anything. I'm not sure Dad has that setting on his computer as he doesn't like his deleted either. I've not lost all my pics. Just the ones I looked at via the USB wire from my phone to his PC. It's a moot point now as I'm not in Suffolk anymore so if they are there they're there for the time being

I always use the safely remove hardware button. Had errors before.

I'll keep an eye out for retrieval software. Apparently one of my friends knows what to do with it so may let him have a go

Thanks guys.

badcopy pro