Free CF Card Recovery Software to Recover Data in Windows/Mac

Once the lost data is overwritten by new content, it becomes unrecoverable. Therefore, stop using the storage device when data loss occurs and perform data recovery as soon as possible.

Data Loss on CF Card

A CompactFlash (CF) Card is a mass storage device first specified and produced by SanDisk in 1994. It typically uses flash memory in a standardized enclosure and is one of the common memory card formats (others include SD card). Given its physical size, capacity, and speed, it is used for a variety of portable electronic devices, such as cameras, DSLRs, camcorders, music players, and game devices.

However, with its popularity, data loss on CF cards caused by various reasons becomes more and more common. The causes of data loss on a CF card include:

Deletion
Card formating
File system errors (the CF card shows RAW file system)
Virus attacks

The general capacity of a CF card ranges from 2MB to 512GB. That could mean a lot of photos (since CF cards are mainly used in digital cameras). To retrieve all the lost items from a CF card, all you need is the free data recovery software - Deep Data Recovery.

Free CF Card Recovery Software

Deep Data Recovery is not exclusively for CF card data recovery and can do more than that. In addition to recovering data from CF cards in various brands, like SanDisk, Lexar, Toshiba, Kingston, and PNY, it also helps to recover deleted, formatted, lost files from a computer or other external storage devices.

This free CF card recovery software allows you to retrieve 2GB files at no cost. Thus, if the files you want to get back are under 2GB, the freeware can fulfill your needs perfectly. Besides, this software supports CF card recovery on both Windows and Mac. Get the correct version to recover data from the CF card right now.

Free Download
Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Step 1. Run Deep Data Recovery. Select file types and click "Next" to start.

Select file types that you want to recover

Step 2. Connect the SD card, memory card, or CF Card to your computer and launch Qiling memory card recovery software on your PC. The SD card will be listed under the Devices section. Choose the SD card and click "Scan" to start looking for your lost data.

Step 3. The software will start a scan automatically. The scan is powerful enough to find all lost files that even lost file names. After the scanning process, you can find deleted items from the tree-view panel on the left. Then, click "Filter" if you are looking for a specific file type, like photos, documents, videos or emails.

Step 4. You can directly double-click the files to preview the content. After this, you can choose wanted files and click "Recover" to restore them to a secure location on your PC or other external storage devices.

As you may know, when you use data recovery software to recover photos, some of the items may get corrupted. That means even if you can retrieve the lost photos, you won't be able to open it and view its content. That won't happen if you choose Deep Data Recovery. The software will repair the corrupted photos (.jpg or .jpeg) during the recovery process, which goes unnoticedly but works well. While finding the corrupted pictures, Qiling CF card recovery software will repair them automatically and present you with intact images.

How to Prevent Data Loss on a CF Card

Although the lost photos or files can be retrieved in most of the cases using data recovery software, it's always better to minimize the chances of data loss on the CF card or other storage devices. There are some tips for data loss prevention on CF cards.

Be Careful to Delete Items

Unlike files deleted on a computer, the deleted data on a CF card won't go to the Recycle Bin or Trash Bin which will give you the chance the restore the accidentally removed items. Thus, be careful when you attempt to delete files from a CF card.

Be Prudent to Format the Device

I know in some cases you will need to format the CF card to fix the errors on the device, like virus attacks and device becoming RAW. However, given that formatting the device will erase all the existing photos on it, you should perform data recovery from the infected or inaccessible CF card first using a tool like Deep Data Recovery to keep the data safe. Even though the tool allows you to recover formatted CF card, performing data recovery first is more recommended to minimize the chances of risks.

Back Up Important Files Elsewhere

Growing a good habit of backing up important files is of great help to prevent data loss. Even if the original files are missing, you still have the backup files available. As for backup options, you can manually copy and paste files from the CF card to another device, use free backup software, or sync them to cloud storage. Carry out the one best suited to your needs.

The Bottom Line

As long as the lost data is not overwritten, you can apply Deep Data Recovery to perform CF card recovery successfully. Other than knowing how to retrieve data when it's lost, it's equally important to learn how to prevent data loss on devices like CF cards. Hope this guide can help you get your desired files back.