I just had a great family vacation to Curacao, and took tons of pictures of the whole family on my Galaxy SIII. Got back a couple days ago, and now my phone suddenly says "Blank SD Card" the card cant be read by my computer either, or any other phone it is inserted into. No recovery software (ZAR, Recuva, photorec,etc.) has even been able to access the card, let alone retrieve my pictures. Does anyone know of a service I can pay to recover the photos for a decent price?
Also, I just contacted Samsung's chat help, and here is my log:
"Chat Information Please wait for a Samsung Agent to respond.
Chat Information You are now chatting with 'Gary S'. There will be a brief survey at the end of our chat to share feedback on my performance today.
Chat Information Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK56402625896X
Gary S: Hi, thank you for contacting Samsung Technical Support. How may I help you today?
Visitor: I have a samsung Galaxy SIII that I just got a couple months ago. I was just on a week long family vacation, took dozens of irreplaceable photots, and suddenly my phone began saying "Blank SD Card".
Gary S: I understand that your device is unable to detect SD memory card. Is that correct?
Visitor: Yes, in addition i have tried using an adapter to read it in both my desktops, and my laptop; all with no luck.
Gary S: I'm sorry to know that.
Gary S: No worries, I will do all the possible things to help you in this regard.
Gary S: To assist you better, can I ask you a few questions?
Visitor: absolutely
Gary S: May I know the model number of your phone? Please open Settings app >> Scroll down the screen and tap on About Phone and there you can see the device model number, it starts with SGH, SCH or SPH.
Visitor: SCH-1535
Gary S: Thank you for the model number.
Gary S: When did you first notice this issue?
Visitor: it just occoured yesterday morning before i even had a chance to sync my photos to my computer
Gary S: On the phone, please open "My Files" folder icon.
Visitor: with the SD card in?
Gary S: Let me know the options displayed on the screen now?
Gary S: Yes, you are correct.
Visitor: all that us shown within "My Files" is sdcard0
Visitor: and icon in top notification bar of the phone still says "Blank SD Card"
Gary S: I'm sorry to know that.
Gary S: Have you tried to remove and re-insert SD card on the phone?
Visitor: yes, several times, and i have also tried in my fathers galaxy SIII to see if it may have been an issue with my phone.
Gary S: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.
Gary S: Have you tried to use this SD card on another phone?
Visitor: yes, no luck whatsoever.
Gary S: Are you able to use another SD card on the device now?
Visitor: Other SD cards work fine within the device
Visitor: my concern however, are the irreplaceable photographs that were contained on the SD card which seems to have been fried by the phone.
Gary S: I do understand your concern.
Gary S: I think, the SD card is corrupted.
Gary S: It is not possible to restore data for the memory card, if it is not working.
Visitor: This looks to be a known issue with the SIII.... why is samsung offering to do nothing to help its loyal customers? such as a free data recovery service?
Gary S: I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused in this regard.
Gary S: As of now, there is no recovery software for any Samsung devices. However, I will make a note of this information and will inform to the concern department.
Visitor: Not software, a service. We should be able to send our micro SD cards, damaged by our Samsung phones, to the company, so that they can properly recover all lost photos, videos, and data. There are far too many galaxy SIII owners experiencing this issue for Samsung do do nothing.
Gary S: AS of now, this service is not available from Samsung.
Gary S: I wish, I could have helped you in this regards. I'm sorry about that.
Gary S: If there way any other option then I would have surely provided you with that information.
Gary S: Is there anything else that I can assist you with?
Visitor: Samsung is going to be losing many loyal customers. I appreciate your input, but this needs to be resolved.
Visitor: thank you."