Lost pictures on 1Gb XD Card

[Doobs]

I have just lost all of my recent holiday pics from my XD Card.
For whatever reason, and I still can't fathom out what I did, my laptop wiped all the pics from the card. When I inserted the card back into my camera, it told me that the card could not be used until it was formatted.
When I put the card back into the laptop, the card was empty.

Does anyone know if its possible to retrieve the pics from the card (if they are still there) and how do I go about it? Should I format the card whatever that means?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated as some of the pics were of once in a lifetime opportunities.

Thanks in advance

Doobs

[Bushfiva]

Don't format anything.

Convar's PC Inspector Smart recovery has worked for me in the past with CF cards. I don't know if it handles xD media, but it should.

CONVAR & PCinspector Data Recovery Datenrettung recupero dati datarecovery rcupration donnes (http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file_recovery/download.htm?language=1)

There's other software, of course, but I've actually used this one a couple of times with excellent results.

[The Flying Pram]

Art Plus Digital Photo Recovery (http://www.artplus.hr/adapps/eng/dpr.htm) is very straightforward to use. Doesn't even need installing on your P.C. and can be run from a USB stick if needed.

[Doobs]

Thanks for your advice. All pics are now restored.

Doobs