Unable to open Camera SD cards

We are on holiday and have a big problem. I have a Canon EOS 450D and have taken a lot of pictures.

I initially connected my camera to a family members laptop (Vista 7), but the laptop gave the error message that the "USB device is not recognized". I put more SD cards in and it gave the same error messages.

I then connected the Canon to another laptop- HP- Windows 7 with the same message.

I then put the SD cards in a Nikon Coolpix and connected it to both laptops, also giving the error message that the "USB device is not recognized".

When connecting the Nikon Coolpix with its own card to both computers, it opens normally.

Opening "My computer" the Canon is not recognized.

I have no idea.

Has anyone got any advice?

 

I do not know why your camera is not recognized. I am not sure if the SD card formatted through a Canon camera can be recognized on a Nikon.

Have you tried downloading the drivers for this camera, specifically the EOS utility.

http://www.canon-europe.com/Support...igital_SLR/EOS_450D.aspx?type=download&page=1

But these are updaters. From what I have read, you need the original CD in order to install these updates. Hopefully you have access to the CD that came with the camera. But it can be fooled by updating the registry which you do at your own risk. This link provides instructions for both XP and Windows 7 64bit. I believe if you are running Windows 7 32bit it will be like XP.

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/install_canon_software.html#Latest_DPP

Here is some additional info on your problem. Seems like the EOS utility is needed.

If that does not work you may want to try to retrieve the data directly from the card either by connecting it directly to the computer via a card reader or using a USB adapter that accepts a SD card.

Do not try and write anything to the card(s). If you download Minitools Power Data Recovery it will let you retrieve 1GB of data for free. Attach the card to the computer and see if Minitools will read and recover the data. If it does, you can either choose to pay to retrieve all of the data or use a free software package called PhotoRec which is not as easy to use.

http://www.powerdatarecovery.com/fr...to-recover-canon-crw-and-cr2-photo-files.html

PhotoRec Step by Step

Make sure you do not recover the data back to the SD card or it will be corrupted and you will have no chance of recovering your photos.

Good Luck.

 

Thanks for your comprehensive reply. I have not tried everything, but I believe you are right with regard to the EOS software. I have the Canon EOS software installed at home (as well as the installation CD) and never had a problem.

My PC at home is excellent, so will it mean that these laptops are too old/not having Canon EOS software to read the card, but that my PC at home will? These two laptops are not mine.

What I realized now is that the card in use is currently in an adapter and it is a micro SDHC 4 card, 4GB and not just a SD card.

Thanks again!