SD cards damaged?

I've got a bit of a mystery on my hands. I went today to dismantle my stand and retrieve my cameras. I was busy taking the stand down and my wife went to get the cameras. She's not familiar with the setting buttons inside, so I just told her to remove the screws and bring all 3 cams (I've got them mounted to brackets that screw to the tree)
So we get to the truck afterwards and I open the cams and switch them off, take the cards out and we head home. Both of us looking forward to a weeks worth of viewing monster bucks that would no doubt show up after the rifle season? Get home, start up the puter and slide in a card. Hummm, it says the card is empty? Ok, I think to myself, maybe the batteries were dead and it didn't take any pics? Slide in another card... and it says same thing? Put in the 3rd card and same result? Went to garage to check the batteries and they were all good on all 3 cameras. Now what? All 3 cameras were switched on as confirmed when I switched them off to retrieve cards I got thinking about it and wonder if it's possible that the electrical current from the portable battery drill may have wiped the data off the cards? That's what she used to undo the screws. She suggested someone may have tampered with them, but I find that impossible for a person to even find all 3 of the units and then knowing that each unit was switched on when we got them, which should have at least got pics of her getting the cam off the tree? Only possible solution is that the current from the battery drill may have wiped them clean?

Any ideas?

3 cameras all of them with no pics at all.... not be silly here but for sure you know how to activate the cards?.... I know I have to (not sure what the term is off hand) but need to match up, blend my card to my cameras first time using them... Were they new cards?
Never heard of a power screwdriver/drill that would do that....

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Originally Posted by fratri

3 cameras all of them with no pics at all.... not be silly here but for sure you know how to activate the cards?.... I know I have to (not sure what the term is off hand) but need to match up, blend my card to my cameras first time using them... Were they new cards?
Never heard of a power screwdriver/drill that would do that....

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I've been using each of these units for a few years now, so yes I'm very familiar with them. the cards are rotated randomly each time I change them and each time after viewing, I re-format them. I have in the past forgot to turn one of the units on while changing a card, but not all three and I know each was turned on when I opened them at the truck?

Just an idea to take away the doubt-why not try out.....run few pictures on the same camera,and then run the screwdriver alongside,as if it was being unscrewed.
You can do that quite fast,since the cameras are in your home by now....then learn from it.

Please let us know the outcome...........good luck

Just grasping at straws here but any chance the reader is faulty... Let us know about the screwdriver test gbk suggested...
Oh...are they all the same model cameras?

I'll get to this thread tomorrow, i'm forbidden to go to garage tonight. I will do some testing and let you both know what happens.

My big question would be if the cards are completely blank or do they have the camera file which is empty?

I ran into this problem twice this year with two different cards in two different cameras three weeks apart.

File corruption would be my first guess but I'm not all that bright around computers so take that at what its worth.

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

Are the cards the right size gb for the cams? Are the cards formatted? Test cams at home for a day. Keep your eyes in the back of your head when in the woods..lol

Does your trail cam have a connection so it will connect to your pc?
I’ve had different problems so now I put the cards in the camera and plug into the pc.

The batteries are unlikely to do anything... the motor and the magnets in the drill are a possibility. If it is a high torque that would be my guess but you would almost have to be holding the drill and camera side by side. If you have a laptop you can put the cards directly into and scan them you MAY recover some pictures. Check the sensitivity and do a couple tests with the cameras, maybe put them in your back yard a night or two, I tested one of the cameras I hide around the cottage in the winter and got a picture of a coyote chasing a rabbit through the back yard, a fox and of course the usual skunk and raccoon.