Is there a photo recovery software program out there that actually works?--Rose Keller, Longmont, Colorado

I hear some frustration in that question, Rose.

I've used several photo recovery programs, and most of them do a good job--as long as you understand their limitations. Like any file recovery program, a photo recovery app works best at retrieving accidentally deleted photos from a disk or memory card, not from a storage device that has been physically damaged or has failed. Also, if you've subsequently put new files on the card, the odds of recovering those lost photos goes way down.

These programs rely on the fact that file systems don't truly delete files, they just remove information about where to find those files from the disk or memory card's table of contents. Most recovery programs do their magic by crawling through all the memory locations on the card to look for intact (but deleted) photos they can "recover."