Picture Rescue by Prosoft Engineering

Picture Rescue from Prosoft Engineering

<http://www.prosofteng.com>

$59.00 US

(Free download demo available)

Product URL: <http://www.prosofteng.com/products/picture_rescue_info.php>

Jane went skiing with her family and her sister’s family. Kids and adults all had a splendid time. Everybody used Jane’s Kodak digital still camera for action and candid photos. Afterward, when Jane tried to transfer the JPGs into her PC, error messages plagued the process. She asked me if I could help, desperation in her voice and face.

I installed Picture Rescue into my new G5, launched and registered the application, inserted Jane’s SD storage card into my Imation USB card reader, placed the reader in a USB port on my computer, clicked in a few obvious places to attempt to locate the troublesome JPGs, and waited a l-o-n-g time while Picture Rescue snooped around. All 109 of her photos were there, full of snow, sun, and smiles.

Then I made a new “Jane’s Photos” folder on my desktop, selected all the JPGs from Picture Rescue, drag-copied them into the new folder, double clicked on a couple of the pictures to make sure they were valid image files, and quit Picture Rescue. I removed my card reader from the G5, and placed Jane’s “defective” card into her shaking hand. She was overjoyed.

This blog posting is not a comprehensive review, so my provisional rating of 4 out of 5 has not gone through our rigorous evaluation process. I’ve read several articles in praise of Picture Rescue, so I’m confident that IF your photos can be retrieved (and most can, according to the product manager), this utility will be successful doing the job. Both David Weeks and I have some interface grumbles with Prosoft, and if they are resolved my rating will climb.

If you have questions or personal experience using Picture Rescue or a competing product, let’s hear from you in the Article Discussion area below. I’m glad to have had a real world test of the software, but a sample of one is just that.