PhotoRec saved my ass just earlier this week, after an accidental wipe of a CompactFlash card with client photos on it.<p>As another commenter noted, create an exact dupe/image of the volume as the very first thing you do.<p>Also: if it doesn't successfully retrieve files on the first go, try another configuration. I think it took me 3 attempts to get it right.<p>A fun perk, also noted in the article: you may get back some surprises along with the files you expect - older files revealed in the sediment!
I love photorec and dd rescue. I have recovered many many disks and memory cards with it.<p>I even recovered a card that had been off to professional recovery and deemed unrecoverable. I think half the memory chips in the card were fried so I used DD rescue to recover what data I could and then photorec to sift the wreckage. The owner was delighted to receive some of the photos.<p>If you ever have to do this, use DD rescue to image the source media as a first step. Sometimes you don't get a second read!
Photorec is great and has improved over the years; it did way better in 2010s than it had done in the early 2000s. (I have a dd image of a corrupt disk of baby photos.)<p>This reminds me to try it again.