Antivirus programs cannot find my camera, Computer does not find most pictures

[Photoless Traveller]

I am using a Canon PowerShot SX200 IS while I am traveling. I am using different hostel computers to upload (= backup) from my SD cards as I do not want to lose all photos if I get robbed.
As hostel computers do not usually have SD card slots, I am using a cable from my camera to an USB slot of the computers. They have to install a driver, then they can display my camera/ the card's content. No more...

The problem:
Now the computer does not display most of the photos anymore, instead displays some weird icons as being in the folder. I am not used to Windows 8 (this is a Windows 8 computer), but the same icon is used for the C drive. No file name, no other description, nothing. BTW, the explorer takes forever to open the resp. file; I have never had the patience to try how long (probably hours), it just keeps slowly adding those icons.

The solution (?) that does not work:
So I figured I am probably dealing with a virus. My current hostel uses ESET NOD32 Antivirus (up-to-date), but I also tentatively downloaded USB-AV and Malwarebytes as well as StellarPhoenixWindowsDataRecovery-Home.exe - (and have since disabled USB-AV, so it won't mess with EST NOD32... Malwarebytes is still scanning, so I haven't disabled it yet). In none of the programs can I click on my camera to have it scanned. So what now?

Thanks for your help!! As I'm still travelling and don't have internet connection every night, please understand I will reply as fast as I can, but that may be slower than you're used to. Anyways, I'm pretty desperate because I am travelling alone and have only my own photos (no option to format my card! I really "need" my pictures), so I appreciate your help sooo much!

Thanks!!!

(PS: This is my first post, please be patient if I messed up in some way.)


PPS: My camera still seems to display everything. "seems" because I have not looked through *all* pictures and am not sure if I could make things worse if I did...

PPPS: Any ideas what to do in the future to avoid this from happening again? I have no alternative to hostel computers, which are obviously likely to spread viruses again... ...

 

[Saga Lout]

I suggest you find a computer repair shop and buy the largest capacity SD Card you can or maybe a USB stick which the hostels you visit in future might accept. Then, hopefully, for a small fee, ask them to transfer all your photos to that card of flash drive.

Also upgrade the capacity of the camera's SD card so you need to transfer less frequently.

 

[Photoless Traveller]

Thanks for the tips, but that doesn't work: I do have a USB stick, but that doesn't change the SD card problem. If I buy a larger SD card (or any further SD cards), I can of course keep the old ones and solve the issue at home. If I still have them at home (-> risk of robbery). And of course I keep wanting to upload as often as possible because otherwise all my pictures will be gone if I get robbed. It's not just a capacity issue, it's a safety issue.

So if there should be any other ideas, thanks! Also, I'm still not sure what to do about the issue that the computer seems to read the card (displays folders and some pictures), but does not assign any letter to the camera as it would to any other drive. Is that normal or not?

Thanks!!

 

[Saga Lout]

Does the computer "see" the camera as a drive in Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Disk Management? If so, you could manually assign a drive letter - X is a goood choice because it avoids all the others.

It might also help to format the card in the NTFS flie system. If it is currently formatted in FAT32, a modern Windows system might not accept it. You would need to save all the files elsewhere before doing that.

 

[Photoless Traveller]

Very strange - at yet another hostel everything is fine again. So I hope this was just a temporary glitch or rather a problem on part of the computer(s) as opposed to my memory cards. Anyways, I'll take this as a warning to be careful before using my cards and USBs again in my own computer at home!

(BTW, any links to how to best do that: i.e. how to check my memory cards and USB sticks *first*, before they can infect my own computer? Thanks!)

 

[Saga Lout]

Best guess at that is to see if a hostel has an anti-virus then right click your drive and see if "Scan with ???" is in the menu. If the ??? is a reputable Av or malware killer, let it see what, if anything, it finds.