How SD cards get damaged

[Guest]

Hello,
I recently returned from an extended trip to Central America. I travelled with four SD cards and switched them so that if I physiaclly lost one card, I would not lose everything.
Somehow all of the data (2300 images)on three of the cards was lost and a fourth one had only 13 images on it that where taken before the trip.
How could this happen? Xray scanning at airports, another computer that they went into to check pics?
Can the lost images (jpeg) be retrieved?

 

[Guest]

It's obviously worth looking for a photo recovery program -- I'd start with the free/shawreware sites like FileHippo, MajorGeeks, CNET. You'll need a USB card reader.

I know this is a bit unhelpful now but when friends have talked about buying bigger memory cards when going on trips I've reminded them that an alternative is to e-mail yourself regularly with shots attached and then download them when you get home.