Losing files on the job - have you had a CF card failure?

[surfidaho]

Like any other system or device, cards can fail. I don't know if babying your cards makes a real difference or not (except for pulling without ejecting, which does) but it can't hurt, so I always err on the side of caution.

 

That said, of all your equipment, your camera card is probably your most reliable unit, because it is a sealed solid state component. I ran a camera card through the wash before, and it worked just fine after I flushed it with distilled water. Could you do that with a lens, body, flash, or any other component of your system?

 

I carry two cameras, each with it's own card. My associate carries two cameras, each with a card. Cards typically stop writing before they fail. If a card goes down, I'm covered. If I can't read a card, I'll try a recovery program, and then send it to DriveSavers (and yes Bob, they are indeed awesome). So I don't think I'm at high risk for data loss, even though I never change cards during a gig.

 

So why is in-camera formatting considered "The Best"? I dunno. Traditional formatting checks for bad areas of a disk, and maps them out of the FAT. In-camera formatting is WAY too fast for that, so I suspect it's not doing a full read write check. It's just overwriting the FAT with an empty file structure.

 

On the other paw, that's exactly what your computer does when you delete all the files on the card, so there's really no difference (other than the voodoo factor).

 

And finally Ken, to answer your previous questions:

 

- I/O on a USB system is never just one way, particularly if you are using a USB hub. If you yank a device without using the system eject feature, there is a small (yet real) chance that something else on the bus may go haywire. I know this because I've seen it happen on both my PC and my daughters Mac.

 

- I don't know anything about isolation between Firewire and USB, but I suspect that the risk of crosstalk between protocols is significantly reduced. Electrically the two communications systems should be fairly well isolated.

 

Damn these labor saving devices.

 

Paulsky

[regas chefas]

Ken -

 

Sorry, but you are wrong on this one in a specific instance. IF you use MAC OS/X and

certain card readers, not ejecting the card can cause a loss of data on the next card. I

discovered this myself and was able to test and get repeatable results, it has also been

reported on here by more than one user.

 

I have a delkin efilm ? USB card reader. If I pop out a CF card and put another one in,

especially if the computer has been in sleep mode and didn't detect the card change, then

it tries to apply the old directory structure to the new card and completely hoses it. If you

open it via finder, it shows the old card, if you try to open a file, then it barfs. I

downloaded a recovery program once to see if it would get the files and it was unable to.

 

Luckily, I discovered this while plinking around the house practicing my flash technique,

so I didn't lose any client data, but it is definitely something to look out for. I have since

switched card readers and haven't had a problem since.

 

Also, this was on the previous version of OS/X, haven't tested to see if this 'feature' still

exists.

 

Cheers,

RC

[fotografz]

Has anyone here actually lost any files on the job?

 

No.

 

All critical shots are captured on two cards at once.

 

The new Nikon D3 may be the best yet. It uses two CFs instead of a CF and SD like

Canon ... where the card capacities never seem to line up, and one fills before the other.

 

Use Lexar Pro stackable CF dedicated firewire readers daisy-chained ... and download

multiple cards at the same time. Entire wedding on the computer desktop in less than 5

minutes.

[wedding-photography-denver]

I have lost one image on the job.

 

I am just waiting for the D3 to hit now. Can't wait...

[wedding-photography-denver]

and here's another reason for Nikon to step up and hit a home run...

 

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-8740-9068-9134