URGENT Flash Card Crisis

[michaelbonner]

Hey, everyone.

 

I posted on this forum a while ago about a problem with my Kingston 4GB 133x CF card. It wouldn't

import, then crashed my computer, and I lost 50 photos. Since that happened, I stopped using it and

switched to my lexar 2GB 80x, which I've had since I bought my camera 3 months ago and have never had

a problem with. However, when I tried to import the files, the same thing happened- my computer locked

up andnow the memory card says it's empty. This time, I lost photos that were more important to me.

Could there be something I'm doing wrong that's causing my memory cards to become corrupted or could

it be the camera or the card reader or my computer? I've used the card reader and my computer for

months without incident. I just find it hard to believe that both cards are randomly failing at the same

time.

 

The crisis that I have is that I'm supposed to be shooting a friend's wedding next weekend and I obviously

can't have any catastrophic failures happen then. What would you suggest? If need be, I'll buy another

flash card, but if the problem is coming from the camera, human error, or the card reader, I'd rather not

pay $60 only to lose all my photos from a wedding. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

Sincerely,

 

Michael Bonner

[emre]

Try changing the reader and the USB port.

[michaelbonner]

Hey,

 

All may not be completely lost. I just downloaded Data Rescue II onto my Macbook and using

a thorough scan, I was able to find 942 lost photos and with the demo version, I recovered

one quite successfuly. The only problem is, the program costs $99. It's a pittance compared

to what losing a thousand photos would be, but I wanted to know if anyone had any luck with

cheaper (or free) software for the Mac. Thanks a lot for any help

 

Michael

[ellis_vener_photography]

$99.00/942 = less than $0.11 per iamge.

 

Sounds pretty damn cheap to me!

[michaelbonner]

Alright- I've decided to buy the software, but what about in the future? I don't intend to use

Data Rescue II as my primary photo-importing program. :) I'm using a different USB port now

and I'm going to buy a new card reader as soon as possible. Any other suggestions for

worry-free imports into iPhoto? Should I buy a new flash card as well?

 

Thanks a lot,

 

Michael

[georg_s1]

Michael,

i had to use PhotoRescue too. I paid much less - 29 Dollars if i remember this correctly. I

have dumped the failing cards (2 older Kingstons and 1 Lexar). Sometimes cardreaders start

to eat cards - portable image storage devices too. If you by a new reader try the expensive

FW Sandisk-Extreme-Reader. This thing is really fast with the newer high-speed-cards and

much faster then my old FW-reader.

Please excuse my funny english, Georg.

[KenPapai]

"The crisis that I have is that I'm supposed to be shooting a friend's wedding next weekend and I obviously can't have any catastrophic failures happen then. What would you suggest? If need be, I'll buy another flash card..." [most card errors are user error]

 

Of course you will (buy more cards)! You are the assigned shooter for the wedding so you should have good quality 2GB cards, and more than two of them. You also should have a backup/2nd camera (and backup power, batteries, flash). If you are resorting to asking this sort of basic question in a beginners' forum I hope you have a backup plan (for your friend's sake).

[markus maurer]

Did you try the various freeware recovery programs Michael?

<http://www.pcinspector.de/default.htm?Language=1> or search for

"freeware file recovery". I also think that your USB port or reader or the drivers are faulty and not the cards. good luck, Markus

[michaelbonner]

Georg- thanks for the input. I think I'll be shopping for card readers tomorrow and I'll have

to keep the Sandisk in mind.

 

Ken- Thank you for the advice. The friends for whom I'm shooting are well aware of my

equipment and experience and their expectations are in proportion. In terms of backup, I

will have to purchase more cards, but I do have several extra camera/flash batteries and a

backup camera if everything does go to hell the day of.

 

In regards to the flash card error, you mentioned that most card errors are user error.

However, you did not elaborate upon that fact. If there are certain things I need to watch

out for or avoid to keep this from happening again, I would greatly appreciate any

suggestions.

 

Also, I wasn't aware that this was a beginners' forum. If you can point me in the direction

of an advanced memory card forum, I'll be sure to post future questions there when I have

memory card failures as a professional.

 

Thanks for the suggestions,

 

Michael

[ronald_moravec1]

Reformat the cardin your camera. Then download images as you make them or when convenient. Never erase and overwrite. Always reformat rather than erase.

 

Try your cards a few times reformatted to be sure they are ok.

 

Do the data recovery as reformating will erase everything. What is on ther is probably salvageable.

[j.w.]

And don't unplug the card from your USB port until you've done the proper software 'stop' or 'remove' function (I don't know how Macs call this function.) And I've heard that some DC-powered USB hubs are bad for cards, it's better to use the native power from the PC/ Mac's USB port.

[emraphoto]

here's what i learnt after many, many years of absolutely NO issues with sd cards... ac powered usb hubs and card readers=BAD THINGS. plug your card reader into your computer direct.

i just went through the same problem and the ONLY thing i had done new was to buy an ac powered hub a few days ago.

say it with me now... ac powered hubs and card readers=BAD

[michaelbonner]

Thanks for the suggestions. The problem seems to be rectified and I've come away with a few lessons learned.

 

I've been using the 'download to computer, backup to hard drive, then format in-camera' workflow for a while now with a good deal of comfort and success. I also always 'eject' the flash card from my Macbook before unplugging it.

 

I think I've pinned the issue down to using a USB hub with the card reader, as Joe and Jon have mentioned. I have a 4-way hub attached to my computer, but I don't think I used my card reader in conjunction with it until the first time the card crashed. I'm currently importing directly from my camera with a USB card and have had several (happily) uneventful imports. I'm probably going to go back to using the card reader, mainly because it's faster, but I'm definitely going to try it out with some unimportant photos. Thanks a lot for the help- very much appreciated.

 

Sincerely,

 

Michael Bonner