I just wanted to note for the record that I got a camera message to format the new 32Gb card I had been recording on. It happened after I pulled card b out to show someone the card. Slot A is now giving me a message to format the media. I lost over an hour of interviews. I've changed slots, and tried getting the media into the computer with no luck. I wonder if I should go back to the 16Gb workflow. Anyone else have issues with the 32Gb Sandisk?

Your post doesn't explain what you did.
What adaptor?
You pulled out the card. Was the light above it RED or GREEN?
You put the card back in and it gave you what message?
Are you confusing Restore Media with Format.
You tried "getting the media into the computer" HOW?
Please translate "no luck" into a recognizable action we can troubleshoot.

I'm using Sandisk Ultra II 32GB cards (2 of them) and haven't gotten a restore media message. I've never seen a formated card get a format message either.

I'm using K+S.
Not sure if the light was green or red. I'm assuming it was green because I wasn't recording.
I pulled the B card out a couple times really fast to show the setup (pulled out entire adapter).
I'm not confusing "restore" with "format" I wish that were the case. Basically the card acted like it had never been formatted before, hence the format media message.
I put the K+S into MacBook and it wouldn't mount. I loaded "Data Rescue 2" to get data back but it couldn't see the data.
I reformatted the card already and I am re-recording over the entire card a few times to reproduce the issue. So far, the card works fine.

I'm using K+S.
I'm using MxR and haven't had it happen

Not sure if the light was green or red. I'm assuming it was green because I wasn't recording.
That could be dangerous. I ALWAYS check that. But I would think if you pulled it out too soon you'd simply get Restore Media and not Format when placed back in. It takes several seconds between stop and the record finishing going to the card. I'm seeing 4 to 6 seconds approximately.

I pulled the B card out a couple times really fast to show the setup (pulled out entire adapter).
That shouldn't cause any problems as long as the light was green or not on at all.

I'm not confusing "restore" with "format" I wish that were the case. Basically the card acted like it had never been formatted before, hence the format media message.
I've never seen that happen. I've never had the camera ask me to format an already formated card.

I put the K+S into MacBook and it wouldn't mount. I loaded "Data Rescue 2" to get data back but it couldn't see the data.
Did you just check Desktop/Finder or did you also open ClipBrowser. I'd double check in ClipBrowser just in case. I'd also check in Disk Utility to check if it can see it even in an unmounted state.

I reformatted the card already and I am re-recording over the entire card a few times to reproduce the issue. So far, the card works fine.
I'm trying to imagine what would fundamentally corrupt the disk. I can understand clips getting corrupted but can't imagine what would corrupt the disk itself.

Larry, do have a look at this thread. While the poster doesn't mention being asked to format card they do mention Media Restore and do mention it not showing on desktop.
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/141351-problem-sandisk-ultraii-both-adapters.html

Picked up a couple of 32gb cards at J&R and started a shoot this (Sun) AM. Using SDHC in both slots. Shut down camera and when I turned camera back on got msg that media in Slot A needed to be formatted. I did not format. Shut down camera again, removed entire card and put in Express slot in MacBook Pro. All clips I had shot were on the card and I'm transferring to hard drive as I write.

I seem to recall hearing one other 32gb SDHC horror story of a similar nature.

For the moment, I'm going to be very suspicious of these and will not use them on my major shoot the next two days. Will report more after I've had the chance to investigate. Will probably just try to fill an entire card and see what happens.

Ned Soltz

Hi Ned,
We got too many gosh darn threads about card testing.
I'm finding that the cards always fail first format (using MxR). I pull card and reinsert and it asks to format and all is well. Once formated the cards have had no issue in both short and long record. Turning camera off and on has not resulted in any problems or requests for format, etc. Once formated they're hunky-dory (so far).

Filmed a CD release party last night used 2 of the 32GB cards. no problems it was nice having the 4hrs record time. You should never pull the cards out of the slot until it turns green. I also have a wedding next Friday plan to shoot with the 32GB Cards on both cams
I will report back on Sunday to tell you guys if I had any problems.

Thanks guys for the posts and any future reports. I never tried the XDCam Transfer to see if clips were on the corrupted card, and if this ever happens again, I will try that.
I'm thinking it might be a good idea to format twice before using the cards out of the box.
I'm going to continue recording on the 2 32GB cards this week to try to reproduce the issue.
I leave for a shoot in Africa 10 days from now and I don't want this to happen there. I have plenty of 16GB cards if things get dicey.

Ned, also for the record, the 32GB cards I purchased were from J&R as well. Let me know if that format message ever comes back. Thanks.

One last thing...I did power my camera down for lunch and after lunch, I powered it back on and that is when I got the format media message.

Very similar situation to Larry. Powered camera down and got the format media message.

Pulled out and read media in my MBPro without any problem. Then reinserted into camera and it came back up without asking to reformat.

I'll do a reformat anyway and then run the cards once again as a test before deciding whether to use tomorrow and Tuesday in the major shoot.

I've never had the reformat media message with either SanDisk or Transcend 16gb cards.

Ned

One last thing...I did power my camera down for lunch and after lunch, I powered it back on and that is when I got the format media message.

I shut my cam down multiple times last night had no problems with the 32GB cards.

I did a "grand" test.
2 Sandisk Ultra II 32GB cards in 2 MxR adaptors.
I recorded straight through filling the cards which is just under 4 hours.
I took the cards out and turned off the EX1 camera.
I put the first SDHC card in my Sandisk 12 in 1 reader and copied to MacPro using ClipBrowser.
The card did mount on the desktop when inserted.
After copying I deleted the clip(s) from that card using ClipBrowser.
I ejected the card from the Sandisk reader,
I put the second SDHC card in Sandisk 12 in 1 reader and copied to MacPro using ClipBrowser.
The card did mount on the desktop when inserted.
This time I did not delete the clips.
I inserted the SDHC cards back in to MxR.

Now I had 1 card with no clips.
1 card which was full.

I turned on the camera and then insert both cards back in to the camera.
Card with 118 minutes available shows up no problem.
Card with 0 minutes available shows up no problem.
In a camera I got to slot 0 minutes card and select Delete All Clips.
It takes what appears to be a long time although I didn't measure it. Completes successfully and shows as 118 minutes available.

No problem even though I turned off camera and removed cards and back on and then inserted a card in which clips where deleted with ClipBrowser as well as a card that was completely full.

Results today.

Copied media from my 2 32gb cards to hard drive and imported into FCP. All clips present.

Inserted both SDHC + 32gb back into EX-3 and camera recognized them along with the remaining time on both cards.

Tried to format cards and camera reported on both cards: Format Error Media Needs To Be Restored

Turned off camera. Turned back on and got message that Media B needed to be formatted. No problem with Format. I was able to reformat the card in Slot A through the menu. Both cards then showed 118 minutes. I recorded one card completely and about half the second card. Will be looking at my footage in a little while but I have no reason to belive there is a problem.

Tomorrow will attempt to reformat again and see if the same problems persist. I have never had this happen with 16gb Transcend or SanDisk cards. So, there is defintely something amiss with the 32gb cards.

I have both the EX-1 and EX-3 here and only shooting SxS in the EX-1

Ned

I'm getting a slightly different format issue with MxR and Ultra II 32GB. I have two of each.

The first time I try to format I get an NG message. I pull MxR and it asks me to format the card and I execute. That formats.

Basically it always takes attempt/fail, remove, reinsert, execute to format.

It does that every time. Very consistent.

I have no other problems though. Once formated the card behaves. I tend to delete clips rather than format the card so it isn't a serious problem for me. It is different behavior than 16GB cards.

Craig, I have to believe he pulled the card before the camera stopped recording to the card. This is a big NO NO for any tapeless camera system including P2. As we have discussed offline the recording continues even after the TALLY LIGHT stops. Anyone reading this should understand how important it is to check and make sure the card slot light is green before removing the card.

Michael Palmer

Yes, there's a good 4 to 6 seconds where the light over the card is still red. I think many people are yanking the cards too quickly.

One of the reasons why I splurged on 32GB cards rather than 16GB is that it all but eliminates the need to remove the card during a shoot.

Same drill this AM formatting the 32gb cards, as Craig reports.

But after the second insertion, they did format and I had no problem filling two cards this morning. Very convenient having close to 4 continuous hours since I was just shooting speakers at a seminar today.

The camera was definitely NOT recording. Due to the fact I was hungry and running low on energy, I don't remember exactly what I did, but I might have pulled the sd card out of the kensington adapter to show someone (again I might be wrong but whatever I did, it was not good). When I tried formatting the card, it failed as some of you have experienced. Something is amiss with these cards in regards to the formatting. So far, I haven't had any issues since and will pass it off as a human error. At least I know that it isn't a card specific issue rather than an overall quark with the Sandisk 32GB.

My theory so far is that some of our formatting isn't taking hold, and a good practice might be to format twice on a new card just to be sure.