7d- Something has happened my DATA at DVinfo.net

Ger Griffin · March 12th, 2010, 03:36 PM

I got back from a photography job today. Since yesterday I decided I was going to leave the card in the camera. Connect the camera to the pc to do the transfer.
I have been shooting RAW and have be using my Transcend 32gb 133x card.
Anyway there is about 400 - 500 files divided up into 10 folders on the card up to this this particular job. This was folder number 11 and there must have been 45 - 50 Raw images in folder 11.

Anyway I was reviewing the photos earlier in the camera, all perfect. When I connected the camera to the pc and turned on the camera (in that order) folder number 11 was nowhere to be found.

Like today never happened. Im running a data recovery program at the moment. Very worried. Not sure what happened. Can only assume there was too much data on the card for the camera to handle or something.

Mauricio DelaOrta · March 15th, 2010, 11:43 AM

Hi Ger,

Some CF cards last longer than other ones. The truth is that they all have a lifetime. I don't know if that is your case, but it is usually the case that the Card is the problem and not the camera (with some exceptions of course).

I would be weary of using that same card.

Good luck in recovering your data!.

Jesse Haycraft · March 15th, 2010, 07:25 PM

A CF card will last a lot longer than a few days (pretty much forever really) unless something is wrong with it. Sounds like that CF card may be bad. Don't use it anymore just to be safe. It's probably not a good idea to use 32gb cards since if it fails you've lost 32gb of data. Its probably better to use several smaller cards.

Mauricio DelaOrta · March 15th, 2010, 07:43 PM

Actually, according to Sandisk, the expected lifespan of a CF card is 100,000 cycles. I am not sure if recording video counts as 1 cycle as photographs do, but my guess it that it doesn't.

Anyway, I agree with Jessee regarding not using that one for future jobs.

One final word of advice, when not using the CF cards, put them in the little cases they come with, as Static Electricity definetly will damage them.

Mauricio

Kin Lau · March 15th, 2010, 09:00 PM

Suggestion #1 - don't use the camera as the card reader, buy a $20- USB reader, they're much faster and much more reliable.

The few times I've had file/dir corruption was when I was using the camera as the reader instead of a card reader.

ps. that's out of approx 1.5TB or 200,000 files and about 10 different cameras, 30 different CF cards.

Michael Murie · March 16th, 2010, 07:46 AM

There's several possible explanations. Here's my best guesses;

1) It could be some kind of physical failure with the card. The problem with that (whether it's physical or something caused by static electricity etc) is that it would be more likely to corrupt a single (or multiple) files, or make the whole card unreadable. Causing a single directory to disappear would mean that the area on the card where the file access table is stored is corrupted. That's possible, but likely to show up immediately in other problems (i.e. continuing problems writing and accessing files on the card.

2) Operator error: you accidentally deleted the directory yourself while accessing the card from the computer

3) The file access table was corrupted when a write operation was interrupted. When the camera or the computer writes files to the card, it also updates the file access table which stores pointers to the files. Updating this table is the most dangerous operation because if you turn off the camera/computer, or eject the card before the file access table is updated correctly, then all the pointers to the files can be lost or corrupted.

One suggestion: Whether using a card reader, or connecting the computer directly to your computer, I generally recommend either using the camera to delete the pictures, or reformat the card using the camera after you're done, rather than using the computer to delete files.

March 15th, 2010, 11:43 AM	#2
Mauricio DelaOrta Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Mexico City Posts: 49	Hi Ger, Some CF cards last longer than other ones. The truth is that they all have a lifetime. I don't know if that is your case, but it is usually the case that the Card is the problem and not the camera (with some exceptions of course). I would be weary of using that same card. Good luck in recovering your data!. __________________ o--------------------------o Life is short.. Live it! Mauricio

March 15th, 2010, 07:43 PM	#4
Mauricio DelaOrta Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Mexico City Posts: 49	Actually, according to Sandisk, the expected lifespan of a CF card is 100,000 cycles. I am not sure if recording video counts as 1 cycle as photographs do, but my guess it that it doesn't. Anyway, I agree with Jessee regarding not using that one for future jobs. One final word of advice, when not using the CF cards, put them in the little cases they come with, as Static Electricity definetly will damage them. Mauricio __________________ o--------------------------o Life is short.. Live it! Mauricio

March 12th, 2010, 03:36 PM	#1
Ger Griffin Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Ireland Posts: 579	7d- Something has happened my DATA I got back from a photography job today. Since yesterday I decided I was going to leave the card in the camera. Connect the camera to the pc to do the transfer. I have been shooting RAW and have be using my Transcend 32gb 133x card. Anyway there is about 400 - 500 files divided up into 10 folders on the card up to this this particular job. This was folder number 11 and there must have been 45 - 50 Raw images in folder 11. Anyway I was reviewing the photos earlier in the camera, all perfect. When I connected the camera to the pc and turned on the camera (in that order) folder number 11 was nowhere to be found. Like today never happened. Im running a data recovery program at the moment. Very worried. Not sure what happened. Can only assume there was too much data on the card for the camera to handle or something.

March 15th, 2010, 07:25 PM	#3
Jesse Haycraft Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: New Orleans, LA Posts: 57	A CF card will last a lot longer than a few days (pretty much forever really) unless something is wrong with it. Sounds like that CF card may be bad. Don't use it anymore just to be safe. It's probably not a good idea to use 32gb cards since if it fails you've lost 32gb of data. Its probably better to use several smaller cards.

March 15th, 2010, 09:00 PM	#5
Kin Lau Major Player Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ottawa, ON Posts: 385	Suggestion #1 - don't use the camera as the card reader, buy a $20- USB reader, they're much faster and much more reliable. The few times I've had file/dir corruption was when I was using the camera as the reader instead of a card reader. ps. that's out of approx 1.5TB or 200,000 files and about 10 different cameras, 30 different CF cards.

March 16th, 2010, 07:46 AM	#6
Michael Murie Major Player Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Woburn, MA Posts: 205	There's several possible explanations. Here's my best guesses; 1) It could be some kind of physical failure with the card. The problem with that (whether it's physical or something caused by static electricity etc) is that it would be more likely to corrupt a single (or multiple) files, or make the whole card unreadable. Causing a single directory to disappear would mean that the area on the card where the file access table is stored is corrupted. That's possible, but likely to show up immediately in other problems (i.e. continuing problems writing and accessing files on the card. 2) Operator error: you accidentally deleted the directory yourself while accessing the card from the computer 3) The file access table was corrupted when a write operation was interrupted. When the camera or the computer writes files to the card, it also updates the file access table which stores pointers to the files. Updating this table is the most dangerous operation because if you turn off the camera/computer, or eject the card before the file access table is updated correctly, then all the pointers to the files can be lost or corrupted. One suggestion: Whether using a card reader, or connecting the computer directly to your computer, I generally recommend either using the camera to delete the pictures, or reformat the card using the camera after you're done, rather than using the computer to delete files.