Problem Solved: Transcend CF Cards and Mac Leopard OS

Dan Keaton · August 12th, 2009, 04:51 AM

Dear Greg,

1. The problem is intermittent. The Mac Leopard Operating System does not harm the CompactFlash cards everytime, just sometimes.

The typical scenario, when the problem does occur, is when a user uses the Eject Command. Some use the "Drag to the Trash" technique prior to removing the CompactFlash card, and we do not know if this causes the problem or not.

We do not know if the cards are damaged at other times, but we do have reports that cards have been damaged just by inserting the cards into a card reader attached to Mac with Leopard.

2. The reported failures, for Transcend cards, have all been with the Transcend 133x cards. To the best of my knowledge, no Transcend 16GB 300x cards have been harmed.

The Transcend 16 GB 300x card is a different design, using a different controller chip. This card may have overvoltage protection while the 133x card appears to not have overvoltage protection.

Greg Laves · August 12th, 2009, 04:40 PM

I have noticed that the Macs loaded extra files onto my CF cards, which I deleted immediately. They were files named "trashes" if I remember correctly. But I am glad to hear that I probably didn't do any permanent damage to my Transcend cards. Thanks.

Rafael Amador · August 14th, 2009, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luc De Wandel

No such luck with a corrupt card here: even in the 'disk utility' app, the card in the Lexar reader is not even recongnized! Ergo the 'erase' button is never highlighted and there's no way to access the card. What now?

If the cards shows grayed in the DiskUtillity, click the card name in the left column. Down in the window you will find "Mounting Point' wrote in blue letters.
Click it and the card will mount in the Desktop.
Then you can try to recover the files and proceed to reformat the card.
Cheeers,
rafael

Stuart Nicholls · August 17th, 2009, 07:05 AM

Well I have tried my "dead" cards in everything now from MACS to Linux and still now joy.

The cards don't even show up in the Diskutility.

Dan, if its ok I might just send you one of the cards to have a look at. Just so you have another example to play with really. They are of now use to me now :(

Dan Keaton · August 17th, 2009, 07:25 AM

Dear Stuart,

Your Transcend cards have a lifetime warranty.

It would be faster and cheaper if you contact Transcend directly and ask for replacements.

We will be happy to support you if you send them to us, but it will take longer.

Lance Librandi · November 12th, 2009, 03:12 AM

Hello Dan,
I have a pair of Sandisk Extreme IV 16GB CF cards that I use solely for testing. After down loading my vision I have been using the Apple eject option with Snow Leopard and the cards have not failed after 50 insertions. Much as I have other issues with the OS it has not damaged cards and by the end of December I should reach 100 insertions keep you posted.

Dan Keaton · November 12th, 2009, 04:07 AM

Dear Lance,

We appreciate your report and your experience with Snow Leopard.

The real test would be with the original Transcend 32 GB 133x cards.

If we could survive 100 transfers and ejects with these original cards, which do not have overvoltage protection, it would be just great.

Lance Librandi · November 12th, 2009, 08:30 AM

Sorry Dan I do not own any if Transcend cards but if they want to send one down I try it.

Alister Chapman · November 12th, 2009, 10:23 AM

So far I have not had a problem with my Transcend cards which been in and out of various macs many times over the last few months.

Bill Pryor · January 13th, 2010, 04:22 PM

I have a 16gig Transcend 133x, Mac with Snow Leopard (recently installed) and have also had absolutely no problems. I eject in the normal fashion.

Dean Harrington · January 16th, 2010, 06:03 PM

I have been using transcend 32g 133x cards in a kensington 7-1 reader USB in Snow Leopard for the last few months and have had no problems. I use drag and pull to trash.

Lance Librandi · January 16th, 2010, 08:54 PM

In early December last year Apple sent a large auto update to my system for Snow Leopard on the Mac Pro 8 core. Most of the problems that I was experiencing have now disappeared FCP is now as stable now as it was on OS 10.5. I have not had any problems with ejecting CF cards but I only use Sandisk and Photofast, my renders in Compressor have also improved with all 8 cores now working at about 60-70 percent.

Andrew Stone · January 29th, 2010, 10:25 AM

Would like to know if there have been any reported issues with other CF cards being corrupted upon eject from Leopard (OS 10.5.x). I have a nanoFlash arriving today and am a bit leary of hosing the Delkin 64GB cards I have.

I do plan on using a Nexto DI (cheaper one) for transfer & backup along with the Firewire 800 CF card reader for direct transfer to my Mac Pro.

Reported experiences and suggestions appreciated.

-Andrew

Dan Keaton · January 29th, 2010, 10:50 AM

Dear Andrew,

We do not expect any problems with the Delkin CompactFlash cards.

They build a very high-quality card.

There is, however, a way to be proactive to minimize the electrical stress on any CompactFlash card.

After transferring your files, wait until the transfer is complete, then just manually remove the card.

Do not use the Eject Command in the Finder, nor drag and drop the CompactFlash card reader icon to the trash can.

You will get an error message that you can ignore.

The above procedure prevents Leopard from taking any action which could harm the card.

Mark Joseph · February 11th, 2010, 02:07 AM

I just received an "error A:19:91" on a 16GB Transcend 133x card. This is after months of no problems under OSX 10.5.7 Leopard since July 2009. I always use the eject command before removing CF from Mac.

Couple days ago we updated to 10.6.2. I can't be sure, but the card may have been inserted under 10.6.2 so the problem seems to have only surfaced for me under Snow Leopard.

August 12th, 2009, 04:51 AM	#16
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Greg, 1. The problem is intermittent. The Mac Leopard Operating System does not harm the CompactFlash cards everytime, just sometimes. The typical scenario, when the problem does occur, is when a user uses the Eject Command. Some use the "Drag to the Trash" technique prior to removing the CompactFlash card, and we do not know if this causes the problem or not. We do not know if the cards are damaged at other times, but we do have reports that cards have been damaged just by inserting the cards into a card reader attached to Mac with Leopard. 2. The reported failures, for Transcend cards, have all been with the Transcend 133x cards. To the best of my knowledge, no Transcend 16GB 300x cards have been harmed. The Transcend 16 GB 300x card is a different design, using a different controller chip. This card may have overvoltage protection while the 133x card appears to not have overvoltage protection. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

August 17th, 2009, 07:25 AM	#20
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Stuart, Your Transcend cards have a lifetime warranty. It would be faster and cheaper if you contact Transcend directly and ask for replacements. We will be happy to support you if you send them to us, but it will take longer. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

November 12th, 2009, 04:07 AM	#22
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Lance, We appreciate your report and your experience with Snow Leopard. The real test would be with the original Transcend 32 GB 133x cards. If we could survive 100 transfers and ejects with these original cards, which do not have overvoltage protection, it would be just great. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

November 12th, 2009, 10:23 AM	#24
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	So far I have not had a problem with my Transcend cards which been in and out of various macs many times over the last few months. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

January 16th, 2010, 06:03 PM	#26
Dean Harrington Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Tokyo Posts: 898	transcend 32g cards ... I have been using transcend 32g 133x cards in a kensington 7-1 reader USB in Snow Leopard for the last few months and have had no problems. I use drag and pull to trash.

August 12th, 2009, 04:40 PM	#17
Greg Laves Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Corpus Christi, TX Posts: 640	I have noticed that the Macs loaded extra files onto my CF cards, which I deleted immediately. They were files named "trashes" if I remember correctly. But I am glad to hear that I probably didn't do any permanent damage to my Transcend cards. Thanks.

August 17th, 2009, 07:05 AM	#19
Stuart Nicholls New Boot Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Hertfordshire, UK Posts: 12	Well I have tried my "dead" cards in everything now from MACS to Linux and still now joy. The cards don't even show up in the Diskutility. Dan, if its ok I might just send you one of the cards to have a look at. Just so you have another example to play with really. They are of now use to me now :(

November 12th, 2009, 03:12 AM	#21
Lance Librandi Major Player Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: South Australia Posts: 374	Hello Dan, I have a pair of Sandisk Extreme IV 16GB CF cards that I use solely for testing. After down loading my vision I have been using the Apple eject option with Snow Leopard and the cards have not failed after 50 insertions. Much as I have other issues with the OS it has not damaged cards and by the end of December I should reach 100 insertions keep you posted.

November 12th, 2009, 08:30 AM	#23
Lance Librandi Major Player Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: South Australia Posts: 374	Sorry Dan I do not own any if Transcend cards but if they want to send one down I try it.

January 13th, 2010, 04:22 PM	#25
Bill Pryor Contributor Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 4,449	I have a 16gig Transcend 133x, Mac with Snow Leopard (recently installed) and have also had absolutely no problems. I eject in the normal fashion.

January 16th, 2010, 08:54 PM	#27
Lance Librandi Major Player Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: South Australia Posts: 374	In early December last year Apple sent a large auto update to my system for Snow Leopard on the Mac Pro 8 core. Most of the problems that I was experiencing have now disappeared FCP is now as stable now as it was on OS 10.5. I have not had any problems with ejecting CF cards but I only use Sandisk and Photofast, my renders in Compressor have also improved with all 8 cores now working at about 60-70 percent.

January 29th, 2010, 10:25 AM	#28
Andrew Stone Major Player Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 975	Would like to know if there have been any reported issues with other CF cards being corrupted upon eject from Leopard (OS 10.5.x). I have a nanoFlash arriving today and am a bit leary of hosing the Delkin 64GB cards I have. I do plan on using a Nexto DI (cheaper one) for transfer & backup along with the Firewire 800 CF card reader for direct transfer to my Mac Pro. Reported experiences and suggestions appreciated. -Andrew

January 29th, 2010, 10:50 AM	#29
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Andrew, We do not expect any problems with the Delkin CompactFlash cards. They build a very high-quality card. There is, however, a way to be proactive to minimize the electrical stress on any CompactFlash card. After transferring your files, wait until the transfer is complete, then just manually remove the card. Do not use the Eject Command in the Finder, nor drag and drop the CompactFlash card reader icon to the trash can. You will get an error message that you can ignore. The above procedure prevents Leopard from taking any action which could harm the card. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

February 11th, 2010, 02:07 AM	#30
Mark Joseph Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: ACT Australia Posts: 148	I just received an "error A:19:91" on a 16GB Transcend 133x card. This is after months of no problems under OSX 10.5.7 Leopard since July 2009. I always use the eject command before removing CF from Mac. Couple days ago we updated to 10.6.2. I can't be sure, but the card may have been inserted under 10.6.2 so the problem seems to have only surfaced for me under Snow Leopard.