File corruption on ingest

[drjay32]

I have intermittent file corruption when ingesting CF cards (Nikon D2X).  When I opened my NEF directly from the card, the file was fine.  I re-ingested two more times and the file was intact. 

I'm using a SanDisk Extreme III 4GB card and a SanDisk USB 2.0 reader, PM version 4.4.3.1 on a G5 PowerMac with OSX 10.4.7

Thanks.
-Jason

[Kirk Baker]

Jason,

I have intermittent file corruption when ingesting CF cards (Nikon D2X).  When I opened my NEF directly from the card, the file was fine.  I re-ingested two more times and the file was intact. 

I'm using a SanDisk Extreme III 4GB card and a SanDisk USB 2.0 reader, PM version 4.4.3.1 on a G5 PowerMac with OSX 10.4.7

The number one thing we see with Mac OS X and card readers is that unless you "properly" unmount a card before ejecting and inserting another card is that Mac OS X will think that the first card never left the reader.  What the OS does then is report to us the first card's file system and even some of its data.  Not a good thing and there is no way for us to tell the difference since we must rely on the OS for filesystem information.

It turns out that the very safest thing to do is pull the USB (or firewire) cable out of the computer, eject the card, insert the next card, and then plug in the reader again.

Having said that, were you ingesting one card after another?

When you say you have file corruption, in what way are the files corrupted?  Do no apps recognize the NEF files? 

Were any errors reported in the Ingest progress window?

-Kirk

[drjay32]

I have PM set to unmount the disk after ingest.

This was a single upload.  What happened was the NEF became distorted and unreadable by my Nikon Software-- A partial preview was generated in PM. 

No errors were reported after ingest.

[Kirk Baker]

I have PM set to unmount the disk after ingest.

This was a single upload.  What happened was the NEF became distorted and unreadable by my Nikon Software-- A partial preview was generated in PM. 

No errors were reported after ingest.

Do you happen to have copies of the corrupted files, along with their corresponding intact files?  Could you upload them to our server?  (Contact me privately for upload information).

Could you post a screenshot of your Ingest dialog?  (Use the Additional Options... link when posting your response.)

Thanks,

-Kirk

[doug3505]

I have been having the same problem. I am using an S3 and several different cards. It happens with all of them. Lexar 2GB 133x CF, San Disk UltraII 1.0GB and Olympus H XD 1GB. I think it may have began when I inserted both a CF and a XD card into the camera at the same time. The cards have been formated correctly on the camera. The images download with the correct image number and file .RAF but there is no image. I have been able to use Rescue software to reover the images but this is becoming a big issue. Normally I have Photo Mechanic unmount the cards and format them in the camera. Please advise.

[Kirk Baker]

I have been having the same problem. I am using an S3 and several different cards. It happens with all of them. Lexar 2GB 133x CF, San Disk UltraII 1.0GB and Olympus H XD 1GB. I think it may have began when I inserted both a CF and a XD card into the camera at the same time. The cards have been formated correctly on the camera. The images download with the correct image number and file .RAF but there is no image. I have been able to use Rescue software to reover the images but this is becoming a big issue. Normally I have Photo Mechanic unmount the cards and format them in the camera. Please advise.

What OS are you running?  What reader are you using?  What size are the RAF files when ingested to your hard drive, and how does this size compare to the size you see when looking at the card with the OS (Finder or Windows Explorer)?

-Kirk

[doug3505]

What OS are you running?  Mac Dual 2.7 G5.
What reader are you using?  I am using a Lexar Firewire external CF card reader.
What size are the RAF files when ingested to your hard drive 12MB

How does this size compare to the size you see when looking at the card with the OS (Finder or Windows Explorer)? Same


Below is the email I just sent to Fuji about the issue.

Dennis and Brandon

He is not being too specific. I am not sure what he means by they download but there is no image.

I am on a Mac Dual 2.7 G5. I am using a Lexar Firewire external CF card reader.

Are the files blank? They download but are blank. I can use Photorescue to recover the files.

Does he have a sample? Attached

Does this happen in the Fuji software also? I have never used the Fuji software to download.

Has he tried another computer to see if he has the same problem? No
(This would help narrow if it's a computer or camera issue)

Also, when they record to the card, do they appear in playback mode? Yes the images are there on the camera but not when downloaded.
 
Is he getting read errors? Yes I am getting read errors in photo mechanic

If he can provide answers to the questions above, it would help me determine what the problem may be. Other then with the S2 with a bad CCD, never heard of the S3 taking or downloading blank files.

Let me know if I can be of any more help. I have all of the images off the cards now with the Photorescue software but I don’t want this to continue to be an issue in the future.

Thanks

Doug
-Kirk

[Kirk Baker]

Doug,

What OS are you running?  Mac Dual 2.7 G5.

That tells me what kind of computer you are running.  I want to know what OS and version you are running?

What reader are you using?  I am using a Lexar Firewire external CF card reader.
What size are the RAF files when ingested to your hard drive 12MB

I want to know if they have the exact same number of bytes.  12MB doesn't tell me if a few thousand bytes are missing.

How does this size compare to the size you see when looking at the card with the OS (Finder or Windows Explorer)? Same

Are you certain you are looking at the byte size and not the rounded up MB size?

Below is the email I just sent to Fuji about the issue.

Dennis and Brandon

He is not being too specific. I am not sure what he means by they download but there is no image.

I am on a Mac Dual 2.7 G5. I am using a Lexar Firewire external CF card reader.

Are the files blank? They download but are blank. I can use Photorescue to recover the files.

Does he have a sample? Attached

Does this happen in the Fuji software also? I have never used the Fuji software to download.

Has he tried another computer to see if he has the same problem? No
(This would help narrow if it's a computer or camera issue)

Also, when they record to the card, do they appear in playback mode? Yes the images are there on the camera but not when downloaded.
 
Is he getting read errors? Yes I am getting read errors in photo mechanic

If you are getting read errors, then the format on the cards is likely bad.  Photo Mechanic uses the OS to read the files and if the OS returns errors, then there isn't much that Photo Mechanic can do about the situation.  Photo Mechanic's Ingest is not a sector-by-sector disk recovery too.

If he can provide answers to the questions above, it would help me determine what the problem may be. Other then with the S2 with a bad CCD, never heard of the S3 taking or downloading blank files.

Let me know if I can be of any more help. I have all of the images off the cards now with the Photorescue software but I don’t want this to continue to be an issue in the future.

What I would like for you to do is the following (as a test):

Unmount any cards currently mounted by using the Finder to drag the disks to the Trash (this will unmount them)
Remove the Lexar Firewire external CF card reader from your Mac.
Take the CF card and format it in your camera.
Shoot a couple of dozen random photos with the card in your camera.
Turn off the camera after it writes all photos.
Eject the CF card from the camera.
Plug in the Lexar reader into your Mac.  Wait 20 seconds.
Put the CF card back into the Lexar reader.
Ingest the card.

Does it work now without reporting errors?

-Kirk

[doug3505]

Yes. It works properly now.

Does it work now without reporting errors?

OS 10.4.7

12,582,912 bytes is the file size.

What I would like for you to do is the following (as a test):

Unmount any cards currently mounted by using the Finder to drag the disks to the Trash (this will unmount them)
Remove the Lexar Firewire external CF card reader from your Mac.
Take the CF card and format it in your camera.
Shoot a couple of dozen random photos with the card in your camera.
Turn off the camera after it writes all photos.
Eject the CF card from the camera.
Plug in the Lexar reader into your Mac.  Wait 20 seconds.
Put the CF card back into the Lexar reader.
Ingest the card.

Does it work now without reporting errors?

[Kirk Baker]

Doug,

Yes. It works properly now.

Does it work now without reporting errors?

OS 10.4.7

12,582,912 bytes is the file size.

OK, so what I'd expect is going on is somehow your cards were not being unmounted properly.  Mac OS X is very susceptible to problems when a card isn't unmounted properly.  In fact what happens is if you swap one card out (without unmounting properly) and put another card in, Mac OS X does not recognize the disk change and maintains the stale filesystem information from the first card.  This can result in all kinds of errors.

Removing the card reader by unplugging it corrects the problem.  So if you see this behavior again, then try unplugging and re-plugging the card reader into your Mac.  It should correct the problem.

HTH,

-Kirk