Losing data on card when ingesting

[Mike Theiler]

I am using PM 4.6.3, no problems last couple years on PC with Windows 7 and Intel processor. 

Have had two incidents in last few days of losing all data on flashcard when ingesting. 

First instance, when I hit control G, PM was not responding, and I had to go to task manager and close. When I re-booted, the card was not recognized and all the data was lost. When I put the card back in the camera, it said the card had to be formatted.

I thought the problem was just a card gone bad.

Ingesting worked OK next couple days with other cards, but then a second instance happened on a fourth day, the ingest started OK, but after doing another task and returning, there were errors posted in the box on ingesting and once again all photos were lost, PM didn't recognize the card in the cardreader, and when putting the card back in the camera, a notice that card needed to be formatted.

Thoughts ?
Mike Theiler

[Kirk Baker]

Mike,

I am using PM 4.6.3, no problems last couple years on PC with Windows 7 and Intel processor. 

Have had two incidents in last few days of losing all data on flashcard when ingesting. 

First instance, when I hit control G, PM was not responding, and I had to go to task manager and close. When I re-booted, the card was not recognized and all the data was lost. When I put the card back in the camera, it said the card had to be formatted.

I thought the problem was just a card gone bad.

Ingesting worked OK next couple days with other cards, but then a second instance happened on a fourth day, the ingest started OK, but after doing another task and returning, there were errors posted in the box on ingesting and once again all photos were lost, PM didn't recognize the card in the cardreader, and when putting the card back in the camera, a notice that card needed to be formatted.

It is unlikely that PM is causing the problem since it mostly just reads from the card.  The only file PM puts on a card is for the Incremental Ingest feature and it is a very tiny file.  Are you editing on the card before you do your Ingest?  If so, do not do that!  We never suggest that people edit on the card under any circumstances.

In your earlier example, where PM had to be terminated, PM wasn't writing to the card, it would have at that point been scanning the card and couldn't have caused any damage.

How old are the cards?  They do have a limited life cycle.
Are you always waiting for writes to complete on your cards before you pull them out of the camera or turn off the camera?

I suggest at this point not using PM to download your photos (at least until you figure out the cause of the issue) and just use Windows Explorer to drag/drop copy the photos.  If the problem persists, then the fault lies outside of my area of expertise.

Also, please get version 4.6.7 of Photo Mechanic since your version is very old.

HTH,

-Kirk

[Mike Theiler]

hi Kirk --

I will try to update to 4.6.7 soonest.

In the meantime, I will answer your queries:
---   I am not editing on the card before I ingest.
---   Cards are about 3 years old. Seems very coincidental that two different cards would fail within 3 days of each other ?
---   Yes, I always wait for cards to write before pulling them.

Earlier today when I launched PM, I got the usual update query. When I clicked on the update, I got a message saying that I could not update because PM was running.  How do I update when PM has to be open to initiate the request ?

Thx !
Mike

[Kirk Baker]

Mike,

I will try to update to 4.6.7 soonest.

In the meantime, I will answer your queries:
---   I am not editing on the card before I ingest.
---   Cards are about 3 years old. Seems very coincidental that two different cards would fail within 3 days of each other ?
---   Yes, I always wait for cards to write before pulling them.

Earlier today when I launched PM, I got the usual update query. When I clicked on the update, I got a message saying that I could not update because PM was running.  How do I update when PM has to be open to initiate the request ?

It doesn't need to be running.  Quit PM before you run the Installer after you have downloaded it.

-Kirk

[Mike Theiler]

Kirk -- yes, I was able to update to 4.6.7 no problem, just before you answered. Did 3-4 tests and no issues, I re-formatted the same cards that I had a problem with and they ingested just fine. 

Just to be on safe side, I will take your advice and download card images to a thumb drive or on the desktop before ingesting for a while. 

Asking again, since cards are 3 years old, don't you think it's very coincidental that they would both fail within 3 days of each other ?

Best,
Mike

[Kirk Baker]

Mike,

Kirk -- yes, I was able to update to 4.6.7 no problem, just before you answered. Did 3-4 tests and no issues, I re-formatted the same cards that I had a problem with and they ingested just fine. 

Just to be on safe side, I will take your advice and download card images to a thumb drive or on the desktop before ingesting for a while. 

Asking again, since cards are 3 years old, don't you think it's very coincidental that they would both fail within 3 days of each other ?

In my opinion, yes.

You are formatting from within the camera, correct?  And you re-format the cards each time you start shooting with a card, right?  Formatting via your computer is a bad idea.  Let the camera do it.

-Kirk

[Mike Theiler]

yes, ALWAYS re-formatting in the camera and ALWAYS with each new assignment.

Mike

[Mike Theiler]

Kirk --

On the latest version, I noticed that when my card is inserted in the cardreader, the task ingest window opens automatically, is this a new feature ?

As I mentioned, one problem I had previously is that when I typed Control G, the window didn't open, and I just got a spinning wheel *not responding*.

Mike

[Kirk Baker]

Mike,

On the latest version, I noticed that when my card is inserted in the cardreader, the task ingest window opens automatically, is this a new feature ?

As I mentioned, one problem I had previously is that when I typed Control G, the window didn't open, and I just got a spinning wheel *not responding*.

It's an old feature that stopped working in one of the releases.

-Kirk