Mac Users: Stop Deleting The Contents Directory

Yeah I am geeked to be tapeless. I have the camera, I just want to know how to use it properly and edit it before I spend thousands more on improved editing equipment over what I have now.
 
Barry_Green said:
This is, IINM, why the current version of P2 Genie's erasing of cards can't be used anymore either. They'll have to update P2 Genie to erase all the files within the directories, while keeping the directory structure extant. Until they do that, don't use P2 Genie's "erase" feature with a current-firmware camera.
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Unfortunately it's not that simple. It seems like there's a bit more to it.

Please see: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=1062123&postcount=9
 
Hey Barry,

I just realized that the P2 write-protect must be taken off to allow P2CMS to delete the files.

Is that more stable now on the Mac?
 
I don't know -- it seemed to be a low-level OS thing, and nobody's reported it being fixed that I know of, so I wouldn't trust it -- I'd still write-protect the cards until the footage is off them or you're done using them, at which point you'd eject 'em, un-protect them, and then erase them.
 
oh man, i need to read up more on the p2 cards. if i understand you correctly barry: you write protect them while inputing the files into the mac, then unprotect them once the info is copied over and then delete the files on the card using p2cms. is that correct, or is my simple brain not getting it? lol
 
Has anyone tested to see if keeping the correct directory structure intact and simply deleting the files themselves will work? My cameras are still on older firmware revisions, and I don't want to upgrade until I'm sure I'm not going to totally kill my workflow -- since I can't use the P2 Viewer in Linux, I have no way of formatting the cards "properly" aside from inside the camera itself. That would basically leave me totally unable to do continuous recording. Not fun.
 
So, if I understand correctly, If I'm using a PC laptop and offloading to an external HD, I can still use P2 Genie to erase the cards? Then I can take that HD and edit on my Mac?


thanks in advance!

JP
 
agfilmmaker said:
oh man, i need to read up more on the p2 cards. if i understand you correctly barry: you write protect them while inputing the files into the mac, then unprotect them once the info is copied over and then delete the files on the card using p2cms. is that correct, or is my simple brain not getting it? lol
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That's what I'd tell a Mac user to do, yes. Unless they could just format the cards in-camera, which would seem to be more convenient for any purpose other than hot-swap recording.
 
jpsheets said:
So, if I understand correctly, If I'm using a PC laptop and offloading to an external HD, I can still use P2 Genie to erase the cards? Then I can take that HD and edit on my Mac?
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I think Tony Lorenzo has posted that the PC version is similarly affected?

Question for anyone who wants to try it: how about freshly formatting a card, and then copying the new directory structure onto the Mac as sort of a 'blank master'. Then, after offloading your cards, you could try deleting everything off the card and copying the 'blank master' directories back onto the card. Would that work? Don't know, but might be worth a try.
 
Barry_Green said:
I think Tony Lorenzo has posted that the PC version is similarly affected?

Question for anyone who wants to try it: how about freshly formatting a card, and then copying the new directory structure onto the Mac as sort of a 'blank master'. Then, after offloading your cards, you could try deleting everything off the card and copying the 'blank master' directories back onto the card. Would that work? Don't know, but might be worth a try.
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I tried that on PC and it doesn't work. It seems like the P2 driver "flags" the P2 card as "dirty" once a file is deleted manually on the card. I'm currently looking into using the Panasonic drivers to format the card from within P2 Genie.
 
wondering if this has been fixed or people have come across work a-rounds. i have not seen any news either from panny. i might have overlooked, if so, please post updates. thanks!
 
Barry_Green said:
That's what I'd tell a Mac user to do, yes. Unless they could just format the cards in-camera, which would seem to be more convenient for any purpose other than hot-swap recording.
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Anyone have an estimate on the time it takes for an in-camera format of a 16GB P2 card? I was observing a shoot last week and one of the AC's was complaining about the time it took - is it really long?
 
It only takes a couple of seconds to format my 4gb cards, so I couldn't imagine 16gb ones taking too long. My guess is that they just don't like having to switch the camera into MCR mode, and then back again. Which is pretty annoying.
 
hey
just a stupid question .....
is it possible to activate the write-protect switch while the card is still in the camera or should i eject the card first?

and for P2CMS on mac, do I have to connect my HVX with USB or firewire?
 
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I did some testing regarding this issue in general.

First, my setup: HVX200 with 16gb P2 card, updated to the latest firmware as of today. Connected via USB Device mode to my PC running Ubuntu GNU/Linux.

First, I shot a ten second clip, and connected it via USB. Ubuntu mounted it as a removable disk drive (as expected), and I was able to offload the CONTENTS folder and the lastclip.txt file. The default permissions the camera provides to the folders is "access only", so I had to change the permissions in order to delete everything on the card.

After I deleted everything on the card, I went through each folder in the CONTENTS directory I had copied to my PC, and deleted all of the files that were created when I made that 10 second clip. Then I copied the empty folders back to the card, making sure to restore the original permissions to "access only."

I then disconnected the camera from the PC, and started it up. After a few seconds, I got a "DIR ENTRY NG CARD" error, but the card was still recognized. I was then able to record to the card, but once I stopped recording, I again got the "DIR ENTRY NG CARD" error. I recorded another short clip, and then switched to MCR mode.

Once in MCR mode, I also got the "DIR ENTRY NG CARD" error. I was able to play back the clips however, though again getting that error once playback was complete.

I hooked up the camera to the PC again, and looked at the files inside of the CONTENTS directory and the contents of lastclip.txt. Everything was as it should be, names and all.

After disconnecting the camera and formatting the card in MCR mode, the errors went away and everything was back to normal.

So it would seem that there is in fact something besides the file structure that the camera senses. But in my case, it can't be a driver marking the card "dirty" as Ubuntu isn't using any P2 driver -- it thinks the card is just a big flash drive. And the fact that I was still able to use the card is even stranger.

I'm going to do some more testing when I get a chance to see if I can't narrow this down.
 
In addition to the empty directories, did you place a LASTCLIP.TXT file back onto the card, and if so, what did it contain?
 
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