Ahhhhhhhhhhhh Firestore

X

Xax

Active member
************ firestore

we are using it on a feature at the moment, went on for 3 weeks without a problem, last night we shot a really complicated shot, and we got the best take ever (no cars in sound and no birds, actors were best and everything...)

we unplugged the firestore as usual, the 1st ac presses "organize p2" and it does it for a second, the next second everything on the firestore is GONE

we lost a complete SCENE with the best take which is not reproduceable.

we did nothing wrong with the firestore, used the same workflow as in all of the 3 weeks. and it just deleted all of our files.

i am NOT recommending firestore, it's just crap if it's not reliable. it's just not useful if oyu have to check after every take it it's having one of it's small problems or not.

what if i shoot a stunt scene with a car that explodes and the firestore just deletes my stuff?

i just cant believe it, i am VERY VERY upset at the moment.

i am also running data recovery software, but don't think that i can squeeze anything out again.

anybody had the same experience?
 
Bummer. I was going to get one of these at one point, but there are too many horror stories. Then again, you generally only hear the negative.
 
I have never had that problem with the firestore. But I suppose if you are shooting in the new native mode that has just recently become available to the firestore, there still could be some glitches in it. I would shoot in regular 24p mode, since it's reliable as hell.
 
man, that sucks.

After a long day of shooting, I grabbed my firestore to run the 'organize p2' function... in my tired state, I almost ran the format function instead... but I caught myself. They are next to each other on the menu... now I'm much more careful, but I'm looking forward to the release of the bigger P2 cards so I can bypass the firestore altogether.
 
For our bigger budget stuff we always have at least 2 recording methods in play.

Firestore and tape in the camera (accidents do happen).

Sorry for your loss, that really sucks. :(
 
Not to be the bad guy here -- and don't bite my head off, I'm only trying to help -- but is it possible that your AC hit the Reformat function instead of Organize? They're both in the Utlities menu, and just one item apart if I remember correctly. It's actually a relatively easy mental or hand-eye error -- and completely and utterly NOT undo-able. I REALLY REALLY wish Focus would separate the ORGANIZE and FORMAT functions into completely different menu headings.......

Best of luck to you.
 
Take_1 said:
For our bigger budget stuff we always have at least 2 recording methods in play.

Firestore and tape in the camera (accidents do happen).
Click to expand...
The problem with that is that it restricts you to SD, you can't record to tape and output a HD stream for the FS-100 at the same time.
 
That format utility happens way too fast. there is no way it can really go through the whole drive and format every byte. I'd contact Focus first before doing anything to that drive. Rent another FS100 or a P2 card and see if the P2 workflow works for you. Prices are dropping soon.
But You should be able to recover the files. at least most of them.
 
i gotta tell ya. ive heard way - WAY too many issues with the firestore. some folks swear buy them but i just dont trust that wiggly little 4pin fw connector.

gimme a stack of p2 cards ANY DAY! confidence, to me. is well worth the price
 
someday soon, the 32gig P2 cards will only be $300. When they do that, I will buy them and use them with pleasure. But I've had no problems with the firestore that people haven't had with the p2 cards, and I don't need an extra AC to download cards every half hour.
 
wgzn,
I know what you mean about the 4pin FW connection. (man I hope panasonic reads these forums and realizez that this is such a weak link on the camera)
But that's why I made these. They seem to work good for me. Let me know if you want to buy one.
http://fws01.silo23.com/

Sorry about the shameless plug, but I thought it was pertinent to the discussion.
 
Panasonic does read these forums, and for a cam that utilizes firewire so much, why or why choose a flimsy 4-pin connector?

And then why place is the manner that it did?

Protruding out from the cam in a position where are hands are constantly moving.
 
I think it's to make you buy the P2 cards. They don't want you to buy the firestore, because they sell memory cards! Otherwise, somebody in the design department would have thought that one through a little better.
 
Sorry, doesn't work that way -- Panasonic is the one who sells the FireStore. It was designed in partnership with Focus, but Panasonic is the one who sells it.
 
If that's the case, then their 'partnership' must not have included a focus group. Any filmmaker looking at the firestore set up on an HVX can tell you without shooting it, that it's a piss-poor set up.
 
"But that's why I made these. They seem to work good for me. Let me know if you want to buy one.
http://fws01.silo23.com/"

Just ordered one, so your shameless plug worked! Looks like it will help!
 
Hey Skywalker,
I'll look for the email and probably mail it today. You can also ask user "BenB" who purchase one also and was surprised of how sturdy it made the connection.
Thanks,
Luis
 
damn.

ill buy one of those as soon as i would shoot with a firestore again.

but that will not happen so soon i think

next shoot, p2 cards :)

we tried to get back some data, but unfortunately due to a low budget production we panicked and reshot 3-4 takes, which destroyed any repareability of the data.

next time we know better, use p2 cards meanwhile and then will try to get back the data.
 
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