HPX250: Alternative app to transfer P2 in the field w/ MD5 file verification

L

lonewolf2koc@hotmail.com

Well-known member
The P2 CMS for Windows allows two destination for file transfer. Unfortunately, there's NO file verification.
At least it allows for two different locations that I always use. The Mac version unfortunately doesn't have it.

Shot Put Pro for Mac modifies all time stamps to the current transfer. Not good for archive. If you want to cloak
your shoot date for other producer, this is a great app. But for those who needs unmodified time stamp for archive,
it is a huge problem. This is especially with proxy files. I need the shoot date to be the same on the file and not weeks later.

I have instances where there's small corruption in the footage. There are situation where I have to transfer footage
while driving from one location to another. Perhaps the shock affects the USB cables & SATA hd and may compromise data integrity.
There are also instances where in extreme desert heat condition that I must offload P2 cards to shoot another.

Does anybody know of a 3rd party file transfer app (PC or Mac) that offers CRC file verification during xfer, fast to offload,
and DOES NOT modify the original P2 file timestamp?
 
I'm not a Mac user, but doesn't Disk Utility allow to create a disk image (DIMG) file from the P2 cards? You can mount the DIMG files, and they have integrity checks.
 
Ah. Never thought of a DIMG. But my application for offloading can get extemely busy at times.
I have 4-8 P2 cameras rolling and need something super fast and error proof. Shot Put Pro allows easy offloading.
Example: I can just put ine P2 card and it will copy by itself (there are options in the app). This saves a lot valuable
time making new folder on different drives. I can also offload while driving onto regular 1 Tb SATA 2.5" drives and not worry
about data corruption whether the road is smooth or rough. MD5 crc and auto format P2 cards just make it so efficient.

After careful consultation w/ the Shot Put Pro folks, their latest 4.1.4 for Mac does preserve the feature.
I think I'm the one who requested a while back. However, their latest Windows version will not preserve
the original time stamp. This is too bad because I use a cheap $200 PC netbook on the field majority the time.
I can abuse it and not worry about it much vs. the Mac. Already requested this for Windows. Hopefully soon it will
be available.
 
I use ChronoSync anymore and it it has verification.
Used to use Shotput but it stalls on me now so half the time I have to restart the computer to get it going. with ChronoSync, never had a problem plus it has verify
 
ChronoSync is just too slow for offloading in the field. I use it in the non-field environment. 64 Gb of P2 data via ChronoSync and verification on took about 2.5-3x the normal time when copying to 2 targets directly from the P2 card. From the ext FW800 hd, it's faster. Nevertheless, it's much slower than Shot Put Pro. Don't have stalling problem w/ Shot Put Pro. However, it's better than having to randomly verify all the P2 cards.

After couple of data corruption incidents, it's vitally important to fully verify P2 data transfer cycle whether it's the field or at the studio. This means that when the P2 is offload to an ext HD and CRC is all OK, it doesn't mean that copying that to the final archive HD (RAID, ext. 3.5" SATA) will be safe. User must also use CRC in that final process. Data corruption can happen anytime, anywhere. It has no mercy on old or new system. Learned the hard way. OSX Finder or Windows Explorer are not 100% error free as one would expect.
 
I guess I'm just lucky that I have enough cards to not have to worry about offloading speed.
I shoot until the light is bad, offload then I'm off until the light is good again. :)
 
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