HELP!! Footage Lost with MxM Card

D

dnwatson

New member
So here's what happened. I had the MxM card with Sandisk Ultra !! 16GB SDHC (class 4)
in the camera. I had recorded on almost the entire card and was still in the middle of recording when suddenly the camera brings up an error message that says:

Unknown Media
Please Change

It doesn't give me any other option except take the media out of the camera. Doesn't say reformat or rebuild or anything like that. It also does not mount on my MacBook Pro anymore.

So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Right now I've lost almost an hour of footage for a documentary, so it can't just be reshot.
I'm also headed out of the country in less then 2 weeks to shoot more, so I need to know if this is an issue before I leave. I definitely can't afford to lose that footage.

thanks,
David
 
Try reseating the SD card in the media and putting it back in the camera.

i.e: Take the adaptor and card out of the camera, remove the SD card, put the SD card back in and put the combo back in the camera.

Hopefully you will only be asked to 'restore media', which you will do as it cleans up the end of the last clip.

Otherwise, put the SD card onto a computer and see if you can copy the contents off. If you can, worst case, copy the contents to a HDD and put it on another SD card an do the above.

OR, use clip browser to 'import' all the individual mp4 files into a new folder. It may fail on the very last one though.
 
Thanks Guy for your response.

But, That's one of the first things I tried. I even tried to get it to mount using a different MxM adapter. No Luck. All I get is an Unknown Media Error - Please remove card!

Also, my computer won't mount the SD card right now.

David
 
you can try to use the SDHC card with MxM adapter with USB Express 34 reader to see if the computer can see the card.

At the same time ... what did you get the SDHC card from ? Was it in retail package or bulk ?
 
I don't have a USB Express 34 reader, but if I can find one, I'll try that.

Also, the SDHC cards came from Amazon in the retail package, not bulk.
I've been using them for several weeks without problem until now.

I have tried another SDHC card in the MxM and it works fine, so I don't think it's the MxM adaptor.
 
seems the ultra IIs are somewhat unreliable. I have 2, I hope they don't crap out. so far the
transcends have been perfect. I have had an SDHC express card adapter go bad though.
 
Sandisk Ultra II Class 2/4 cards are not reliable?

This thread is scary :embarasse

How many reports like this one appeared?
 
I'm planing on shooting a wedding in August.. (I told myself I'd never shoot weddings.. but it's a favor!) I have two 8 gig SxS and 2 16gig MxM.

I can not afford SxS & this isn't the first story I've heard about the cards crapping out. It has always been when people either fill up a card or get very close to filling up a card.
 
I use the Sandisk ULTRA II 16 GB cards (both class 2/4) with the Kensington readers and I shoot events for 3 hours straight or more all the time, completely filling up the cards and then switching out units. I have to date not had any lost footage or had any real errors (knocks on wood ;) That being said, obviously you take the risk with sdhc cards but also with sxs as well as they will sometimes give you errors or run into problems.

I shoot with the KxS solution all the time and have not had any problems thus far worth noting. Bad luck happens, but for the most part I think they are fairily reliable, if you can afford to shoot on sxs and have an important shoot to be safe you may want to.

Good luck,
R
 
David,
a quick question: did you use battery or AC adapter at that time ?
Any interrupt of video at that time ?
 
Last weekend I filled one 8gb SxS and three 16gb SanDisks Ultra II with MxR or MxM, I don't know wich one I have, the one from Australia that then closed the business...

The SanDisks gave me NO trouble, but when downloading material to a MacBook I disconnected the USB before turning off the camera and the LCD went crazy and then said Media Error, Restore?, with the SxS slot, not the SanDisk. Luckily I had already downloaded the material, so I didn't get nervous. But when I restored everything was apparently there, I didn't check the clips from the camera.

----

Once I had trouble when switching slots, you know, when your clip is XXX_1 and XXX_2... the second one started recorded one second later instead of instantly. But this happened to me only that one time.

Good luck for all of us :D
 
Iudex said:
Last weekend I filled one 8gb SxS and three 16gb SanDisks Ultra II with MxR or MxM, I don't know wich one I have, the one from Australia that then closed the business...
Click to expand...

MxM sells direct to users everywhere and wholesale to Hoodman who distribute to US/Canada resellers, MxR sell direct everywhere except locally (Australia) where they resell though VideoGuys (different to the VideoGuys in the US) who try to sell at neally twice the price the MxM sell the same product for locally.

Therefore, the only sane choice in Australia is to buy MxM.
If you are buying from overseas then MxR are the cheapest(only by AU$3 though)
 
Hi There !

Hey I got the exact same problem with a MxR adapter and a scan disk ultraII class4.

I shot onit without any problems and then the camera was showing " unknown media - Please change".

I've been lucky, i was just shooting some B-roll, the card wasn't even full but it is very embarrassing.

Anybody had a solution to recover the footage on the card ? The card would not mount on my mac and on my PC i can see the card but i can't access it...

Cheers
 
If you can not access to any directory then you can not use any recovery software out there to recover the files. It happened to me before and I found someone who opened the card and recover the files, but it was expensive.
(not all files can be useable, but most of them).

Did you check each card before the shooting ? (the failure rate on Ultra II was very high 7 failed out of 20 cards - It did not fail on me the first time)

=========
krick said:
Hi There !

Hey I got the exact same problem with a MxR adapter and a scan disk ultraII class4.

I shot onit without any problems and then the camera was showing " unknown media - Please change".

I've been lucky, i was just shooting some B-roll, the card wasn't even full but it is very embarrassing.

Anybody had a solution to recover the footage on the card ? The card would not mount on my mac and on my PC i can see the card but i can't access it...

Cheers
Click to expand...
 
yuppppppppppppppp- story old as time.

happened to me with the MxM also. Don't even remember what SD card I was using, because I stopped using them. way to many problems. that footage is as good as lost. sorry man. (I ended up just going more into debt and bought a 16 SxS.)
 
The thing to do would be find out what recovery software the Pro's use to recover these files.

If Video is the business your in then I think having the best recovery software would give you great peace of mind.

I mean instead of buying SxS you could invest that money.
 
I have a question for the guys that have had problems with the MxM & MxR systems. Did the problems occurred with new SD cards? or with cards that you had already completely filled up and emptied successfully several times?. Was it a case of "factory defective" or was it a random error?. Is there any precaution or counter measure you could suggest for us that are forced to shoot MxM (besides: don't shoot MxM, such as: make a few test "fill-up and empty" cycles before marking an SD card as reliable???)
 
Recovering files from corrupt SD Sony EX1 EX3

Recovering files from corrupt SD Sony EX1 EX3

I too had a critical crash shooting a tv pilot and it was underwater nonetheless. Totally not reshootable.

I worked for weeks and weeks at the solution. Digging up my old roots and former bitnibbler days and floppy disk copy protection work-a-round techniques, I think I've developed what I think is a relatively reliable way of getting back almost all files. I've even been able to rebuild the bpav folder on a few occasion so everything read just fine in clip browser and the camera. But at the least I got the mp4s back. Usually, the clip being shot during the crash was only partially recovered.

I need more samples to try out my techniques on. If you have a corrupt sd card shot on an ex1 or ex3, and have exhausted all other software options or cant afford the clean room services, please contact me. I'm not charging YET. I want to prove my techniques will work consistently. If I can help you get your files back, I may ask for recommendations and a review later.

Whatever you do, dont write on the card again. Throw on the write protect tab. My technique does not write to the card, I just read from it. I end up using another card to test my recoveries with.

I am a new user on this forum but you can search my user name all over the web. I'm legit and besides, at this point, what do you have to lose?

I'm serious...I need some more corrupt cards for testing and free recovery for you.

Mark
 
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