HELP! P2 card full, but it shows up empty!

alpi69

alpi69

Veteran
One of our cameras ha a breakdown today due to snow/water around it.
So we turned off the cam.
Back in the office when tried to copy the contents of the P2-card the camera suddenly asked to be switched off.

The P2 card (a GB card) is 91% full says Panasonic P2CMS, also in camera it only gives me about 1 minute of recroding time. BUT there are no clips. In explorer the P2-filestructure is full of weird names. e.g the Video-folder is called "V DEO" etc. Some of the directories have wird sings in their names.

So during accessing the P2 content the filestream brke, but how can the card be "damaged by this"? and is there a way to get the files back?? HELP!
 
I'm guessing you have two separate problems, a card that has been damaged by water, and possibly corrupt card contents because of the damaged card.

I would try to dry out the card carefully and quickly, and see if the card returns to normal. It may be that some circuits in the card are shorted and that it is misbehaving as a result of that.

Pack the card into an airtight container along with a dessicant like silica gel, and raise the temperature inside the container to help any condensed moisture evaporate. I'm not talking about high heat, just something fairly warm like 30c. Give it a few hours and then try to read the card contents again.
 
I've had similar problems before. P2 cards that supposidly have clips on them that show up empty. In that past we've scratched our heads and formatted them anyways.

On the last show I did, one of the cards which was supposed to be shot, had no clips. I checked with the DP and he couldnt remember so I tried to format - but it wouldnt let me. So I wrapped the card up and put it away for safe keeping. At the end of the show when we popped it into the camera all the clips showed up.

I can't really advise on what else to do other than just keep trying and don't give up.
 
For the first time this happened to us today. We were using our PC and the Dual Adapter. My PA simply unplugged the Dual Adapter, plugged it in and the card came up with all the files.
In hundreds of card swaps this is the first time we saw this and for now I'm considering it just a fluke. Computers just some times have a brain fart as do people. :)
 
"on the heating" - sure hope you dont mean you are heating it up since it was cold...that will cause condensation on the inside of the camera, and make things worst. best thing when a camera gets to hot or too cold is to put it in a room-temperature cardboard box, in a room, and put those silica gel packs inside the box, this will absorb any moisture away from the camera, the cardboard box acts as a surrogate for any moisture too.

-connor
 
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