Bunch Casseday
Member
Has anyone else been using the Citidisk lately and been getting clips that are 0kb? (clips that should be 1.2gb). We lost a lot of important footage on a recent shoot. I had a bad feeling about this thing.
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Problems with Citidisk? Missing Clips? (zero kb!)
- Thread starter Bunch Casseday
- Start date
I continue to have a very bad feeling about CitiDisk HD. I'm really pulling for these people. I've met with them 2 years in a row at NAB but just am not seeing product that works effectively and reliably. I can understand how hard it is to bring a technology to market. Just look at all of the development that Spec Comm put into the Cineporter, only to pull the plug. While I feel your pain on the loss of the data, the only device I can honestly recommend at this point is the Firestore.
Ned Soltz
Ned Soltz
I had a CitiDisk HD 100 Gb loaner
I had a CitiDisk HD 100 Gb loaner
for a while.
In addition to the oft-criticized "arcane" combinations of light codes that indicate what the unit is doing, the biggest point of confusion I found was how to get the unit to record in the format I wanted it to record in, and how to tell what format it was recording in.
I'm reaching back into a foggy memory here, so this may not be 100% accurate. Take it for what it's worth...the proverbial 2 cents.
As I recall, the unit allows recording in a total of 6 formats: AVI, MOV, RAW, and something else, (which come available from the factory), along with 2 "user defined" formats, one of which was Matrox and the other I don't recall...maybe Edius? Those "User Defined" formats require an update by "flashing" the unit with software downloaded from Shining's site. (At least they did a few months back when I had the loaner).
My memory of this is a bit foggy, but before you erase/reformat the drive, read through the User Manual a few times about how to set the recording format and how to check/confirm what format it is actually recording in. (The unit requires you to set that format BEFORE you begin recording. If you don't set it, then it defaults to whatever format was used the last time the unit was used for recording). I often found myself looking for AVIs, when all the while the unit was set to record in MOV. Thus, my clips were sometimes there, but not in the format I was expecting.
Example: you have 2 shoots in 1 day.
For shoot # 1, the unit is set to record in MOV. You complete shoot # 1, then move on to shoot # 2.
You re-set the unit to record shoot # 2 in AVI.
(This is the part I'm not sure about, so read the User Manual carefully. Mine was written in a manner that was hard to follow; your's may be, too):
If, after shoot # 2, you connect the unit to a computer to copy your clips to a hard drive, you MAY only be able to offload the AVIs, (because that was the most recent format for which the drive was set to). You may have to re-set the unit to record in MOV...without actually recording, in order to copy the MOV-formatted clips to your computer.
IF this is the case, your MOV-formatted footage might still be there, unless you've reformatted the drive or erased the clips. (When erasing files from the CitiDisk HD, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, use the Quickerase button. If you don't, you run the risk of erasing other files you need for the unit to operate as it was planned to operate).
To reiterate, my memory is foggy on this, but it might be worth a shot. (Or I might have just been dreaming), Just trying to help.
The other major point of confusion for me was that I was never able to flash the drive using my dual-processor machine. The Shining Utility Suite only worked correctly on my old, single-processor HP Pavilion computer. I learned this only after lots of trial and error.
With the CinePorter now dead, I hope Shining makes this little drive easier to use. It may not be a FireStore, but, for the price, I thought it had potential. It needed a little more development and some maturity.
Good luck.
x
I had a CitiDisk HD 100 Gb loaner
for a while.
In addition to the oft-criticized "arcane" combinations of light codes that indicate what the unit is doing, the biggest point of confusion I found was how to get the unit to record in the format I wanted it to record in, and how to tell what format it was recording in.
I'm reaching back into a foggy memory here, so this may not be 100% accurate. Take it for what it's worth...the proverbial 2 cents.
As I recall, the unit allows recording in a total of 6 formats: AVI, MOV, RAW, and something else, (which come available from the factory), along with 2 "user defined" formats, one of which was Matrox and the other I don't recall...maybe Edius? Those "User Defined" formats require an update by "flashing" the unit with software downloaded from Shining's site. (At least they did a few months back when I had the loaner).
My memory of this is a bit foggy, but before you erase/reformat the drive, read through the User Manual a few times about how to set the recording format and how to check/confirm what format it is actually recording in. (The unit requires you to set that format BEFORE you begin recording. If you don't set it, then it defaults to whatever format was used the last time the unit was used for recording). I often found myself looking for AVIs, when all the while the unit was set to record in MOV. Thus, my clips were sometimes there, but not in the format I was expecting.
Lastly, and I'm NOT sure about this, but, if the unit is set to record in one format, for example, MOV, that may be the only format for which clip files can be copied. I don't recall if the unit only "recognizes" files of the type or format for which the unit is set to record in. If so, that may be the only type/format that can be transferred off of the unit until it is re-set to record in another file type. I'm not explaining this clearly; let me try an example:
Example: you have 2 shoots in 1 day.
For shoot # 1, the unit is set to record in MOV. You complete shoot # 1, then move on to shoot # 2.
You re-set the unit to record shoot # 2 in AVI.
(This is the part I'm not sure about, so read the User Manual carefully. Mine was written in a manner that was hard to follow; your's may be, too):
If, after shoot # 2, you connect the unit to a computer to copy your clips to a hard drive, you MAY only be able to offload the AVIs, (because that was the most recent format for which the drive was set to). You may have to re-set the unit to record in MOV...without actually recording, in order to copy the MOV-formatted clips to your computer.
IF this is the case, your MOV-formatted footage might still be there, unless you've reformatted the drive or erased the clips. (When erasing files from the CitiDisk HD, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, use the Quickerase button. If you don't, you run the risk of erasing other files you need for the unit to operate as it was planned to operate).
To reiterate, my memory is foggy on this, but it might be worth a shot. (Or I might have just been dreaming), Just trying to help.
The other major point of confusion for me was that I was never able to flash the drive using my dual-processor machine. The Shining Utility Suite only worked correctly on my old, single-processor HP Pavilion computer. I learned this only after lots of trial and error.
With the CinePorter now dead, I hope Shining makes this little drive easier to use. It may not be a FireStore, but, for the price, I thought it had potential. It needed a little more development and some maturity.
Good luck.
x
From your description of CitiDisk command structure (and from having seen the documentation) it is just too much for someone like me whose doctorate is not in engineering to figure out. I like the simplicity of P2 cards or the straightforward, if not numerous, menus of the FS-100.
Ned
Ned