SD Card problems?

K

Kelsey Thompson

Member
I'm just getting off of a two week trip in the woods shooting for a documentary. During the shoot we lost two days worth of footage (I can't remember the error message, something like corrupt file then repairing instantly popped up and the card was wiped in the process) then yesterday I lost another days worth of footage again (partly my fault, I dumped the card and then deleted it on my camera before I checked it on the hard drive, when I looked at the footage it wasn't there, instead old footage that I shot the day before was on the card... really strange since I had previously deleted the footage that was copied onto my computer and then it reappeared on the card after I deleted the most recent footage.)

I'm using Scan Disc Extreme SD cards, the errors happened on two different cards which makes me think there's something wrong with my AF100. I always lock the tabs before I dump my footage and the cards were formatted in camera before first use. I reformatted them hoping that's all they need but wanted to see if anyone else has had a similar problem. If so what did you end up doing? Should I take my camera in for service (I hate to be cameraless if I don't have to be) I love my AF100 but want to be confident that I'm not going to randomly lose footage. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Kelsey Thompson
 
Some random thoughts.

Do not delete clips, rather reformat the cards in camera before each use.

I assume you meant SanDisk instead of Scan Disc. Their Extreme cards are very good, & I doubt you'd have two bad ones unless their counterfeit. Did you buy them from a reputable dealer?

Are you powering down the camera before removing cards?

Are you careful to not touch the gold contacts on the card?

Have you tested other card readers?

Sorry to hear about your loss. Few things more frustrating.
 
Thanks Bern,

I had been reformatting cards each time but switched to deleting files after Barry recommended doing so instead in his book. Something about it not being good to reformat your cards each time, I'll have to read that section again. Yes ScanDisk not Scan Disc, sorry for the confusion, and they were purchased at a reputable dealer so there shouldn't be issues there.

The first time I lost footage was while I was shooting so the camera was on but the card door was closed and I doubt that had anything to do with it. I think the camera was turned off the second time but I'll be sure to pay more attention to this. I always make sure that a card is not being accessed before removing it but making sure the camera is shut off is likely a safer bet... could this have been the issue???

This happened on two separate card readers so I think that can be ruled out. I tried different card readers the first time to see if the footage might be hiding somewhere but had no luck... although I'm not overly savvy at recovering deleted files.

I'll take more care not to touch the contacts but am usually quite carful when handling the card.

I haven't had any issues since reformatting the cards but am still weary... it'd be nice to know what happened or what I did wrong so I can prevent it in the future.

If any one has any ideas I love to hear them.

Thanks!

Kelsey Thompson
 
The only reason to not reformat the cards is because if you do so, you'll also lose your saved scene files, user files, and JPG files. If you're not using those, then go ahead and reformat.
 
Sorry to hear you lost two days of material. I know how heart stopping that can be. Knock on wood but I've found my Sandisk cards to be rock solid. That said, I deal with them like a hand grenade with the pin pulled :-) Follow Barry's instructions religiously. This most important procedure is to record inhibit the card upon removal. How were you transferring your footage. Via laptop, NEXTO? Did this "corrupt file, repairing" happen inside camera or during transfer process? NEXTO does a bit by bit comparison as you are downloading and is well worth the purchase or rental price IMO. You can sync to make a duplicate copy on another drive.
 
Duh! "you'll also lose your saved scene files", Thats the $%^&&& that got my scene files. 2 many p2 formats.
HeHaw
Mule
 
Thanks for clarifying. From now on I'll save my scene files on the card in slot two and reformat slot one each time I wipe that card... I seem to rarely fill a card before it gets dumped so this should work great. Barry, how often do you recommend reformatting cards?

The fist time I lost files (the corrupt file error message) was in camera, the second time was when transferring from a card reader to a laptop. Hopefully reformatting my cards was all that needed to be done.
 
I reformat them after transferring the footage. Like you, I use a scene file card in slot two, and the footage card in slot one.
 
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