SDHC "check Card" Error Message Urgent help !

I hope you get your stuff GeoYaz. It is such a hard lesson to learn, especially when it doesn't *seem* like it would be a big deal. I'm glad I learned it before losing anything. I had to pay $500 to recover a hard drive once because I hadn't backed up recently. Sucks.
 
Thanks Barry. Does reformatting the SDHC in-camera before each new use in any way shorten the life of the card?

Barry_Green said:
No, I'm saying that SD cards come brand-new formatted as FAT32 and can be stuck in the camera right away and used without first reformatting them. And that that is a bad workflow, that every camera's manual advises against. They all (that I've read) say "reformat the card in the camera before using it."

Once you've formatted it in the camera, I think it's an acceptable workflow to just "delete all clips" instead of reformatting, but I admit that I frequently do reformat.

But what I'm really getting at is: format it in the camera before its first use, and if you ever format it in a computer, RE-format it in the camera before using it.
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I certainly wouldn't think so... but I have no studies or anything to back that up. It just seems like the format is likely a wiping of the directory structure.
 
Data recovery--there are software packages that do this, but they are not for the nontechnical user, some of them will do a partial reconstruction of the data. But they may also try to rewrite the data and they are not really designed for use with video files.
Bottom line, if you need the data, send it out.
There are companies that have special tools for dealing with cards.
 
My A-Data card is dead.

My A-Data card is dead.

Well I just had this happen on a 2 week old card. Maybe used 3 times. Card has only been formatted in camera. I was shooting a high school football game for my client (for a demo reel) and at half time, after stopping record, I shut the camera off to save battery. II started up just before the 2nd half and I got the "Check card" message. So I swapped cards and finished the shoot.

I can not access this card in any computer or in the camera. So it looks like the first half is lost and I'll have to refund my fee. Both of which are not very nice. I lose out and they lose out. The card is an A-Data Turbo 32GB class 6 card. My first and last A-Data card I might add.

Anyone know what these data recovery places charge?

Bad enough it was this HS Seniors footage. I am glad it didn't happen during the Movie we have been shooting!
 
is there any way to access this card that cant be read by computer ? have u tried other method ?
 
It's about $1,000 to $1,500 USD. They quote beforehand and you don't pay if there is no recovery.

They can pretty much recover anything. They will even un-solder the memory and use a new memory contoller if necessary.

Denwa said:
Well I just had this happen on a 2 week old card. Maybe used 3 times. Card has only been formatted in camera. I was shooting a high school football game for my client (for a demo reel) and at half time, after stopping record, I shut the camera off to save battery. II started up just before the 2nd half and I got the "Check card" message. So I swapped cards and finished the shoot.

I can not access this card in any computer or in the camera. So it looks like the first half is lost and I'll have to refund my fee. Both of which are not very nice. I lose out and they lose out. The card is an A-Data Turbo 32GB class 6 card. My first and last A-Data card I might add.

Anyone know what these data recovery places charge?

Bad enough it was this HS Seniors footage. I am glad it didn't happen during the Movie we have been shooting!
Click to expand...
 
I saw reply from ADATA to someone's complaint on newegg that they had a bad batch of cards (micro controller?) and the rep said they would attempt to recover the data and replace the card.

I sent them an email. I will have to see what they will do. I guess I probably won't get a response back till after the weekend.

Vocare, I don't know of any other method short of taking the card apart and replacing the microcontroller. Not a fun job. Those MC's are real tiny surface mounted chips.
 
I have a quick question around this topic.

I wonder if protect the clip in the camera could eventually save them from a check card error message or any card problems ? Thanks
 
I'm pretty sure it is a micro-controller problem on SD cards. If you can read the card then that's more of a file system glitch etc. But a "fried" card is pretty much a fried MC chip.
 
the key question is that are there any solution that we can use to avoid this to happen to any of us?
 
Yeah, it's little freaky knowing that at any time some card could just die.

Mass production at it's finest.
 
The other thing that I have heard and this happens to P2 as well, but when the card is full, write protect it prior to inserting into the MAC, as it will index the drive and thus overfill the card. Other than that the card should always be formatted in the camera, regardless of what you have done on your laptop. And I would not buy the cheapest cards out there, they really can be garbage.

Best,

Jan
 
Jan_Crittenden said:
The other thing that I have heard and this happens to P2 as well, but when the card is full, write protect it prior to inserting into the MAC, as it will index the drive and thus overfill the card. Other than that the card should always be formatted in the camera, regardless of what you have done on your laptop. And I would not buy the cheapest cards out there, they really can be garbage.

Best,

Jan
Click to expand...

So how would you rate the top quality sdhc card? Does panny have an answer?
Honestly we need a 100% solution that is working.

If panny will recommend a sdhc card that work perfectly and have less problem like this.
I am sure most of us will continue to trust in panny
 
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just some info that i share for my class. before you try to record any critical video, test the camera and card first:

Step 1: With the card in the camera, format the card from the camera's menu. Very important.
never do it in the computer, safe eject always .

Step 2: Try recording a bunch of clips. play back to double check for audio and video.

Step3 : try not to record long footage - meaning do not keep the footage recording for more 15mins. whenever u can, you should press stop and rec again. the problem with digital format,
is the writing of data only stop when u stop recording.

Step4: lock the card after every usage.

step5: When the battery level drop to 1 bar, just change the battery.
Card will get issue if the battery is not stable.

step6: back up to 2 harddisk min before you format the card
 
vocare said:
just some info that i share for my class. before you try to record any critical video, test the camera and card first:

Step 1: With the card in the camera, format the card from the camera's menu. Very important.
never do it in the computer, safe eject always .

Step 2: Try recording a bunch of clips. play back to double check for audio and video.

Step3 : try not to record long footage - meaning do not keep the footage recording for more 15mins. whenever u can, you should press stop and rec again. the problem with digital format,
is the writing of data only stop when u stop recording.

Step4: lock the card after every usage.

step5: When the battery level drop to 1 bar, just change the battery.
Card will get issue if the battery is not stable.

step6: back up to 2 harddisk min before you format the card
Click to expand...

In my case the card had been used several times. I often HAVE to shoot long clips, but in this case I was hitting stop after every play in the football game.


JBH said:
The only card that has failed me was a Panasonic Class 6 16GB card, sent to me by Panasonic for buying my 150. They are among the most expensive 16GB Class 6 cards out there, so I don't bother buying the most expensive anymore.
Click to expand...


Exactly. How do you even know what is a "quality" card anymore??
 
Jan_Crittenden said:
The other thing that I have heard and this happens to P2 as well, but when the card is full, write protect it prior to inserting into the MAC, as it will index the drive and thus overfill the card. Other than that the card should always be formatted in the camera, regardless of what you have done on your laptop. And I would not buy the cheapest cards out there, they really can be garbage.

Best,

Jan
Click to expand...

We appreciate the help, but quite frankly this is happening to people halfway through shoots, often always formatted in camera, and with super-expensive Panasonic-branded cards. Is there anything else we can try?
 
I would think, based on my limited knowledge of flash memory, that formatting often would decrease the life of the card simply because of the increased read-wite cycles (if it zeroes out the card)
 
i think all of us need a solution to shoot with confidence. hope that someone from panny can give us an answer. In the meanwhile, there are some pointer that i can share, honestly it can happen to dslr or any camcorder. but the problem with avchd or sd card is that i have heard several instances when the card cant be read. hence the data cant be restore. Comparing one card full of footage and certain clip. This is a lot of difference. Hope that panny can look into this.
 
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