C200: Warning: The Lexar USB3 Cfast reader may have just corrupted my first RAW shoot.

imwhitey said:
Sorry to necro an old thread, but just wanted to share my experience with the Lexar CR1 USB 3.0 CFast 2.0 Reader: STEER CLEAR OF THIS READER! I've had two cards in the past 6 months get corrupted with it (Lexar 256GB 3500x). Had Lexar swap each card under warranty no problem, but same issue. Read a review posted in early 2017 to B&H and it appears to be the same issue I ran into: "The reader works great when transferring from your first Cfast card. I use the BM Ursa camera. However, on a multi-card shoot, it has corrupted the second card on more than one occasion losing valuable media. It appears that when I eject a card from the reader it does not necessarily eject, it will mount it again within seconds. Unless, you are very careful, you can corrupt your second Cfast card when you insert it into the reader because the reader thinks that it is still the first Cfast card. This has the effect of replacing the file allocation table on the card and rendering all of your media corrupt. This has happened to me twice with this reader and on different computers."

I was using the CFast 2.0 memory cards with my 1DXMKII and lo' and behold even though I properly ejected the first card I shot on as soon as I inserted my second card it immediately became corrupt. Couldn't read it on Windows or Mac and the 1DXMKII couldn't read it either. I lost an hour worth of 4K interviews in front of a client several weeks back. Very embarrassing! I'm switching to the SanDisk reader.
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Yikes! Good cautionary tale. I don't regret returning my Lexar reader, I bought the Sandisk and six months later, it's been a rock, no issues or problems. Peace of mind counts for a lot, especially when shooting with a camera with only a single CFast card slot. I bet the C300 MKIII is going to record CRL to dual CFast cards for a simultaneous recording which would give a lot of us more peace of mind, but so far, C200 has been reliable with the EgoDisk cards.
 
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Just to add more information, I work in a rental house and I'm trying to phase out the Lexar Cfast readers that are USB 3.0 only. When you use them with Thunderbolt, they work fine and I believe it's because the computer is mounting it as an external SATA bus (this is also the way that the Sandisk and ARRI / Codex readers are seen over USB 3.0). I've had several calls from panicked DITs where the cards won't mount after shooting and it has consistently been when using USB 3.0. Use Thunderbolt and the issue is resolved.

I have not seen data corrupted yet but I've heard many other folks experiencing that unfortunate failure. The most I've seen is a card will not mount in macOS unless you completely unplug the USB 3.0 cable from the reader. I imagine there are other incompatibilities introduced with Sandisk's latest cards since they use a newer firmware.
 
Dustin Svehlak said:
Just to add more information, I work in a rental house and I'm trying to phase out the Lexar Cfast readers that are USB 3.0 only. When you use them with Thunderbolt, they work fine and I believe it's because the computer is mounting it as an external SATA bus (this is also the way that the Sandisk and ARRI / Codex readers are seen over USB 3.0). I've had several calls from panicked DITs where the cards won't mount after shooting and it has consistently been when using USB 3.0. Use Thunderbolt and the issue is resolved.

I have not seen data corrupted yet but I've heard many other folks experiencing that unfortunate failure. The most I've seen is a card will not mount in macOS unless you completely unplug the USB 3.0 cable from the reader. I imagine there are other incompatibilities introduced with Sandisk's latest cards since they use a newer firmware.
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Good to know! Definitely a critical flaw by Lexar. I feel like they should entirely remove the CR1 from the market. Really can screw a lot of people over like it has to me. :(
 
imwhitey said:
Sorry to necro an old thread, but just wanted to share my experience with the Lexar CR1 USB 3.0 CFast 2.0 Reader: STEER CLEAR OF THIS READER! I've had two cards in the past 6 months get corrupted with it (Lexar 256GB 3500x). Had Lexar swap each card under warranty no problem, but same issue. Read a review posted in early 2017 to B&H and it appears to be the same issue I ran into: "The reader works great when transferring from your first Cfast card. I use the BM Ursa camera. However, on a multi-card shoot, it has corrupted the second card on more than one occasion losing valuable media. It appears that when I eject a card from the reader it does not necessarily eject, it will mount it again within seconds. Unless, you are very careful, you can corrupt your second Cfast card when you insert it into the reader because the reader thinks that it is still the first Cfast card. This has the effect of replacing the file allocation table on the card and rendering all of your media corrupt. This has happened to me twice with this reader and on different computers."

I was using the CFast 2.0 memory cards with my 1DXMKII and lo' and behold even though I properly ejected the first card I shot on as soon as I inserted my second card it immediately became corrupt. Couldn't read it on Windows or Mac and the 1DXMKII couldn't read it either. I lost an hour worth of 4K interviews in front of a client several weeks back. Very embarrassing! I'm switching to the SanDisk reader.
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Thank you for the insight. I lost a card with a Lexar reader and it could have been for this reason. The card mounted briefly in the reader and then suddenly disappeared and both the computer and the camera said it needed to be reformatted.
 
cpreston said:
Thank you for the insight. I lost a card with a Lexar reader and it could have been for this reason. The card mounted briefly in the reader and then suddenly disappeared and both the computer and the camera said it needed to be reformatted.
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That sinking feeling in your stomach when that happens. Not good, that would get me fired from most clients.
 
cpreston said:
Thats why I always dual slot record. At this point, I am always uncomfortable when I am recording anything that only goes to one source.
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Unfortunately with the C200, one slot for CFast. But I always record proxy, as 2k would probably be a good backup for most things you are shooting RAW. Wouldn't be nearly as good but could be good enough for a lot uses.
 
puredrifting said:
I received the cable and... IT WORKS! Thanks for the heads up and suggestion. I still cannot figure out why my Kanex adapter initially passed power but now does not but your idea made it usable again. Many thanks.
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@PD, just to be clear, are these the two items you're using:

- https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod..._299_a46_extreme_pro_cfast_reader_writer.html

- https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1075056-REG/kanex_ktu10_thunderbolt_to_usb_3_0_esata.html

- which Y-cable, it probably doesn't matter?

Thanks.

I've now got 4x 256GB ED cards, excited to test the CRL on this baby!
 
rob norton said:
@PD, just to be clear, are these the two items you're using:

- https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod..._299_a46_extreme_pro_cfast_reader_writer.html

- https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1075056-REG/kanex_ktu10_thunderbolt_to_usb_3_0_esata.html

- which Y-cable, it probably doesn't matter?

Thanks.

I've now got 4x 256GB ED cards, excited to test the CRL on this baby!
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Yes, those are the two. I bought a no name Y cable from Amazon, has been working great, it was about $10.00 Luckily for my documentary, we shoot half a dozen CFast cards per shoot and I just download them in the office, much easier than hacking this together in the field.
 
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puredrifting said:
Yes, those are the two. I bought a no name Y cable from Amazon, has been working great, it was about $10.00 Luckily for my documentary, we shoot half a dozen CFast cards per shoot and I just download them in the office, much easiler than hacking this together in the field.
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Is this set-up still working for you? I have an older MacBook Air that has 2x USB 3.0 ports and 1x Thunderbolt 2 port. I just bought a USB 3.0 external SSD to take with me on the road and am trying to figure out a solution to transfer 2x CFAST cards at the same time to my new external SSD - essentially I need to turn my laptop into something that has 3x USB 3.0 ports that work VERY reliably.
 
chris f said:
Is this set-up still working for you? I have an older MacBook Air that has 2x USB 3.0 ports and 1x Thunderbolt 2 port. I just bought a USB 3.0 external SSD to take with me on the road and am trying to figure out a solution to transfer 2x CFAST cards at the same time to my new external SSD - essentially I need to turn my laptop into something that has 3x USB 3.0 ports that work VERY reliably.
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I bought that adapter that turns the Thunderbolt 2 port into a USB 3.0 port. B&H sells it, trying to remember who it's made by? It's probably buried in this thread a few pages back? The Y cable is working out fine still. I haven't downloaded CFast cards on a shoot in a long time though, much better to just take them back to the office, they take too long if you are shooting a lot of footage. If I was doing that, I would just get the Soldipod.
 
puredrifting said:
I bought that adapter that turns the Thunderbolt 2 port into a USB 3.0 port. B&H sells it, trying to remember who it's made by? It's probably buried in this thread a few pages back? The Y cable is working out fine still. I haven't downloaded CFast cards on a shoot in a long time though, much better to just take them back to the office, they take too long if you are shooting a lot of footage. If I was doing that, I would just get the Soldipod.
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Kanex? Works for me still, but need that Y-cable for power as it doesn't transfer enough power to run a CFast reader.
 
Can confirm this advice, had the CR1 reader and it corrupted a card. Just get the Sandisk one, have the Extreme Pro now. Used recovery software on that card, managed to extract the footage, but all programs refuse to open the .crm files, even though they're the correct size for what's in them.
 
IanTheM said:
Can confirm this advice, had the CR1 reader and it corrupted a card. Just get the Sandisk one, have the Extreme Pro now. Used recovery software on that card, managed to extract the footage, but all programs refuse to open the .crm files, even though they're the correct size for what's in them.
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Ouch. Here it is, over a year later, and people are still getting burned by those damn Lexar readers. Had you not read this thread before or heard about the Lexar curse elsewhere?
 
puredrifting said:
Ouch. Here it is, over a year later, and people are still getting burned by those damn Lexar readers. Had you not read this thread before or heard about the Lexar curse elsewhere?
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Used it for almost 2 years without issue, first time it's happened. I wasn't the one offloading the cards, though. Guess the DIT plugged the second one in too quick, and it messed it up. Using EgoDisk cards, that have been totally fine otherwise. Managed to recover the data using software, but all the .crms refuse to be read by Canon's software or FCPX.
 
I have nothing but my own experience to support this but I think something changed in the way macOS mounts certain USB 3.0 drives that causes this issue. Case in point - I recently acquired an older Atomos USB 3.0 CFast reader (the same one that was bundled with the Ninja Star) and it would not reliably read CFast media on either of my Macs running Mojave. It actually behaved very similar to the Lexar USB 3.0 readers I've had suffered through.

However, when I plugged it into a Windows 7 machine, it worked without issue. All that said, I picked up a ProGrade CFast reader last week and that thing is smoking' fast and reliable. They're apparently on back-order at the moment but that's my go to reader now and I have one of their dual SD readers on order as well.
 
Dustin Svehlak said:
I have nothing but my own experience to support this but I think something changed in the way macOS mounts certain USB 3.0 drives that causes this issue. Case in point - I recently acquired an older Atomos USB 3.0 CFast reader (the same one that was bundled with the Ninja Star) and it would not reliably read CFast media on either of my Macs running Mojave. It actually behaved very similar to the Lexar USB 3.0 readers I've had suffered through.

However, when I plugged it into a Windows 7 machine, it worked without issue. All that said, I picked up a ProGrade CFast reader last week and that thing is smoking' fast and reliable. They're apparently on back-order at the moment but that's my go to reader now and I have one of their dual SD readers on order as well.
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Aargh, one more reason for me to be stuck on High Sierra forever. Ah, yeah, and there is the $1.5k of software that I use daily that will be killed by Mojave as well. Many of these are programs/useful utilities that are no longer developed so I am stuck. Nothing like having an OS update that basically kills tons of expensive software, corrupts your Cinema RAW Light imports, etc. Apple, why the hell do you do this to us? I lost over $2k worth of software the last big OS update cycle. The OS is free but all of the other software it kills is costing me thousands of dollars. Harumph.
 
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