Okay, so the worst has apparently happened. A CF card which held the only copy of the files from a shoot this weekend is corrupted... during the first transfer/copy process. It copied a few files over, then stopped. I ejected the card and reinsert, and OSX says the media can't be read and asks if I want to initialize, ignore, or eject. Disk Utility won't even verify the card. It's like the partition is gone. At this point, the card doesn't even get recognized in the camera.
What can I do? Obviously I did NOT choose "Initialize". And before someone decides to be smart and say I should've backed up the card... I will remind you that this happened during the first backup
For reference, the card is a Lexar 32gb 600x card. It was inserted into a Lexar USB3.0 card reader, connected to a macbook pro w/retina display.
Anyone who has experience dealing with this kind of thing, please chime in. I'm at a loss as to what to do...
****UPDATE****
I want to leave this here for other people to find in the future, because there's a lesson to be learned here.
After poking around on the web a couple of days, I decided to call up Lexar and see if they have any solutions to offer. They did. Here's what happened:
The lady who picked up at Lexar was courteous and responsive. She informs me that they can offer some additional solutions to try at home in the form of alternate versions of their Image Rescue software, but because this was one of their "Professional" cards, if that doesn't work, I can send it to Lexar and they will attempt to recover files from it using their own software. If that does not work, then they will pry open the card and attempt to read the bits off the card in their labs.
I tried the alternate Image Rescue version, and got further, but still didn't get any files. I emailed Lexar support back and got a response within a couple of hours with instructions on what to do next, which is to fill out a form and send the card in. I did this a couple of days after.
Lexar support told me it could take 8-12 weeks for them to get to the card, but after about three weeks later, I emailed Lexar support to check on the progress, and was informed that the card is still in the queue, and set to be worked on in about 2 weeks. I was okay with this since I figured there's always a queue of things their techs are working on.
About two weeks later, I received a package via UPS. It's from Lexar, containing 5 DVD's of files they were able to recover from the card. The files weren't usable, but then I wasn't guaranteed that it would be. About 3 days later, a replacement card arrives. Not my original card, but a brand new factory sealed replacement.
So what's the lesson here? Spend money on your cards, folks. Buy a good brand from an authorized reseller. (The secret sauce in this interaction was that I had bought the "professional" Lexar card. I imagine this wouldn't happen with their consumer lines) You're storing precious time and energy of everyone on set into these bits and bytes on a card. If something goes wrong, you want the card maker to back you up. I'm willing to bet serious money that the "cheapo" card makers will have the same response as Lexar did. They were responsive, courteous, and tried their best to help with absolutely no fuss. No runarounds in call center land, no attitude, nothing but utter professionalism. They didn't rescue the footage I needed out of my card, but they sure tried, and didn't put me through hell to do it. I appreciate that a lot from a vendor. Lexar's treatment of my situation has pretty much guaranteed that I'll be buying their pro cards for life.
What can I do? Obviously I did NOT choose "Initialize". And before someone decides to be smart and say I should've backed up the card... I will remind you that this happened during the first backup
For reference, the card is a Lexar 32gb 600x card. It was inserted into a Lexar USB3.0 card reader, connected to a macbook pro w/retina display.
Anyone who has experience dealing with this kind of thing, please chime in. I'm at a loss as to what to do...
****UPDATE****
I want to leave this here for other people to find in the future, because there's a lesson to be learned here.
After poking around on the web a couple of days, I decided to call up Lexar and see if they have any solutions to offer. They did. Here's what happened:
The lady who picked up at Lexar was courteous and responsive. She informs me that they can offer some additional solutions to try at home in the form of alternate versions of their Image Rescue software, but because this was one of their "Professional" cards, if that doesn't work, I can send it to Lexar and they will attempt to recover files from it using their own software. If that does not work, then they will pry open the card and attempt to read the bits off the card in their labs.
I tried the alternate Image Rescue version, and got further, but still didn't get any files. I emailed Lexar support back and got a response within a couple of hours with instructions on what to do next, which is to fill out a form and send the card in. I did this a couple of days after.
Lexar support told me it could take 8-12 weeks for them to get to the card, but after about three weeks later, I emailed Lexar support to check on the progress, and was informed that the card is still in the queue, and set to be worked on in about 2 weeks. I was okay with this since I figured there's always a queue of things their techs are working on.
About two weeks later, I received a package via UPS. It's from Lexar, containing 5 DVD's of files they were able to recover from the card. The files weren't usable, but then I wasn't guaranteed that it would be. About 3 days later, a replacement card arrives. Not my original card, but a brand new factory sealed replacement.
So what's the lesson here? Spend money on your cards, folks. Buy a good brand from an authorized reseller. (The secret sauce in this interaction was that I had bought the "professional" Lexar card. I imagine this wouldn't happen with their consumer lines) You're storing precious time and energy of everyone on set into these bits and bytes on a card. If something goes wrong, you want the card maker to back you up. I'm willing to bet serious money that the "cheapo" card makers will have the same response as Lexar did. They were responsive, courteous, and tried their best to help with absolutely no fuss. No runarounds in call center land, no attitude, nothing but utter professionalism. They didn't rescue the footage I needed out of my card, but they sure tried, and didn't put me through hell to do it. I appreciate that a lot from a vendor. Lexar's treatment of my situation has pretty much guaranteed that I'll be buying their pro cards for life.
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