Windows 10 corrupting audio files

Posted on the SoundDevices website...

[h=1]Sound Devices Technical Alert[/h]We have confirmed user reports of a serious issue with Windows 10 and removable media formatted as FAT32. Users are experiencing corruption of .wav media files by simply inserting FAT32 formatted SD or CF cards into a Windows 10 computer. Files do not need to be opened or accessed in order for them to become corrupt.
This problem has been reported to Microsoft. If we learn of any new information we will share it at the earliest. Thank you for your continued support!
http://www.sounddevices.com/news/sound-devices-news/sound-devices-technical-alert
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Well No no here I have done some testing from one of my recorders, the Tascam, and Wave files are just fine no corruption....
Reading from a Kingston USB 3 Reader and copying to the hard drive with offload ( Redgiant Software ).
Wave files recorded into Tascam on Delkin Devices card..
Perfect no problem
 
Latest news from Microsoft (via. GearSlutz forum)...

Technical update on the Sound Devices / Windows 10 memory card issue:

Working with Sound Devices and key members of the audio and video production community (thanks!) we’ve identified the cause of the SD/CF card corruption.

In Windows 10, we introduced the EFS (Encrypting File System) for FAT32 media. To identify a file as encrypted, we use one of our bits in a Microsoft-use byte in the file entry. This file entry exists for each file on the card. For non-encrypted files, this bit should be set to zero. This bit was incorrectly set to one by the Sound Devices recorders. Because we did not use this bit in that byte prior to Windows 10, Sound Devices’ testing would not necessarily have revealed any issues.

When Windows 10 would mount the card, it would read the bit, and treat the individual files as encrypted. Depending upon what accessed the files, the result of this could be as simple as the inability to copy the file, or actual file corruption as the encryption header overwrote the RIFF WAV header.

Sound Devices has the information now to update their future firmware if desired. Because we don’t want anyone to lose data, we’re implementing an additional check in Windows 10 to confirm a file is encrypted before modifying the header, which will ensure we don’t corrupt these files going forward. (If the bit is set and we cannot confirm the file is actually an EFS file, we’ll simply treat it normally.) We’ll have more information on this very soon. We're working to make the patch available as quickly as possible.

We have not identified any other sources of incorrect file system entries at this time. There was speculation about certain brands of card readers, or upgrade vs fresh installs of Windows 10, or any wav files written from Windows 10, but none of that turned out to be related to the issue. If you do know of other sources of file corruption and can provide me with specific details with repeatable scenario, we’ll look into it for sure.

Thanks to Sound Devices and members of the community for responding quickly and getting us card images and additional data about the issue.

Pete
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J Michael said:
I don't get the part where Microsoft stakes a claim on a certain bit.
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Oh, that is VERY common. All the bits must be accounted for, and Microsoft reserves some of them for future use, while leaving the remainder for others to use.
The problem happens when vendors (like SoundDevices) start diddling the reserved bits (whether intentionally or accidentally).
 
That sounds like it's part of the file allocation table (or whatever they use to keep track of files), in which case I can see the point as that's their domain. A discrete wav file isn't.
 
Thanks Richard for the heads up on this!

Also, can't believe I'm actually saying kudos to Microsoft for getting on top of this so quickly. Definitely not their usual behavior. They must have their A team assigned to the Windows 10 rollout. Anyway, hats off to all for catching this so fast.
 
pixelated said:
Also, can't believe I'm actually saying kudos to Microsoft for getting on top of this so quickly. Definitely not their usual behavior. They must have their A team assigned to the Windows 10 rollout. Anyway, hats off to all for catching this so fast.
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With the massive expansion of Apple, Android, and Google ChromeBooks, Microsoft has somehow managed to flip its former position of market dominance to one of being one of many struggling competitors.....they HAVE TO act fast in this brave new world they've never known before!

Bill Gates' testimony to the US Congress years ago was correct when he said Microsoft was not a monopoly and one of the competitors could overtake them at any time.

Sure has been fun to watch.
 
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