Shot 174 images today. Stopped on the way home to grab some dinner, and looked thru some of the pix on the camera as I ate. No problems. Get home, put the card in my reader, and I have 1 image showing. These are all NEF files taken with a D40.
On the computer, the file names show, but when I check info on a file, it says 0 kb on disc (except for the first one, which appears to be reading normally).
I put the card back in the camera, and now it won't review the images (except for the first one). Screen says, "File does not contain image data".
Card: Sandisk Extreme III 4GB
First problem I've had with this, or any other card in the D40. I've used the card many times. I'm looking for advice, here. Does it sound possible to get these images to show? Could the lost data possibly be retrieved, or am I SOL?
I have no idea what happened between looking at these on the camera while having dinner, and what's going on now.
Geoff Brown wrote:
I was just getting ready to post...I used RescuePro, and it restored all the files. Amazing. I'm lucky
I wish I knew what caused this. Feeling a bit leary about using the card again.
I have had a couple of CF cards go bad on me. One went bad filled with a series of shots I had taken during a wedding ceremony. I was lucky to recover the images. My guess is that deleting a few pics here and there with the card still in the camera is what caused mine to become corrupt. I tried an experiment; never erase any images in the camera until after I download all the files into my computer. Even with the bad shots I avoid the temptation of erasing while still in the card. The only time I erase images is when I'm done downloading them, then I format the entire card in the camera prior to using it again. So far (knock on wood) I have not had any more card failures.
The card is rarely trouble after you format it again. The shots go corrupt. I have this happen once or twice a year (with 50,000 frames+) and though have no proof that it is the cause, I no longer delete files out from the middle of the card - only the last frame. There seemed to be a correlation.
I did a full wipe of the card w/ RescuePro. I format the card every time I dump images onto my HD. I rarely delete images from the camera during shooting, and didn't delete any yesterday.
The only thing that happened yesterday that was out of the norm for me, was that I changed a lens once without turning the camera off. I suppose that could have done something, but the camera operated perfectly afterwards.
I'll do some test shooting on this card for a while before it sees active duty again.
I regularly change lenses without turning the camera off. I think it is just one of those random things likely. Let us know if the card behaves now or not, Geoff.
Generally speaking I typically ALWAYS have formatted the cards in the camera ONLY and not on a computer. I've been using DSLR's and CF cards now for over a decade. I've had probably no less than at least a dozen cards over the years from 2gb up to 16gb. All Sandisk brand. Never lost a shot and never had a card hiccup once. Not sure if it's because I left all formatting to "In Camera" as opposed to doing it on the computer or card reader. But it has worked perfectly for me this way and I'll continue.
I do the opposite, i.e., always format cards in a computer. Different cameras do weird things like mess up file numbering, and don't always abide by the standards. I don't want to worry about a card that may be used in any one of 5-6 Nikon and Canon cameras after formatting each time. I just pick it up and go.
Maybe if we only used a couple of cameras it would a lesser concern, but logistically I'll always prefer to format each card in the computer immediately after downloading.
I've presently got 12 cards, though I don't use half anymore because they are 1 and 2 gig. Four more are on the way.( 16 gig and much faster) All at one time or another over the years have probably had these corruption issues. This has happened with many different camera bodies. My though is that it is simply something that happens once in a rare while. Just a fact of digital life. The fat file system that is used on all digital formatting is not a very robust file system - to start off with. It is only here because it was first here and does the job well enough.
