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10/18/2008 01:58:36 PM · #1 |
I've just returned from a week on the Isle of Mull and whilst there I copied all my images to my laptop to save on card space. All worked great whilst I was away and I even viewed the jpegs of each image (I shot RAW and jpeg as a back up) at the end of each day on the laptop with no problems.
Fast forward to today, my first day home and I am now at the end of my tether :o( After copying everything to my main PC 2 whole days of RAW images are all coming up as 'image file corrupted' in Digital Photo Professional. I have also tried to open them on the laptop and they won't open on there either :o(
I see the small thumbnails in DPP and they appear to have no problems but when I then try to open them I just get the error message :o(
Can anyone offer any advice on what the hell I can do? I really don't want to lose 2 days of my holiday :o(
Thanks in advance,
Natalya |
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10/18/2008 04:56:42 PM · #2 |
*bump*
Am not holding out much hope based on the lack of response here :o(
Anyone got any ideas at all? |
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10/18/2008 05:11:13 PM · #3 |
What did you use originally to view the images?
If they're only corrupted now, then there's a little hope. If they were corrupted then when you downloaded them and you did not notice, there's little hope (unless you still have the card which you used, and you haven't taken pictures over the top of them).
If it's only corrupted now, I'd check into doing a scan disk to see if that detects file faults. What operating system is your laptop where you copied them?
Hopefully others might chime in. I hate those file corruptions & don't know what cause them.
all the best! |
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10/18/2008 05:19:02 PM · #4 |
Thanks for your reply Bert.
My laptop is running windows vista and my home PC is windows XP.
I viewed the jpegs on the laptop after I downloaded both RAW and jpeg files and viewed them in windows preview thingy. I then opened the RAW files for the first time on my home PC last night in digital photo professional and could see the thumbnails but when I clicked on them it would begin to load the larger sized image and that is when the 'image file corrupted' message came up.
I am useless with computers, could you explain what you mean by doing a scan disk?
Many thanks :o) |
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10/18/2008 09:55:07 PM · #5 |
From the sounds of it, if you only checked the jpeg files in windows file viewer, then the raw files might have been copied over as corrupted when you saved them to your laptop (some flash cards can do this to you, especially if water/humidity was involved, or if the card was not a particularly reliable brand, or if you did not format the card in the camera before you started taking pictures).
If that's the case, the only chance you would have is to try and recover the pictures from your flash card--and that would only work if you did not take pictures over the top of the lost ones.
However, if your jpeg files are also corrupted (and they weren't before), then the corruption could have taken place once the pictures were on your laptop (less likely). Only then could a system file scan/file recovery attempt on your laptop help you out.
But it doesn't sound good. I hope what I've said makes sense. If it's your first encounter with file corruptions, it's a real bummer--especially after a holiday to Mull. File corruptions are very annoying, & the best time to catch them is when you've just downloaded the pics, at least then you can attempt a recovery on the card itself.
Hope the jpegs are OK. |
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10/18/2008 10:04:27 PM · #6 |
Hi Bert, thanks again for your help, it all makes perfect sense. The only plus side to this then is that I haven't taken any photos on the cards I transferred the images from. So, from what I understand you are saying, that now means I need to find a way to try and recover the images from those cards (if thats at all possible)?
Sorry for all the stupid questions, this is one of those times where I wish I had a bit more technical knowledge!
I should have taken the hint and stopped taking photos when I realised I had forgotten my tripod plate! Instead we had to drive 2 hours to find a shop that sold tripods...the WORST tripod I have ever had to use, if I sneezed the thing would topple over it was that flimsy! Anyway, I bought it, used it to take most of the images during the holiday...I even had to get out my manual and workout how to use mirror lockup because the tripod was useless at keeping things steady! Now I return home and most of the images I took are corrupted...Bugger! |
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10/18/2008 10:11:13 PM · #7 |
Edit: you answered my question in the OP, I just didn't see it.
So from what I gather your have took the images from the vista machine and loaded them on the XP machine, correct?
If so how did you go from the laptop to the PC? and do you have a copy of working images still on the laptop?
Message edited by author 2008-10-18 22:15:03. |
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10/18/2008 10:19:22 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by SDW:
Edit: you answered my question in the OP, I just didn't see it.
So from what I gather your have took the images from the vista machine and loaded them on the XP machine, correct? |
Yup :o)
Originally posted by SDW:
If so how did you go from the laptop to the PC? |
I used a usb memory stick, copied the images onto the stick and then put them onto my PC. I used the stick before I went away to do exactly the same thing and didnt have any issues then.
Originally posted by SDW:
and do you have a copy of working images still on the laptop? |
I have the medium sized jpegs that I shot as a backup for the RAW images (I really didnt think I would need them otherwise I'd have used large jpegs) :o( They all seem to be working ok on the laptop but I haven't transferred them to the PC...I daren't do it incase I lose them too :o(
Thanks for trying to help Scott :o) |
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10/18/2008 10:28:28 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by talj:
I have the medium sized jpegs that I shot as a backup for the RAW images (I really didnt think I would need them otherwise I'd have used large jpegs) :o( They all seem to be working ok on the laptop but I haven't transferred them to the PC...I daren't do it incase I lose them too :o( |
I wasn't going to reply as I thought you'd be in bed by now... :-D
But anyway, I'd say to make sure you've got a reliable copy of the JPGs, and don't waste any time sweating it over the corrupt RAW files. They could have been corrupted at any stage of the transfer processes you described (even something like removing the USB stick before it had finished)
I've found that 'medium' JPGs are indistinguishable in quality from 'high' ones. |
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10/18/2008 10:36:31 PM · #10 |
| I assume you used you 40D. If you have a spare or blank CF card for your camera and have a CF reader on your laptop try sending one of the corrupt file back to the CF card. Then place in the camera and see if you can view. If so then take and send for the CF to the PC computer and again see if you can view. If that works then you can upload from the laptop to a CF card and download from the CF card to the computer. |
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10/18/2008 10:37:49 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by JH:
I wasn't going to reply as I thought you'd be in bed by now... :-D
But anyway, I'd say to make sure you've got a reliable copy of the JPGs, and don't waste any time sweating it over the corrupt RAW files. They could have been corrupted at any stage of the transfer processes you described (even something like removing the USB stick before it had finished)
I've found that 'medium' JPGs are indistinguishable in quality from 'high' ones. |
Thanks for the reply J H :o) And thanks for making me feel a little better about the jpegs. At one time I didnt even shoot RAW but since I started I haven't looked back! I'll have to chalk this mistake up to experience and try to edit the jpegs this time instead.
And LOL you're right, bedtime should have been hours ago...don't tell anyone I was here this late ;o) I'm off now, honest ;o) |
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10/18/2008 10:38:59 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by SDW:
I assume you used you 40D. If you have a spare or blank CF card for your camera and have a CF reader on your laptop try sending one of the corrupt file back to the CF card. Then place in the camera and see if you can view. If so then take and send for the CF to the PC computer and again see if you can view. If that works then you can upload from the laptop to a CF card and download from the CF card to the computer. |
Think I got you Scott! I'll give it a go in the morning and keep my fingers crossed things work out! :o) Thanks for trying to help :o) |
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10/18/2008 10:42:04 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by talj:
Originally posted by SDW:
I assume you used you 40D. If you have a spare or blank CF card for your camera and have a CF reader on your laptop try sending one of the corrupt file back to the CF card. Then place in the camera and see if you can view. If so then take and send for the CF to the PC computer and again see if you can view. If that works then you can upload from the laptop to a CF card and download from the CF card to the computer. |
Think I got you Scott! I'll give it a go in the morning and keep my fingers crossed things work out! :o) Thanks for trying to help :o) |
vista 2 XP can be a pain. My theory is if you put the card back in the 40D before sending to the XP machine the 40D should take off what XP may have done to the files, if any. It's a long shot but just might work.
Message edited by author 2008-10-18 22:42:29. |
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10/18/2008 10:53:14 PM · #14 |
OK,
Easiest bet is if you still have the files on your compact flash card undeleted :-). Just transfer them again, and hold your breath...
If you've deleted them or if the above doesn't work, try file recovery software on the card(s). If you have a Lexar card, it looks like this is the download site (don't know the legalities of using this if you don't have a lexar card...): click here.
Alternatively, buy a recovery program. The one I use is called PhotoRescuePc (here).
Or you could try the GNU public licensed one (free) PhotoRec (here). Last time I tried it was not very intuitive, but you could give it a go.
Whatever you do, don't write any files to your card if you want to recover files from it.
And you always have the option of just being satisfied with the jpegs you have of your trip... Just depends on how much you want the files
Oh, and recovery software won't guarentee that you'll uncorrupt all your files, but it will give you the best chance of getting that right.
Let us know if any of that helps :-) |
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12/11/2008 07:07:30 PM · #15 |
Hi
This is NOT about recovering already corrupted files but rather an insight for those who bumped into this problem, how to correct it and how to avoid it in the future.
It’s got something to do with the way the CR2 files are written (saved) on the card by the camera, AFTER the USB transfer has been used at least once. You may think it doesn’t make much sense but I have done some intensive tests and it’s confirmed. I have been using my Canon 40D for about 1 year now.
1. I did not have this problem UNTIL I used the USB cable for the first time (after about 6000 + photos downloaded ONLY using the built-in card reader)
2. Once I had the issue I kept the original files on the card downloaded them onto the HDD using both methods: card reader and USB and in both cases the files residing on the card (whether the card placed in the camera or card reader) looked fine – no corruption; the very same files transferred onto the HDD using either method, presented some corrupted files (about 20-30%)
3. I did this very experiment with 2 cards; SanDisk Ultra III 4GB and SanDisk Ultra II 2GB – no difference, same diagnostic.
4. I formatted both cards in camera (not PC) and reinstalled the latest firmware available for Canon 40D (1.08)
5. Shot another batch of about 70 CR2 files using the 4GB card and downloaded them using the built-in card reader – NO CORRUPTION
6. Shot another batch of about 70 CR2 files using the 2GB card and downloaded them using the built-in card reader – NO CORRUPTION
7. Reinserted the 4GB card, formatted it again and shot another batch of about 40 CR2 files but this time I downloaded them using the USB cable – guess what, YES the issue came back again – about 50% of them were corrupted.
8. I reinstalled the firmware again and after shooting another 50 CR2 files I downloaded them using the built-in card reader – if you thing this time they were OK you are perfectly right – NO CORRUPTION.
Conclusion: if you shoot in RAW never transfer your files using the USB port and if you did, then reinstall the firmware and ONLY use a card reader from that point on.
I hope this helps – and it applies to others too.
NACO Photography
//www.nacophotography.com/pixelpost
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12/11/2008 09:15:24 PM · #16 |
Just a question:
Why would you re-install the firmware after all you've done is plugged in the USB & transferred pictures? |
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12/11/2008 09:51:03 PM · #17 |
| //www.datarescue.com/photorescue/ works well. I've used that before. Or you could try this open source one, here (PhotoRec) or if you can find someone to help you out, I wrote one last weekend, here. |
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12/11/2008 09:53:22 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by Naco:
5. Shot another batch of about 70 CR2 files using the 4GB card and downloaded them using the built-in card reader – NO CORRUPTION
6. Shot another batch of about 70 CR2 files using the 2GB card and downloaded them using the built-in card reader – NO CORRUPTION
7. Reinserted the 4GB card, formatted it again and shot another batch of about 40 CR2 files but this time I downloaded them using the USB cable – guess what, YES the issue came back again – about 50% of them were corrupted. |
When you did step 7, did you switch the camera off and disconnect/ eject the disk on the computer? If not, then the reason for your corrupting the disk is the OS rewriting the FAT for the old CF card, onto the new one. This is the typical cause of CF card corruption - fairly common user error and crappy OS drivers that don't detect a changed disk. Happens in camera, or using a USB reader, as they are effectively the same thing to the operating system.
Message edited by author 2008-12-11 21:53:54. |
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12/27/2008 08:04:14 PM · #19 |
When you did step 7, did you switch the camera off and disconnect/ eject the disk on the computer? If not, then the reason for your corrupting the disk is the OS rewriting the FAT for the old CF card, onto the new one.
To clarify…when I said I reinserted the 4GB card I meant into the camera, before shooting the last 40 files, not the PC. Then I tried using the USB cable once more and that’s where I’ve had corrupted files again. I don’t think it has anything to do with the PC’s OS.
And to answer the other question I had to reinstall the firmware (which really isn’t big deal once you know the steps) as the ONLY way to get rid of this strange phenomenon before starting fresh (no USB transfer)
Message edited by author 2008-12-27 20:04:40.
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01/13/2010 03:28:22 PM · #20 |
Hello everyone. I'm brand new here and found you while trying to find an answer to my corrupt files problem. V quick intro... I'm in Edinburgh, Scotland. Been doing digital photography since about 2001. A Canon man... through and through. Been on a 40D for the past 2 years. I'm hoping some of you are still monitoring this thread and might have come up with an answer as I see it has been dormant for about a year.
I can certainly throw some light on what is happening, as I have had the problem on and off for more than a year. I bought a new PC with Vista installed at the same time I bought the 40D (I find it's best to upgrade everything at the same time!). When I first encountered the problem, I set about checking where it was coming from. I went back to my old 10D - same problem, so not the 40D. I put a different card in. Same problem, so not the card. I tried copying them to both the PC's hard drive and to my external storage drives. Same problem.
I have Adobe Camera RAW and DPP, so tried out both. In DPP, as already reported, the previews look OK, but trying to open a RAW gets a 'file corrupted' message. In Windows both thumbs and previews look OK, although it isn't going to attempt to open them. Adobe Camera Raw is much braver than DPP and basically says, "Well, it's not my idea of a good image, but here's what you've got..."
In Adobe Bridge, the thumbs of affected files look OK as you scroll towards them, but then 'jump' to the corrupt view when you get to them.
More investigations followed to try to identify where the problem was coming from. I have never connected either the 10D or the 40D directly to the PC. I usually take the CF card out and put it in the PC's card slot. However, sometimes the PC doesn't 'see' its card readers (another bug in the system!) and when that happens I plug the CF card into a USB card reader and plug that into a spare USB port. I then copy all the files over to the PC. I've tried copying the affected files across by both methods and both methods resulted in corrupt files. Incidentally, my corrupt file rate is very variable. I've had many occasion when I have had none at all (for most of the last 12 months in fact). On Saturday last, I had 18 corrupt files - maybe 5% of total - the rest were fine. (While talk has centred on RAWs, I'm sure in the past I have had this with JPEGs as well. These days I shoot only RAWs, so all my investigations focus on them.)
Next trial is the key!!! I took the card out the camera and put it in the card reader. I DID NOT COPY ANY FILES TO THE PC. I opened DPP and browsed directly to the card. Every one of the 18 supposedly corrupt files opened and was perfect. I shut DPP and opened ACR. Browsed to the card. Same thing. All perfect.
So, finger pointing very squarely at the corruption occurring during copying files from CF card to my hard drives.
Final check. Took card to friend and tried copying to his PC. All copied and opened OK. So, it is definitely a problem that occurs when I copy files from a CF card to my hard drives.
One last fly in the ointment...
On at least one occasion when I used Photomatix to process a file that had previously been processed OK in ACR, Photomatix did the dirty on me. I wish I had noted more details at the time, because I have it in my head that Photomatix doesn\'t like .psd files, and so I got into only using it on RAWs or TIFFs and I don't think I've had any problems since, so that might be a red herring... though the effect is spookily similar!
Any help/advice/suggestions most welcome!
I have lots of screen grabs of what the corrupt images look like when browsed to, when opened, and when processed (all very funky!). They are uploaded to my website, but when I tried to add some examples to my post, because I am a new member, admin did not allow them. I'm only too glad to share them with you if you can suggest a way for me to show them to you...
Col |
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01/13/2010 04:52:19 PM · #21 |
Well, this is embarrassing... having only just posted for the first time, on a thread over a year old, less than an hour later I have major new input...
My friend gave me his card reader to take away and try. I was totally convinced I would see the same old errors... No! All previously corrupted files copied over and opened perfectly with both DPP and ACR.
So, what we have is this error being totally dependent on the path the file takes between camera and PC. It is totally dependent on the particular card-reader used in the transfer.
For anyone interested, the reader that gives perfect transfer is Kingston Technology Part~ FCR-HS219/1
Hope that helps!
Col |
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01/13/2010 09:42:10 PM · #22 |
So the means of transfer you were using earlier was a built in card reader/slot in your pc, correct? And it was from this means that the corruption was introduced?
I wonder what causes it to corrupt the files... |
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01/14/2010 01:29:24 PM · #23 |
Correct, but sometimes I've had to use a USB card reader (when the PC doesn't recognise its own card slot!)
I've got more new developments on this. As I mentioned, a borrowed card reader gave 100% perfect transfer, after my own 2 readers (PC slot and USB CF reader) had both corrupted 5% of files. So, I went and rounded up 2 more CF readers. Reader 1 = 100% OK. Reader 2 = 100% OK. So, by now I'm getting suspicious and I went back and tried the first reader (the one that gave 5% corrupt). This time it was 100% OK. Last, but not least I tried the PC's slot that had also originally given 5% corrupt. You guessed it... 100% OK.
So, the only difference between when I got 5% corrupt and 100% OK was... 4 days! Nothing installed on my PC in that time. Nothing uninstalled. Just fired up and shut down 4 times and a few emails sent and received!
I've discussed this with one of the IT experts at my work and he is firmly of the opinion that Windows Vista is at the root of it all.
My strategy, short of a complete rebuild on a different OS (never undertaken lightly by a PC numptie like me), will be to try sticking to one USB card reader and wait until the next time I get some corrupt files, then pick another and use that until such time as the same thing happens. Hopefully I'll find one that stays friends with Vista and I can then stick with it.
If anyone would like to see what these files look like when ACR or DPP open them, I'll happily send you some - just send me an email.
Cheers,
Col |
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01/14/2010 01:50:52 PM · #24 |
That's interesting observation Col. I wonder has anyone tried putting the card back in the camera and using a usb to the computer. I had a similar problem with a card that would not read, and recovered all the images by doing that. It was slow, but the images are worth the wait. I use an old G5 Mac, so I don't have the windows problem, but maybe the same solution would work.
I have used Windows XP while on vacation, and had to learn to transfer (copy, cut & paste) straight from the card to a file in the computer via card reader, and copy from the file
to edit, but only after burning DVD's of each card download as backup. On an extended trip, take some pre addressed mailers, and the DVD's can be mailed home as you go, in case of a lost luggage incident or some such disaster.
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01/14/2010 02:20:58 PM · #25 |
Yep, I think NACO, further back the thread was connecting the camera to the PC to do the transfer and encountered corrupt files. With all that is happening, the one thing I know I can trust absolutely is my 40D, and so I am not taking it anywhere near my PC!
Col |
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