On 31/5/04 11:21 AM, Tariq Dajani wrote > Following the recent postings on corrupted flash cards, is there any > general consensus on what to do or not to do to reduce the chances of > flash cards becoming corrupted?
The super paranoid system regarding CF cards may be summarised like this: -Initialize card only in the camera you are using it, and even though you may have two similar cameras just do not switch cameras and CF cards without a previous initialization. This seems to be a typical problem. -Initialization in the computers will be harmful. There are many invisible fies laying inside cards,generated by camera's firmware that are created during initialization in camera, that may not be present when you initialize in a computer, so this may cause problems. -When working with only one camera , introduce the CF cards once and only once in camera, meaning, if you take the CF card out for some "fast" or partial download of just a few files, do not go back to reinsert the camera and keep shooting .One more time, initialize. -Don't manipulate CF cards near magnetic fields and that includes your computer monitor, Unshielded Speakers and television sets. Keep the camera away from those units just as well. Life expectancy of cards is ( supposedly ) up to some 100 k shots( this is , 10 rounds of ten thousand shots) but these seem to be optimistic expectancy estimates from the manufacturers. There is some info about this in Robgalbraith's forum. Now, with MicroDIves, use of all the above but keep in mind you are talking about moving parts and heat generation, just as any other hard drive, so potential harm / damage may occur before it would happen to a CF card, and this includes mechanical hits and washer machine cycles, apparently harmless to CF cards. Before recurring to private companies for retrieval of data from corrupted cards, it is strongly advised to check the utilities/softaware to try this at home. Lexar offers the free software to recover data form its cards, and others apps like Data Rescue ( www.prosofteng.com) and others have proven to be effective in many situations, particularly when the drive has not been erased and files "should" be there. One of those apps offers a free demo ( I think it is Image Rescue), and if the apps actually retrieves the data you are looking for, then it is the time to pay, so it is like a " try before you buy" thing. As a last resort , if you are really thinking on throwing the card to the basket, run DiskWarrior on the card. A simple rebuild of damaged Directories may do the trick. Again, use this only prior to dumping. Regards Jorge Parra =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
