Cannot Copy Files from CF Card

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Level 1

41 points

Cannot Copy Files from CF Card

I just finished a photo shoot and have encountered a very odd problem. For background, I shoot onto 8gb CF cards using a Canon 5D Mark II. Typically, I copy the files from the CF card directly onto the hard drive of my Mac Pro (2.8 GHz, 6GB memory, Mac OS X 10.6.8). I then back up the files and import them into Aperture for post production. Last night, because I had back to back shoots, I tried to import the files into Aperture (Version 3.2) directly from the card. This is where things went south. Aperture indicated that it could not import about 1/2 of the files. When I look at the files on the card, the files which caused problems initially appeared as blank white images. I pulled the card and placed it back in the reader and now I can see the image on the card but cannot import the images into Aperture nor can I copy them directly on the hard drive. In addition to that odd behavior, when I look at the potential files for import on the card now using Aperture, they all appear as the proper images (whatever I shot), but I cannot import them. I am at a complete loss, and of course these images are for a client and the shoot is not repeatable. Any help would be awesome and help to keep this client who will not be happy that the shoot has been lost due to potential computer error. So essentially, I can see the thumbnails of the images on the card, which makes me suspect that they are there and uncorrupted. But I cannot move, copy or import them. Ideas?

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Nov 13, 2011 5:22 PM

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Answer 1

Bob Krugmire Author

Level 1

41 points

Nov 13, 2011 5:29 PM in response to Bob Krugmire

Here is the message that I get:

The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “IMG_0373.CR2” can’t be read or written.

(Error code -36)

A bit more information...I was able to copy over one of the problem files to my hard drive (even though it showed the message, it still seemed to copy the raw file over). The thumbnail looks completely fine but when I try to open the file up in Photoshop Elements, a large section of the file is a blank white rectangle.

At this point, since the only change to my work flow was the introduction of trying to download from the CF card directly into Aperture...should I suspect Aperture for killing the files?

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Answer 2

Bob Krugmire Author

Level 1

41 points

Nov 13, 2011 5:44 PM in response to Bob Krugmire

Last piece of odd behavior...I was able to pull the CF card from the reader and then copy over the files 25 files at a time. Prior to this issue, I was able to simply move over the entire on-card directory which typically can contain between 150-300 seperate raw camera files. After moving all of the files over to a new directory on the hard drive, only one image out of the total 343 images was corrupted. Not sure what happened, but terribly pleased that I did not lose all of the original files. Any thoughts, or if anyone else has encountered similar odd errors using Aperture and CF cards, that might help me in the future. Thanks all!!

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Answer 3

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Nov 13, 2011 6:50 PM in response to Bob Krugmire

My initial thought is that error -36 is a general "I/O error". For drives that is usually due to one or more bad blocks on the disk. It's only a problem if you attempt to access those bad blocks. If they aren't accessed the disk behaves normally, i.e, you can read/write everything except the data in those bad blocks. Of course it is an indication that the disk really needs to be replaced.

So my thought is that those cards you are using are behaving the same way. You can access all the stuff except what's on the bad blocks. This is what you did by selectively copying the stuff off the card. It's good that you were able to salvage as much as you could off it. Like a hard drive, it means it's time to replace that card.

That's my theory anyway.

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Answer 4

Bob Krugmire Author

Level 1

41 points

Nov 14, 2011 6:55 AM in response to Bob Krugmire

@X423424X Not sure why I did not think of that...although I don't think of CF cards (for whatever reason) in the same terms as disk drives. Generally, they are flawless in their operation, but I guess they could certainly have a bad block. And that would totally explain why programs trying to pull information from the card would have an little hissy-fit in the download phase. I've pulled that card from rotation (and might send it in to the nice folks from whence I purchased same card). Thanks for the hints and help!

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Answer 5

Nov 14, 2011 7:33 AM in response to Bob Krugmire

If it were mine, I would also give the camera a chance at doing error recovery, by connecting the camera with the card in place and attempting to download those pictures.

It may not do any better, but if the images are irreplaceable, there is a [slim] chance it can do better at salvaging damaged files than the card reader alone.

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