Un-format SD cards while in use

[Sustich]

Recently My RD-1 has begun to randomly unformat SD cards, while in use. I will be in the middle of a shoot when the camera freezes and the red write light flashes as if the disk write has hung up. The only way to unfreeze the camera that i have found is to turn it off then back on again. At this point the SD card is no longer formatted and what shots were on the SD card are gone.

Has anyone el encountered this and found a solution?

 

[taemo]

is this happening only with one specific SD cards or any?

 

[Dwig]

Recently My RD-1 has begun to randomly unformat SD cards, while in use. I will be in the middle of a shoot when the camera freezes and the red write light flashes as if the disk write has hung up. The only way to unfreeze the camera that i have found is to turn it off then back on again. At this point the SD card is no longer formatted and what shots were on the SD card are gone.

Has anyone el encountered this and found a solution?

Something is corrupting the cards. It could be:

1. faulty card
2. faulty camera
3. faulty user

The last item occurs when a user inserts an SD/HC (4-32gb) or SD/XC (64gb+) card into an RD-1 or RD-1s instead of an SD card of 2gb or smaller.

If it is not #3, then the card needs to be tested in another device (card reader or camera) to see whether it is the "evil culprit" or whether the camera is playing that role. Alternately, using a different card in the camera may show whether the camera is OK or not.

 

[rpavich]

I don't know about the problem..I'm just happy that there's actually a post in the R-D1 section of the forum! 🙂

 

[Sustich]

Something is corrupting the cards. It could be:

1. faulty card
2. faulty camera
3. faulty user

The last item occurs when a user inserts an SD/HC (4-32gb) or SD/XC (64gb+) card into an RD-1 or RD-1s instead of an SD card of 2gb or smaller.

If it is not #3, then the card needs to be tested in another device (card reader or camera) to see whether it is the "evil culprit" or whether the camera is playing that role. Alternately, using a different card in the camera may show whether the camera is OK or not.

Same problem with three different 2 gb SD cards. I've tried them in 2 other cameras and get an unformatted card error.

Sadly, this points to the camera itself as the culprit. Next step will be to reformat the cards in the camera itself and see how long they last. Needless to say I'll be using a different camera as my primary and taking along the RD-1 to further test for the problem.

 

[Dwig]

Same problem with three different 2 gb SD cards. I've tried them in 2 other cameras and get an unformatted card error.

Sadly, this points to the camera itself as the culprit. Next step will be to reformat the cards in the camera itself and see how long they last. Needless to say I'll be using a different camera as my primary and taking along the RD-1 to further test for the problem.

You might consider starting here: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

Use the SD Association's own card formatter first and then reformat again in camera.

 

[Sustich]

You might consider starting here: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

Use the SD Association's own card formatter first and then reformat again in camera.

DWIG, thanks, I'll give it a try and post a followup.

 

[Kate-the-Great]

Same problem with three different 2 gb SD cards. I've tried them in 2 other cameras and get an unformatted card error.

Sadly, this points to the camera itself as the culprit. Next step will be to reformat the cards in the camera itself and see how long they last. Needless to say I'll be using a different camera as my primary and taking along the RD-1 to further test for the problem.

Are you 100% sure they're not SDHC? I've come across a lot of 2GB cards recently (same reason, needed them for R-D1) that are SHDC but aren't always obviously marked as such.

 

[rbelyell]

i always reformat in camera, with rd1 and every other camera. it just makes sense to let the tool reformat the card the way it wants to.

 

[Dwig]

i always reformat in camera, with rd1 and every other camera. it just makes sense to let the tool reformat the card the way it wants to.

I recommend and do format in the camera as a general rule, but in-camera formatting is a high level "quick" format. My recommendation to use the SD Association's formatter was because it does a lower level format which might resolve some issues that the camera's formatter can't.

BTW, I've used the SD Association's formatter on a USB drive that had been "wacked" by a MacOSX machine and couldn't be reformatted by either the Mac or by Win8.1, neither of which could see the drive via their drive utilities. The SD Assoc's formatter found the drive and reformatted it fine.

 

[rbelyell]

the rd1 specifically has two modes of in camera formatting, one is called 'quick' and the other is called 'full'. i always use 'full'. it is good to know what the SD Assoc says--i didnt even know they existed. i guess these things can be trickier than we think!

 

[Sustich]

Are you 100% sure they're not SDHC? I've come across a lot of 2GB cards recently (same reason, needed them for R-D1) that are SHDC but aren't always obviously marked as such.

The question of SD versus SDHC came up earlier. I used three different 2 GB SD cards, so i doubt all three are mis-marked.

At DWIG's suggestion, I used the SD Association's SD formatter and then did full reformat in the RD-1 itself.

All three now appear to be fine. Next up is to take them out in the field and see what happens.

I'll keep everyone posted.