Is my new CF Express card corrupt?

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Mountainmeezer

Mountainmeezer

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I attempted to put my photos on my iMac and had problems. I have had this Sandisk CF Express 256 GB card since October and have not had problem before. This time it just put a bunch of files there with no photos and said they were imported, but nothing was there. You could see the photos in the camera. We tried to use a cable from the camera to the computer with the same results. It did the same thing with my Macbook Pro laptop.

My husband was able to offload them onto his PC and transfer to my computer with a thumb drive.

I am afraid to use the card now. Any idea what might have caused this?

Thanks so much!
Robyn
 
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Mountainmeezer said:
I attempted to put my photos on my iMac and had problems. I have had this Sandisk CF Express 256 GB card since October and have not had problem before. This time it just put a bunch of files there with no photos and said they were imported, but nothing was there. You could see the photos in the camera. We tried to use a cable from the camera to the computer with the same results. It did the same thing with my Macbook Pro laptop.

My husband was able to offload them onto his PC and transfer to my computer with a thumb drive.

I am afraid to use the card now. Any idea what might have caused this?

Thanks so much!
Robyn
Click to expand...
Robyn,
Is it possible they imported to a different folder than where you normally import? Mac can be funny about imports. They tend to "remember" the last import folder and assume that is where you want future imports. When importing, I always double check the folder to which it thinks it will import to be sure that is where I want.

Otherwise, not sure. If your card imported to the PC and you can see them on camera, I tend to think it is something with the import on the Mac not the card itself.

Also, if you're using Lightroom (I'm not a Lightroom user so this may not be valid) check to be sure Lightroom didn't stick them in a different library or folder.

On Mac, up in the top bar over on the right by where the clock, "Siri" and control center is, you will see a looking glass. Click on that and type in the file name of one of the images you imported. See if it shows up in 2 different places on your Mac. I'm saying this because I think they probably imported just not to someplace you expected. (Yes, I once spent hours thinking I lost a bunch of imported files only to find out my Mac imported them to a different folder and then I spent time deleting duplicates.)

Hope this is helpful. Let us know how it turned out.

Jeff
 
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Jeff,
I am a newbie with all of this and typically import straight to photos. My husband and I both have Z8s and his photos downloaded into photos perfectly. Mine just sit there in photos with a white screen and nothing but the word raw. When I click info, the exposure information is there, just no photo. And I spoke too soon in my post. I tried to download from the thumb drive and there is nothing there. Probably b/c it came from a PC.

This is all very weird. I have never had this happen before. I have been using SD cards for years and importing this way from other cameras.
 
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Mountainmeezer said:
I am afraid to use the card now. Any idea what might have caused this?
Click to expand...
What's the camera and what are the image type settings? IOW, is it possible you shot one of the compressed RAW formats and your computer isn't able to natively read that format? That happens when a newer camera is released and the computer OS needs an update before it can display some of the newer compressed RAW formats. Not sure why you'd be able to read them after your husband ran them through his PC unless his computer could read those files and present them in a readable format to your computer.

Since it didn't work with either the card or a direct cable transfer I wouldn't suspect problems with the card but more likely some kind of file incompatibility which may be the case if your camera is a newer model like a Z6 III or the Mac OS hasn't been updated in a while.

You might do some test shots set to jpeg mode and see if those import properly. Not saying you need to go forward shooting jpeg, just that it will help narrow down problems. IOW, if the card load properly shows jpegs then it's not a card or fundamental file import problem but something with the specific file format or camera model used.
 
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Mountainmeezer said:
Jeff,
I am a newbie with all of this and typically import straight to photos. My husband and I both have Z8s and his photos downloaded into photos perfectly. Mine just sit there in photos with a white screen and nothing but the word raw. When I click info, the exposure information is there, just no photo. And I spoke too soon in my post. I tried to download from the thumb drive and there is nothing there. Probably b/c it came from a PC.

This is all very weird. I have never had this happen before. I have been using SD cards for years and importing this way from other cameras.
Click to expand...
Hello Robyn. Since you have your photos now, here’s my suggestion. Perform a full format the card in your Z8. Do not do a quick format. Then take a few test shots of anything nearby. See if you can import the images successfully to your iMac. If so, you can use the card, but I’d still be suspicious of it. If you are having the same problem, the card is corrupted and should be discarded.

Once I have a problem with a card I no longer trust it, but that’s my personal practice. Also, I highly recommend Delkin Black or ProGrade Cobalt cards.

Hope this helps.

UPDATE: I misread your 2nd post. You may also have a problem on your iMac. Be certain you have the most recent iOS update installed. To eliminate a problem with your USB ports on your iMac, try having your husband upload a few of your RAW files to a cloud service (iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrve, etc). Download them onto your iMac. If you can see them properly then there may be a USB problem on your iMac. If you’re unable to see them properly, then there might be a problem with the disk storage on your iMac.
 
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Mountainmeezer said:
Thanks Dave! We are shooting NIkon Z8. I have made a change recently and changed from Lossless compression to High efficiency with star ??? Could that have done this? Mac OS has been updated recently.
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I use HE* on my Z8 & Z9. You won’t be able to see thumbnails on a Mac, if that’s your concern. Are you able to open the files in your editing app Lightroom, Capture One, or whatever you use?
 
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Thanks JA.

We have Lightroom, but have purposefully not started looking at it as we are trying to figure out the Z8s, Lol! this is the push we need for getting going with Lightroom. Maybe this is the problem. I can't see the thumbnails, but maybe if I open Lightroom I will be able to. OK, my brain is about to burst from all this learning. LOL!
 
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Mountainmeezer said:
Thanks Dave! We are shooting NIkon Z8. I have made a change recently and changed from Lossless compression to High efficiency with star ??? Could that have done this? Mac OS has been updated recently.
Click to expand...
Robyn.
HE* has been causing problems with Mac Photos app not showing thumbnails.

In your Apple Photos app, when you double click on the image and click the edit button do you see them then? Try to do an Export (File - Export) and export as JPG to see if the exported image shows on your desktop.

I think the file format incompatibility is the root of the issue. I shoot Canon and had some trouble with the HEIF type images for a while too. Now, I shoot in CR3 (Canon's compressed RAW) and JPG Fine.

Hope this helps but I think the root cause has been identified.

Jeff
 
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jeffnles1 said:
I think the file format incompatibility is the root of the issue. I shoot Canon and had some trouble with the HEIF type images for a while too. Now, I shoot in CR3 (Canon's compressed RAW) and JPG Fine.

Hope this helps but I think the root cause has been identified.
Click to expand...


Thanks Jeff! I couldn't get it to work, but did get a message-- "Photos cannot edit this image because it uses an unsupported format."
Yes, I think the mystery is solved!
 
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Mountainmeezer said:
Thanks Jeff! I couldn't get it to work, but did get a message-- "Photos cannot edit this image because it uses an unsupported format."
Yes, I think the mystery is solved!
Click to expand...
Long term I'd get LR setup and you'll have no problems with HEIF file format. Short term, I'd go back to shooting lossless RAW and not HEIF and iOS Photos should handle that fine.
 
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Mountainmeezer said:
Thanks Jeff! I couldn't get it to work, but did get a message-- "Photos cannot edit this image because it uses an unsupported format."
Yes, I think the mystery is solved!
Click to expand...
Robyn,
One last thing to check on your Mac.
Click on the apple icon in the upper left corner.
Then click on "About this Mac"
Be sure you're on the most current Mac OS. The current one is Sequoia 15.2.

If you are on an earlier version, go to Settings, click on General and Software Update to see if an update is available.
Jeff



Screenshot 2024-12-26 at 11.02.48 AM.png
 
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we had problems downloading images and found that the problem was the cable between the card reader and the computer. THese are fragile and easily damaged. Try a different cable and see if that works

also if you have the images off the card, run a certification cycle on it. I use softraid and it allows me to write and then verify each section of my card. Go to the website for more info. I have found bad disks and cards this way. Takes a few hours to a few days to fully test a card or disk. IMO well worth the time investment (which is 5 minutes to set up)
 
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The best way to check the memory card is to move enough photo image files to fill it completely. If no error messages then copy the files to a new folder on the computer. Using an image editor that opens the images and does not simply grab the embedded thumbnail it is easy to spot a problem file where the image is not complete. I have had CF and XQD cards that failed with this test.

Always a good idea to move the files off a card and then do a quick format in the camera which erases the file allocation table which can become corrupted. Most people have problems when they delete the files one by one on a memory card with the camera.

I had suffiient problems with Nikon Transfer not copying all the files from the camera to stop using it entirely. If there are 400 files on a card I move them to a folder on the PC and then verify that the folder on the PC has 400 files.
 
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