Lexar-40x Pro Card Horror!

ptsong

I bought a 512mb 40x Pro CF for my recent European trip. After using up the card I tried to download it to my lap top but to my horror it said that the card cannot be read and needed to be formatted. I tried using the Lexar data recovery softwares but to no avail. So I brought back the card and contacted Lexar. I was given a RMA no. After spending 2 weeks waiting I receive no news from Lexar so I contacted them but only to discover that they too cannot retrieve the data. I was so disappointed and I still have doubt whether they had tried retrieving the data at all. According to them they seldom come across a card so badly damaged. I told them about my attempt to retrieve the data myself using their data recovery software but that never work either. They suggested that I get the software upgrade and gave me the link. To add salt to the wound he said I will have to pay for the upgrade. The customer service said that's all they can "help". What help I said my card data was never recovered and they want me to pay more for an upgrade that probably wouldn't work either as they too cannot retrieve my data in their own workshop environment. After this experience I will never buy another Lexar card. Buyers beware use Lexar at your own risk! :huh

wxwax

That's a real shame. Did something happen to physically damage the card?

ptsong

No the card was new!
Nope the card was new and never dropped or suffered any physical abused. I suspect I got a bad patch. Very bad luck and scary. The worst part is I don't even realized it when I was using it. The replay in the camera was fine all the way.

wxwax wrote:

That's a real shame. Did something happen to physically damage the card?

cmr164

ptsong wrote:

Nope the card was new and never dropped or suffered any physical abused. I suspect I got a bad patch. Very bad luck and scary. The worst part is I don't even realized it when I was using it. The replay in the camera was fine all the way.

If it happens again, put the card back in the camera and if the replay still works then try connecting the camera to the computer with USB or Firewire and pulling the pictures off that way.

patch29

Try some other type of data rescue software.

Photorescue

I would think a search at versiontracker would turn up some other options.


Did you format the card when you put it in the camera initially? Just wondering. I have nine Lexar cards that all work well (knock on wood), but I reformat every time I start a new job.

Lexar should give you a new card for free. I always thought that was the deal with the pro cards, of course your images would be gone. I would try some other software first.

mercphoto

Safer with more than 1 card?
Is this perhaps a reason to have multiple CF cards, instead of 1 or 2 giant cards? Spread the risk of failure or loss between multiple pieces of silicon? I guess I've never thought of this before, I just look at the convenience factor of big cards.

cmr164

mercphoto wrote:

Is this perhaps a reason to have multiple CF cards, instead of 1 or 2 giant cards? Spread the risk of failure or loss between multiple pieces of silicon? I guess I've never thought of this before, I just look at the convenience factor of big cards.

The biggest risk of damaging a card is during the process of exchanging a full card for an empty one. This is manytimes greater if you are doing it while standing outside where dust, rain, salt, etc can enter in to the camera and or the device connections.

Once a card is known good the chance of a failure is very low, so I have a recommendation.

1. Buy the biggest cards you can afford and do not plan on using more than two.

2. When you get the card, format it, chkdsk it, fill it with files, verify the files.

3. Erase (not reformat)

4. repeat step 2 and 3

5. Now you have a known good card that should last for years.

photobug

mercphoto wrote:

Is this perhaps a reason to have multiple CF cards, instead of 1 or 2 giant cards? Spread the risk of failure or loss between multiple pieces of silicon?

He said that the problem was a bad patch. If he meant "a bad section (patch) of memory in the CF card", then multiple cards would have avoided some of the loss. If he meant "a bad firmware patch in his digicam", then all CF cards would have suffered the same problem and multiple cards wouldn't have helped.

I very successfully recovered photos from a damaged SanDisk Ultra II CF card using PhotoRescue software (highly recommended: http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/download.htm). I reformatted that SanDisk card and haven't had any problem since. (Like ptsong, my CF card played in the camera but the PC couldn't read it ... except with PhotoRescue). I have never had any failures with Viking cards (4 of them), just the SanDisk card. (I'm guessing that that failure was actually not related to the brand of card; it was probably due to some FAT filesystem glitch/incompatibility between Windows on the PC and the more rudimentary filesystem in the camera's firmware. No problems since the reformat -- and now I reformat every time I put a "clean" CF card in the camera.

cmr164's suggestion to load your Cf card back in the camera and then download via USB or Firewire is an excellent one (if the camera can still read the card, but not the PC via the card reader).

lynnma

cmr164 wrote:

The biggest risk of damaging a card is during the process of exchanging a full card for an empty one. This is manytimes greater if you are doing it while standing outside where dust, rain, salt, etc can enter in to the camera and or the device connections.

Once a card is known good the chance of a failure is very low, so I have a recommendation.

1. Buy the biggest cards you can afford and do not plan on using more than two.

2. When you get the card, format it, chkdsk it, fill it with files, verify the files.

3. Erase (not reformat)

4. repeat step 2 and 3

5. Now you have a known good card that should last for years.

Charles, I've never formatted my 512 card.. it's not been a problem yet.. should I format it? and why.
Thanks
Lynn

cmr164

lynnma wrote:

Charles, I've never formatted my 512 card.. it's not been a problem yet.. should I format it? and why.
Thanks
Lynn

A full format is likely to pick up potential media errors before they show up as corrupted images. It should be a full format nat a 'quick' format as the quick format is more like an erase. An occasional full format once or twice a year is probably a good thing but if you do it everytime it is not good.

Seamaiden

Ptsong's story is making me want to cry!

Now, I have a couple of questions pertaining specifically to my Oly xD cards. First, I thought that the card could not be used until it was formatted. Is this not the case?

I did this with both cards before I ever tried to take a picture. Second, I don't exactly have a "quick format" function on the camera. It's "card setup", "format?" yes/no, and if I pick "yes", then it goes and does its business. What kind of format is this that I've done?

Since getting the camera (February) I've done two reformats on my bigger card, and have been avoiding taking the card in and out of the camera for fear of damage. All work has been done with the camera as the "reader" (can't afford to purchase a reader at this time), with the USB hooked up to my machine, and an additional power cord so I spare the batteries. Am I creating future problems for myself?

photobug

Seamaiden wrote:

I have a couple of questions pertaining specifically to my Oly xD cards. First, I thought that the card could not be used until it was formatted. Is this not the case?

All(?) flash cards come preformatted with FAT-16 filesystem (or FAT-32 filesystem, for cards over 2GB). You should not have to format a card before you use it (but it can't hurt to format it in your camera).

Seamaiden wrote:

All work has been done with the camera as the "reader" (can't afford to purchase a reader at this time)

You can get a reader for $10 or less, for sure. If you're in the Bay Area, watch the Fry's ads. I've seen (and bought) 6-in-1 or 8-in-1 USB 2.0 card readers for about $10. (you can find USB 1.x readers for even less; I think I picked up one at OfcMax that was "free" after rebate)

cmr164

Seamaiden wrote:

Ptsong's story is making me want to cry!

Now, I have a couple of questions pertaining specifically to my Oly xD cards. First, I thought that the card could not be used until it was formatted. Is this not the case?

I did this with both cards before I ever tried to take a picture. Second, I don't exactly have a "quick format" function on the camera. It's "card setup", "format?" yes/no, and if I pick "yes", then it goes and does its business. What kind of format is this that I've done?

Since getting the camera (February) I've done two reformats on my bigger card, and have been avoiding taking the card in and out of the camera for fear of damage. All work has been done with the camera as the "reader" (can't afford to purchase a reader at this time), with the USB hooked up to my machine, and an additional power cord so I spare the batteries. Am I creating future problems for myself?

All cards should come preformatted but if you want to avoid the kind o problems that Ptsong has had then an initial format is a good thing.

'quick' format is a windows option. It does not actually format the card it just redoes the 'table of contents'. For the purpose of checking the card it is nearly useless.

It is ok to do the reads from the camera but it is likely that an external reader will be faster.

jimf

Seamaiden wrote:

First, I thought that the card could not be used until it was formatted. Is this not the case?

Most come preformatted, however some cameras will have trouble with cards not formatted by the camera. The safest thing to do is to have the camera format the card.

Charles' suggestion of doing a "fill the card and verify" test is a good one, although I haven't ever done that except during shooting :-).

Second, I don't exactly have a "quick format" function on the camera. It's "card setup", "format?" yes/no, and if I pick "yes", then it goes and does its business. What kind of format is this that I've done?

It's probably the equivalent of a quick format. For sure the Rebel's format is a quick format, because it only takes a few seconds for a 1G card :-).

Since getting the camera (February) I've done two reformats on my bigger card, and have been avoiding taking the card in and out of the camera for fear of damage. All work has been done with the camera as the "reader" (can't afford to purchase a reader at this time), with the USB hooked up to my machine, and an additional power cord so I spare the batteries. Am I creating future problems for myself?

You're probably fine, although it will be slower. I personally yank the card every time I need to unload it and haven't had issues -- except with SmartMedia, where I've had several failures of varying degrees of severity.

I strongly recommend Photorescue. I have the one that came on my Lexar card too, but I've not tried it.

jim

Seamaiden

Thanks for the replies, clearly I was lost on the whole concept of format of a media card. I am really surprised at how inexpensive a reader is, all I'd have to do beyond that is install a USB module for Gentoo.. I think (I'd have to research that).

Since the beau is getting the 10D pre-Bali, and I've got the xD card, I'm going to go ahead and research a reader that will take these two. Would I be safe in assuming that any reader that takes these two might also take other memory cards?

wxwax

Seamaiden wrote:

Would I be safe in assuming that any reader that takes these two might also take other memory cards?

I would not presume so. Carefully check which formats each card reader will accept. I have seen many different combinations.

jimf

wxwax wrote:

I would not presume so. Carefully check which formats each card reader will accept. I have seen many different combinations.

There are many "accepts almost anything" card readers, just look around. I saw one at a camera shop a few weeks ago.

jim

ptsong

No free card.
They don't even give me a free upgrade to their stinking DATA RECOVERY SOFTWARE which came with the 515 mb Pro Card least a Free Card. I did asked they said maybe a 256 but they have to ask the manager. Nothing happened. I just got a replaced card with a letter of apology. I can scream. All my precious photos gone.Having paid twice the price for the name didn't help. They are real stingy.

patch29 wrote:

Try some other type of data rescue software.

Photorescue

I would think a search at versiontracker would turn up some other options.


Did you format the card when you put it in the camera initially? Just wondering. I have nine Lexar cards that all work well (knock on wood), but I reformat every time I start a new job.

Lexar should give you a new card for free. I always thought that was the deal with the pro cards, of course your images would be gone. I would try some other software first.

patch29

ptsong wrote:

They don't even give me a free upgrade to their stinking DATA RECOVERY SOFTWARE which came with the 515 mb Pro Card least a Free Card. I did asked they said maybe a 256 but they have to ask the manager. Nothing happened. I just got a replaced card with a letter of apology. I can scream. All my precious photos gone.Having paid twice the price for the name didn't help. They are real stingy.

I had meant a new replacement card. Does the new card have the newer software?

ptsong

Finally!
After a zillion emails of not accepting my CF card fate lying down. I finally got them to work on my card. They sent me a replacement, a jumper card with a CD. I manage to find half the photos retrieved in that CD. Thay said they had spent many hrs recoverying the data so they cannot give me an extra card as compensation. Fair enough, half is better then none. Learnt my lessons now. Will bring along my USB cable to download my photos from the camera to the PC this time.

I heard some reader spike certain made cards. No harm believing it. Aren't all cards standard??? My reader was "HOTREADER" bought at EBAY. A 7 in 1 reader. Anyone had a similar with such an ordeal???

wxwax

ptsong wrote:

I heard some reader spike certain made cards. No harm believing it. Aren't all cards standard??? My reader was "HOTREADER" bought at EBAY. A 7 in 1 reader. Anyone had a similar with such an ordeal???

Where'd you hear that? As long as the card reader specifies that it can Handle CF Type I and CF Type II, as well as Microdrives, you should be fine.

Stan

I am sorry for your loss. Every time I fill a card I wonder if it is really all there or not. I only have 256 cards, but only because of the fear of losing 1 gb OMG 4gb! It is alot of money for such a small bit of kit so go for a 66X or greater if you want the speed, but if you lose 36 raw, 72 jpeg pics its better than losng a card or the contents. 512 is only just more than twice the price of 256 equivalent