# CF Card Corrupted



## eml58 (May 22, 2013)

Has anyone else had this issue ??

While I was shooting a few days ago I found that when I was part way into transferring Images from my CF Card to my MacPro (Images shot on my 1Dx), the download stopped & a message came up that the remaining files were corrupted. I had downloaded 5 of 338. Tried my MacBook Pro, and the message changed to "unable to download these files", put the Card back into the 1Dx, Camera wouldn't accept the Card but suggested a "re format", tried the card in both my 1dx Bodies & my 5DMK III Bodies, same story, somehow the CF Card had become corrupted.

I did a in Camera reformat of the Card & put it back into the 1Dx, shot off 50 Images & all worked just fine, no issues downloading to the computer.

Friend of mine suggested i should have tried Image retrieval software before re formatting, but it was too late of course, then I searched & found software called "Wondershare data Recovery", tried it, then bought it & it actually pulled off the CR2 Files from the CF Card, after re format, saved 326 of the Original CR2 Files. I imagine there's a lot of this software out there, but I just wasn't aware it could recover files after a Camera Re Format, in fact it recovered almost every file ever taken on that particular CF Card.

I would also note that I currently use Lexar Pro 1000x 128GB CF Cards (I also use 128GB Sandisk Extreme Pro 100MB/s), may have been an isolated incident but when I purchased 4 of these Lexar 128GB 1000x Cards I had to return one of the Cards immediately as it was corrupted as new, Lexar did replace it with a new one that worked

For the future I've set my Bodies to Copy to two CF Cards (1 Lexar + 1 Sandisc 128GB each) at the same time on the 1Dx & to both the CF Card & SD Card on the 5DMK III (CF 128GB Lexar + 64GB Sandisc), Unless both Cards Die, I'll should always have two Copies in Camera. I had become complacent re the Cards reliability, clearly the CF/SD Cards do have issues from time to time.

Going back over my Images for the past 12 months I do note that there have been a few Corrupted Images on the 1Dx when using the lexar Cards, in the past it's been one or two over a shoot covering perhaps 1,000 Images, so not something I ever really felt concerned about, but it's interesting that it seems only to be the Lexar CF Cards that this occurs on.

Purpose of the Post is simply information, this was the first time I had had this issue and I was glad there was a reasonable resolution short of 100% loss of my files. But i would be interested in anyone else's view on this if they have had any similar occurrences.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (May 22, 2013)

Recovery software will recover files from a card formatted in the camera because its a "Quick Format" which means that it just pretends the files are gone.

A full format in a computer will erase the card and write zeros.

Card readers can be a problem, if a card is removed or sometimes the reader is bumped while downloading, it can mess things up.

I'm glad you recovered the images.


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## eml58 (May 22, 2013)

Thanks Mt Spokane, I guess that beggars the question, should we reformat with the Computer from time to time ?? To clear the Card ??

I've always reformatted In Camera after every download to the Computer, I've never simply deleted Files. But as you point out, and as I've found out, that never really gets rid of the Old Images.

And you make an excellent point regards the Card Reader, thinking back now I suspect I may have done something during the download that caused the issue, what I'm not sure, but it is possible.


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## alexanderferdinand (May 22, 2013)

2 times strange things happened:
August 12 after a longer burst with the 1D4 and a Sandisk extreme 60mb/s it froze, showed err02, before I could do anything, the message disappeared, no loss.
A few days ago: a shorter burst, 5 or 6 frames, it showed err02 again, it changed only after I waited a few seconds, switched the camera off, then on again. The pictures werent on the CF - card, but on the SD- card. The CF was a Transcend 1000x.

I formatted every card I have the first time on the PC too, then in the camera too.
Too few days gone, but no issues. I will see.......


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## Dwight (May 22, 2013)

Been using 4 x 32GB Lexar 1000x and 2 x 16GB Lexar 1000x. No problems thus far. I'll keep an eye out. Thanks for the heads up. Recovery software, IMO, is a great app to have in your arsenal...better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. At the end of the day, the photos, not any of our photo gear, are the most important and the climax of why we do what we do...photography.

Having said that, I personally never format my cards on any of my computers. I just format regularly in cam. Not saying one is better than the other...just my personal workflow and I have yet to run into any issues.

Thanks for sharing your experience.


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## RGF (May 26, 2013)

Where did you buy the cards. I ask because there are a lot of fake cards out there - very profitable to relabel a cheap card as an expensive branded card


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## neuroanatomist (May 26, 2013)

I use SanDisk cards, never had an issue. FYI, all SanDisk cards come with a license code for 1-yr of their RescuePro software (I've got a stack of those codes).

EDIT: despite never having a problem, I have my 1D X set for simultaneous write of RAW images to both CF cards, just in case...


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## TexPhoto (May 26, 2013)

"Friend of mine suggested i should have tried Image retrieval software before re formatting, but it was too late of course"

It's not too late. *Odds are the old photos have not been overwritten, at least no all of them*, unless you have filled the card with new photos or data

And expensive cards are in general better, but not in fallible you, you real should have some recovery software ready to go. I use data rescue, and file salvage. Filesalvage is free and works pretty well.


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## herbcat9 (Jul 9, 2015)

I recently shot a wedding and was so excited to get back and download the images to my Mac Pro so I could send the couple a sneak-peak. I was using my EOS 1D X for the wedding and had no problems at all during the day with recording images or reviewing them on the display. So one last check to see if I was downloading the correct card so I checked the display and all's good placed the CF Card in the 3.0 reader and the blue light lights up but the icon does not show in my Mac finder. I removed the card and placed it back into my 1D X and this time get a message saying card not readable please Format your card. This is where I new I had a serious problem as just before it was displaying in the camera and the next minute it wasn't. I started Googling this topic and came across http://SPAM which explained what happens when a CF Card goes bad and the only way to recover your images is in an actual dismantling of the card and bypassing the controller which usually is causing the problem. After mailing in my card to them I received an email shortly after that they had received my CF Card and it would take approx. 2 days and they would get back to me. Well a day later I received an email showing me a Link where I could review the Thumbnails of the Raw Data I had shot and every image was recovered. I am one happy camper as a wedding can not be repeated as we all know so I would totally recommend checking out the this site if you ever have a Data problems with your cards as a lot of the times it isn't a software fix it but more a physical problem. Best regards........-


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## Northbird (Jul 9, 2015)

I've only ever had one problem on a 7D II with a Sandisk Ultra 32GB. After shooting for a while the camera reported the card was corrupt, it would not even mount on any device after that so file recovery not possible. Only option was an expensive data recovery service. 

Learned my lesson and write to both cards since then.


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## RGF (Jul 9, 2015)

My wife recently had problems with 2 separate Lexar 1066x 64GB cards shot in different 7D M2 cameras (same card reader, same Macbook Air). Could have been card reader but in the end we could recover 99+% of the images using Lexar recovery software. Did a better job than DataRescue which has been my goto software.


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## Bennymiata (Jul 10, 2015)

If a card is interrupted while up or downloading, it will cause a problem with the controller, and while the files are still on the card, the controller can't see the "addresses" of the files as it is these that get corrupted.
It's quite usual that if only one address is corrupted, the controller can't get past it.
While it is faster to use a card reader to dump your photos, but using the camera is safer.

An in-camera format only removes the addresses of the files, and does not remove the actual files, hence why you can recover formatted files, but you can only recover files that have not beeen overwritten.
To properly .clear a card, you should delete the files and then do a deep format on your pc.

HDDs are the same.
Formatting only removes the addresses and not the files themselves.


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## RustyTheGeek (Jul 10, 2015)

I know it's hard to be disciplined about but I still try to use 8 or 16 GB cards and change them often. This way, if a card is corrupted, lost, etc, I only lose a portion of images, not the entire event, trip, vacation or whatever.

Shooting to both cards in a 5D3, 1DX, etc is nice but slows things down a bit due to the slower transfer of the SD card. Hopefully the 5D-4 will not suffer from such a short sighted design.


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## Prunkou (Jun 30, 2016)

> I use SanDisk cards, never had an issue. FYI, all SanDisk cards come with a license code for 1-yr of their android recovery software (I've got a stack of those codes).



I don't use SanDisk so it is not the optio for me. What is the program to recover the corrupted files?It seems recuva not working any more.


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## Erikkl (Jul 20, 2016)

Prunkou said:


> > I use SanDisk cards, never had an issue. FYI, all SanDisk cards come with a license code for 1-yr of their android recovery software (I've got a stack of those codes).
> 
> 
> 
> I don't use SanDisk so it is not the optio for me. What is the program to recover the corrupted files?It seems recuva not working any more.



Maybe the professional Card data recovery is better for CF card data recovery.


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## RGF (Jul 20, 2016)

Over the past few years we have had problems with both Lexar and Sandisk cards. In the end I believe the problem was not with the cards but the USB 3.0 cord attaching the card reader to the Macbook.

When I replaced these cords there were no future problems.


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## Kristofgss (Jul 20, 2016)

I've had the same issue with a faulty USB cable which caused the card reader to ruin the files, but image recovery software (the Zero Assumption Recovery tool which is freeware for images, paid version for other types of files) managed to get most of the images back.
The in-camera reformat only deletes the table of contents to the files, so recovery software manages to recover them. That has also helped me out when I accidentally deleted files from my pc. Going back to the original card still manages to bring up the old pictures which have not been overwritten and with the current size of cards, you have good odds of getting old images back.


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