Corrupt: Sandisk Extreme Pro 64gb

[NickZee]

I have a reoccurring issue that I wish to bounce off you you guys.   

Gear:
Canon T3i, with latest Canon Software 1.0.2.
ML NEXT v2.3 2014Jan20600D102
Full Battery


About every few weeks, my Sandisk Extreme Pro 64gb will get corrupted while in camera. 

I don't know what is causing it, and it's happen three times.

One time, I turned the camera off, and back on (with in a few seconds) and the screen gave me the "Card Cannot Be Read" mumbojumbo.

Today, I left the camera going for a star timelapse.  I put the setting to 30sec and to stop after 250 images (or so).  After the 250 images, I estimate that the camera was sitting for 30 minutes before I went to get it.  I flipped the switch to off, then back on, and got Card error message. 

Thankfully, I've been able to recover the files with Recuva.  I recently lost a 32gb PNY card and was not able to recover or format it.  I'm not sure how, why, or what version of ML was on it. 

In order to get my Sandisk Card back, I have downloaded the SD Card Formatter 4.0 tool from here: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

After I reformat it, I used the EOSCard Tool from here: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/EOScard

Then, since I'm using the Nightly Build v2.3 2014Jan20600D102 version, I'll unzip that folder to the SD card and go on my way.

I originally installed ML the proper way with 32gb and smaller. 

I've never corrupted a card with the Stable version of ML.

One thing I just noticed, is that the SD card does not have a .FIR file on it.  Just ML Folder and autoexec.bin.  Does it need to have the "600D-102.fir" file?  Because it works without one.

Thank you for any suggestions.  This is driving me crazy.

[NickZee]

One thing I forgot to mention.

I'm using a Lexar® Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader.  It's plugged directly into the rear usb 3 port.
http://www.lexar.com/products/lexar-professional-usb-30-dual-slot-reader

An addition note, I every day (shut down and restart) I have to unplug this card reader in order for it to be recognized.  My computer doesn't acknowledge simply inserting the SD card.

The only reason I'm posting here is because I don't know if ML is a factor.

[NickZee]

I'll post here each time the card corrupts. 

Last action: Format card in camera.  HDR Time lapse.  5 aeb, 2ev, 15 sec intervals, M mode, M Focus.  Ended sequence with play button. 

3 HDR timelapse and a full day photoshoot (500 images) since last post.

Plug into Lexar card reader, and it needs to be formatted.

Recuva to the rescue.

Not blaming ML at all, I simply don' know what is causing it.

[1%]

Try a $10 USB2.0 reader... if it still corrupts, RMA the card.

[rsmith02]

I've had the same issue with a 600D and Sandisk Extreme Pro 64gb card. It periodically malfunctioned and couldn't be read by computer or camera until reformatted. I had it RMAed as defective and now the replacement exhibited this problem today. I'm using nightly builds from earlier this year.

[KMikhail]

Recently had a few glitches with the 64GB 95mb/s SD card from Sandisk as well. For example it couldn't finish writing the raw photo file and for the first time I witnessed an associated animation when tried to turn off the camera. It never finished, though, and I had to take the battery out.

Though, it occurred just recently, and might be associated with latest ML builds - hanged my camera a couple of  times.

[dxotic]

I had an issue also with losing a Transcend 64Gb 400x CF using a recent nightly build of ML for 5D3 1.1.3 I was trying the start and stop silent pics intervalometer I was also using it in 3x mode and at 1sec intervals, at first the screen showed that it was writing and gave a file name but soon after 50 or so I noticed that the file name was not being recorded on the back of the LCD screen after which i stopped the timelapse and then when i tried to access the card it I was given the "Card can not be read" It was dead.
Maybe I shouldn't have tried to stop the timelapse but i have done 50 or so over time  and have watched the LCD to see what it was doing and this was the first time i noticed that it was irregular and didn't write the filename. I tried it again without the "start" and "stop after " feature and it seemed to be ok and writing the file name using another identical card.

 

[Cabamaru]

I used to have the same problem with a Sandisk 30mb/s Class10 SDXC1 64GB and my EOS M.

Every time, after shooting at least 4gb of either video or photos and switching off the camera, it got corrupted and I needed to reformat it after recovering the pictures with a recovery software.
What seems to have fixed that (since it stopped for the past month and i have been getting it full at least ones a day with time-lapses) was:
1. Formatting the card IN camera
2. Adding the ML files
3. Using "macboot" to make it bootable
4. Emptying the card in my computer and never reformatting it inside the camera.

If I either format the card inside the camera, or move the ML files in it after it was made bootable, or format it in my mac and then add the files etc, it gets corrupted after the first use and power off of the camera.

Hope it helps

[NickZee]

That's good info @cabamaru.  Thank you.

It happen again today.

I even tried preventing it.

Steps:
Last Night
1. Reformat card with SDFromatter 4.0. QUICK Option. (no prior issues over the last few weeks.)
2. Right Click, Eject
3. Formatted In camera. Removed and put back in Lexar SD Card Reader.
4. Added zipped ML Nightly.2014Sept12.600D102.zip
5. Extracted Files, deleted Nightly.2014Sept12.600D102.zip
6. EOSCard 1.40. Checked EOS_DEVELOP. Checked BOOTDISK.  Everything OK
7. Card went back in camera.  Switched on to check that ML was installed and working.  Everything OK.

Today
8. Formatted in Camera Before starting.
9. Used ML Advanced Bracket, intervalometer, and single shot mode seperatly throughout shoot.  Shot for 3hrs, 400 images total on the same Battery.  NEVER switched camera off.
10. Switched camera off after last angle was complete.
11. Switched Camera on to show client some of the angles, ERROR- Card Cannot be Accessed...
12. Recuva
 
Over the last few months I have been using Advanced Bracket, Intervalomter for TL's. Or ETTR and intervalometer for TL's.  Occasionally, over the past few months, I would "have that feeling" that the card was going to crash on me soon, so I would perform the steps above as a proactive measure.

For about 3 weeks I switched to the standard version of ML, and it never failed once.

Can ML produce a error log file when this happens?

[NickZee]

Just logging a report that I have not had a card failure since the last post. 

I also have not formatted the card in the camera since the last post.

[NickZee]

Excited to report that my card has not failed since the last post.  The difference?  Have not formatted in camera or computer.   Just import and delete the pictures (from file explorer) and go.

[rsmith02]

Interesting. My (third!) Extreme Pro 64GB has been so unreliable I stopped using it at all. I'll try your method. I have been using Sandisk Extreme Pro 32gbs for a few months formatting in camera with no issues at all.

[mxma1]

Seems to be the only thread on this topic.

I was using latest nightly builds on my 6D and corrupted 3 different PNY 64gb cards (kept RMAing them) and now a SanDisk 64gb Extreme Pro.

I've had to decide to no longer use ML on my 6D as I've lost 2 professional shoots so far and can't take that chance again. Such a shame because ML is amazing!

Someone mentioned seeing a pattern of 4GB or more data on the cards being tied to this issue. Can't confirm this, but all the times I've had a corrupt card, it's been on longer shoots with possibly 4GB or more photos.

I also format my card in camera after every shoot. So again, can't confirm that's the cause, but just trying to throw out more info into the discussion.

[DeafEyeJedi]

@mxma1:

Did you format these cards into exFAT in order to bypass the 4GB recording limit?

Not sure if 6D is capable with that?

[mxma1]

@DeafEyeJedi

No I wasn't formatting the cards in any way other than the usual Canon menu system on the 6D.

I'd have to double check, but I don't think the 6D's native formatting process formats in exFAT.

Also to provide an update here, I've not had a single corrupt card issue since I stopped using ML on my 6D. So things are still pointing to involving ML somehow corrupting these cards :/

[Walter Schulz]

If you're removing cards too fast (without giving ML enough time to shutdown properly) you will surely have to fight file system corruption. Did you just open card compartment door to remove card and having *not* waited for LED to end flashing?
And AFAIK 6D (as all other ExFAT supporting cams) will use ExFAT on cards 64 GB and up.
EDIT: I'm wrong, 6D will format ExFAT for cards > 128 GB only.
http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/tipsandtricks/3702.do

[mxma1]

I've definitely noticed that with ML, the SD card LED indicator blinks for a few seconds after powering off.

I've always waited for a generous amount of time letting the LED finish blinking before removing the card.

So I don't think that's what caused the card corruption in my case.

[Walter Schulz]

The problem is not solved by waiting after power off. Canon firmware will access card just after opening card compartment lid. Even if powered off!

[mxma1]

Pardon I meant to say that I was waiting 5-10 seconds after opening the card lid, not just after powering off.

I'd turn the camera off, open the lid, wait for the LED blinking to finish, wait an additional 1-2 seconds, then remove the card. Every time.

Also, just an update here. I double checked my 64GB Sandisk card that I format in-camera (no ML) and it is in fact exFAT. Hope that extra bit of info is of any help to figuring this problem out!

[baranbaran]

well done for this great job man ......

[tron]

I can only add my (untroubled) experience with 5D3 and ML.

Up to now I have used the following SDxx cards:

2 X 64GB Sandisk Extreme Pro 95Mb/sec
2 X 32GB Sandisk Extreme Class 10
1 X 8GB Sandisk Extreme Class 10

The cameras are 2x5MkIII (1.2.3) either with or without ML and I never had any issue.

Releases I remember were: ML 28Apr 2015. This worked (and keeps working) OK even when I had to power off a camera in the middle an erroneously chosen exposure of 30 sec to save time! No corruption in both cards.

26 Sep 2014(the Fixed one- there were 2 releases with that date): No problem (it was a test release containing silent full res module)

Jul 2014 (Sorry I do not recall specific dates for that): No problem

Some other facts: In Canon 5D3 the SD card is formatted exFAT for 64GB (and upwards I assume)
32GB SD cards are formatted FAT32. By the way the CF 64GB card is formatted FAT32 by the same camera!
I do not know about other cameras.

I mostly format cards in camera. Only one time I have formatted one in PC but I made sure that the default format parameters were the same with the card's. Then I reformatted the card in the camera (No Low level).

The above are not suggestions, merely a description of what I do. So no issues at all.

Add to that in the past I was using a 5D2 with nightly ML (up to Jan 14). Again no issues.

A (maybe) silly question - regarding the cards experiencing issues: Are they bought from reputable sellers?

As it is mentioned that this never happens with the stable release so (which makes the previous question silly - I know):

Can this be reproduced: OK I do not mean after a timelapse but how about what I did (wrongfully maybe but with with no consequences):

Take a long exposure and turn the camera off. Do not open the door and do not remove the battery for some time. Then check the card in 2 ways:

1. Turn the camera on and see if everything is OK
2. Put the card in a card reader and run the good old chkdsk from command line.

It is not a complete test of course but if in one case you have no issues and in the other you have (keeping all other test parameters roughly the same) maybe you have found something. Maybe you can think of other experiments but you must have all the test parameters the same and be patient (the problem seems unpredictable so you may repeat the experiments many times).

[mxma1]

I can only add my (untroubled) experience with 5D3 and ML.

Up to now I have used the following SDxx cards:

2 X 64GB Sandisk Extreme Pro 95Mb/sec
2 X 32GB Sandisk Extreme Class 10
1 X 8GB Sandisk Extreme Class 10

The cameras are 2x5MkIII (1.2.3) either with or without ML and I never had any issue.

Releases I remember were: ML 28Apr 2015. This worked (and keeps working) OK even when I had to power off a camera in the middle an erroneously chosen exposure of 30 sec to save time! No corruption in both cards.

26 Sep 2014(the Fixed one- there were 2 releases with that date): No problem (it was a test release containing silent full res module)

Jul 2014 (Sorry I do not recall specific dates for that): No problem

Some other facts: In Canon 5D3 the SD card is formated exFAT for 64GB (and upwards I assume)
32GB SD cards are formated FAT32. By the way the CF 64GB card is formated FAT32 by the same camera!
I do not know about other cameras.

I mostly format cards in camera. Only one time I have formatted one in PC but I made sure that the default format parameters were the same with the card's. Then I reformatted the card in the camera (No Low level).

The above are not suggestions, merely a description of what I do. So no issues at all.

Add to that I in the past I was using a 5D2 with nightly ML (up to Jan 14). Again no issues.

A (maybe) silly question - regarding the cards experiencing issues: Are they bought from reputable sellers?

As it is mentioned that this is never happens with the stable release so (which makes the previous question silly - I know):

Can this be reproduced: ok I do not mean after a timelapse but how about what I did (wrongfully maybe but with with no consequences):

Take a long exposure and turn the camera off. Do not open the door and do not remove the battery for some time. Then check the card in 2 ways:

1. Turn the camera on and see if everything is OK
2. Put the card in a card reader and run the good old chkdsk from commmand line.

It is not a complete test ofcourse but if in one case you have no issues and in the other you have (keeping all other test parameters roughly the same) maybe you have found something. Maybe you can think of other experiments but you must have all the test parameters the same and be patient (the problem seems unpredictable so you may repeate the experiments many times).

tron thanks for all the info! I've actually had similar situations 4-5 times where I've had to pull the SD card or perhaps did not wait for the LED blinking to stop after opening the card door and pulled it out quickly by accident. None of these seem to have triggered any sort of issue luckily.

The SanDisk 64GB Extreme Pro 95mb/s I'm using as well as the previous PNY 64GB's were purchased from Amazon so I think it's fairly reliable.

With your 64GB SD cards you're using in the 5DIII that are in exFAT (as formatted by the camera itself), can I ask how you installed ML on them?

If I remember correctly, for my 6D I just copied the ML files (a nightly build) on the card, threw them in the camera and did the firmware update to install ML.

This probably sounds incredibly irresponsible or careless of me, but I read other instructions that say you must enable the card to be bootable first. I always just had ML installed without doing that kind of process and it seemed to work fine besides this occasional corrupt SD card issue. I also have done it this way on my EOS M and never had any problems. I assumed the step to make the card bootable was pertaining to the Stable Release version of ML.

Might this be the easy answer to my problem?

Anyone have a better understanding of this? Thanks!

[Walter Schulz]

With your 64GB SD cards you're using in the 5DIII that are in exFAT (as formatted by the camera itself), can I ask how you installed ML on them?

If I remember correctly, for my 6D I just copied the ML files (a nightly build) on the card, threw them in the camera and did the firmware update to install ML.

Same for 5D3.

This probably sounds incredibly irresponsible or careless of me, but I read other instructions that say you must enable the card to be bootable first.

Which will be done by running Canon's firmware update procedure when using a card with ML files on it. Exception: 550D/600D

[tron]

The installation is very simple.

1. I format the sd card in the camera.
2. I put the card in a no name card reader connected to my laptop.
3. I expand the latest nightly ML zip file into the root directory of the card.
4. I put the card back in camera and update firmware.

[mxma1]

Thanks for the clarification. I thought that was the process and is indeed how I've always done it. Just wanted to rule that one out