Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?

General Topics
1

I’ve been busy lately, but since the holidays are coming up I need a camera for photos. I have a Polaroid 12.0 megapixel camera and I use 4GB iEcko SD cards. My PC is Windows 7.

I just noticed today that some of the photos I’ve taken in the past showed up as white question marks inside a blue circle. When I tried to view said photos it said “File Error”. This has happened in the past, but I was able to unlock and delete the photos (The photos was locked). In one instance the thumbnail for the photo showed up as the question mark, but when I viewed the photo it appeared normal.

But something odd happened today. After deleting a few “file error” photos, I noticed that it seemed like I was missing photos that I never deleted, but those “missing photos” didn’t show up at all, not even as question marks. When I plugged my camera into my computer to transfer photos, there was two folders named “. !” and “… (” (That’s what it looked like without putting your mouse over the folders to see their whole names) and there was several files with weird names like “@SCI51;3”, “DSBI5033.JPF”, “DSCI5132.JP [Then there was some weird line symbol with a perpendicular line coming off of it]” and “DSCI5194.JP [With a black dot at the end of the file name” etc…

None of the files or folders could be opened. Either it said that the file was deleted or that my computer was unable to read the files. Every now and then one of the weird named files would turn back into the photo it originally was and then it would turn back into it’s weird file name.

What is wrong with my camera/SD Card? How can I prevent this from happening. Is it safe to transfer photos to my PC from this SD Card?

Sorry for the block of text, thanks for reading. I typed this out in a hurry, so I might have missed some info.

Thanks in advance.
Got to go now. :slight_smile:

2

Have you checked the files to make sure they aren’t malicious ???
If they come up clean, try using Irfanview it is able to open
files even if the extension is incorrect as long as the file format matches.

3

If you could rule out any malware, then you might have a filesystem corruption in your SD.

Try photorec, among other filesystem tools. Essentially, you should try to get to back up the info (photos) and reformat your SD.

4

Thanks for the fast replies.

Unfortunately my family’s PC has a rogueware issue that I’ve been meaning to resolve (I’ve been busy in RL ^^;) so I don’t want to connect my PC to the internet just yet.

The SD Card is brand new and the PC is most likely malware-free, as it’s hardly touched any removable media (Except for brand new removable media that has never touched other PCs) or the internet and it has been scanned by up-to-date MBAM and Avast! the few times it was on the internet. I did scan the SD Card with MBAM anyway and it came up clean.

I have a bad habit of taking photos. I’m sure I’ve taken over 10,000+ pictures with this camera. I thought that overusing the camera or SD Cards may be the cause corruption, especially because I “lock all files” on my SD Card frequently.

EDIT: I did transfer all the non-“weird named” files to my PC… Though I did save one “weird name” file that you could properly view. Will this cause issues?

5

I don’t think so.

Have you tried photorec? It is specially aimed to this type of situations.

Even if you think that the SD card should be fine, I would still make a backup and reformat it. You don’t loose anything, specially if you backup first.

6

Is photorec a downloadable program (My PC isn’t connected to the internet due to malware on other PCs) or is it a default program on a PC? (Sorry for my lack of knowledge ^^;)

And I transferred the files to my PC, that would count as a “backup” yes?
Also, what exactly does reformatting do? Would it remove any “malware” or “issues” with the SD Card? And um… How do I reformat a SD Card? ^^;

Thanks for all you guys’ help! :smiley:
I need my camera to be working. :wink:

7

Not built into the system you need to download the program.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

You’ll find reformatting instructions at:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4793481_reformat-sd-card.html

Use your computer and select Fat 16 for the file format.

8

I’m going to try to reformat my SD Card first. I’ll update what happens afterward… As I’m not sure how to tell if reformatting “cleaned up” my SD Card of its “issues”… ^^;

Thanks for the help! :slight_smile:

9

Sorry for the double post.

UPDATE:
I inserted the SD Card in my PC’s card reader. I went to “Computer” and right clicked the SD card from the list and clicked “Format” and a pop-up showed up. In the drop-down (?) menu for “File System” it has the type of files to format the SD Card into? However the only options are:
NTFS
FAT
FAT32 (Default)
exFAT

Should I format it as FAT32?
My Polaroid camera doesn’t seem to have the option to reformat/format.

10

Format it to NTFS and make default.

11

I formatted it to NTFS, though I don’t know how to set it to default. Formatting did delete my photos (Not that it matters, I had back-uped previously :wink: ). However, when I inserted my SD Card, after formatting to NTFS, it now says “Card Error”. Did I do something wrong or is Polaroid cameras not compatible with NTFS?

12

What’s the full size of your SD Card?

Probably the NTFS format is the problem with the current new Polaroid error.

You should use the default option offered, FAT32, to format your removable media. NTFS is for Windows OS, and generally not used by removable media (like your SD Card). It is not impossible to use NTFS in removable media, but very rare.

So use FAT32 to format again, and test the SD Card in your Polaroid. Please report back.

13

Cards should only be formated from Cameras not Computers, you may of rendered your card useless.
Do a Google search it will save me explaining.

& ady4um what are you doing Recommending recovery software, when you shot down recuva .

14

Although I partially agree with you, the OP posted that there is no “format” or “erase” or “reset” for the SD Card in the Polaroid. If there is (it “should”, but I don’t really know, so I took the word from Misuzu ), then the camera should be used.

In any case, if the SD Card is formated with FAT32 as I previously suggested, and it turns to be still not compatible with the camera, it would be still better to re-format again with the camera itself starting from FAT32 than starting from NTFS.

& ady4um what are you doing Recommending recovery software, when you shot down recuva .

@SHARKY,

This is OT (and should be asked with a PM), but I have no choice but to respond here so to reduce potential confusions for other readers.

As I already mentioned, with other words (in the original topic where we discussed it), your interpretation of that original post was completely mistaken. I don’t shot down Recuva, when it is used appropriately under the adequate circumstances.

For this case, Photorec should be better, generally speaking, since it is specifically aimed to this exact type of situations. Recuva “could” be also a possibility, but, for this particular case, I’m still going to go with Photorec as my first choice of recommendation (please keep reading).

But, since the OP, Misuzu, doesn’t really want to try to recover any file, but the goal is to recover the functionality of the SD Card, the discussion is worthless. The direct path for the current goal is to format the SD Card using the adequate tool, which would be the specific camera itself if Misuzu finds such possibility. If not, then FAT/FAT32 is the most common guess for removable media (including SD cards).

Let’s wait for real feedback so to move on towards the current goal (which at this point seems to be not related to any malware, but it can’t be 100% discarded yet).

15

I believe the correct format s/b Fat 16 as outlined in my post and in the instructions I posted.
Certainly NOT NTFS.

16

If the Camera wont format it, he can try to format it with another Camera, or say goodbye to the card.

17

Obviously sometimes I’m not very observant. I checked and searched the options on my camera better and I found the option to format under “Memory Kit”. I formatted using my camera, it worked! I was able to take a picture without any problems. I put the card in my PC and there was no “weirdly named” files. So it seems to be working fine.

Should I do anything else? I want to reduce the chances of this “issue” happening again if I can?

I read somewhere that over zealous deleting of photos, not formatting your SD Card right before you use it for the first time and not formatting a SD Card occasionally can cause issues with your camera? I am guilty of all three of the things I mentioned. I probably should backup and format my SD Card more.

4GB I believe.

18

@Misuzu,

Glad you solve it. Now, about those type of problems with removable media, I would say that one of the most important things is to use the “safe disconnect hardware” (or whatever you want to call it) tray icon, which is important and usually forgotten (or intentionally missed).

So, when you are about to disconnect your card (using the camera, usb hub or whatever) from Windows, please close any and all applications that are “using” any file of your card or the SD drive itself (including Windows Explorer), and then use the tray icon to “safely disconnect” your media. When Windows tells you it is safe, only then unplug it.

Flash media or alike (SD cards, for example) have certain life span, so indeed it is not recommended to save + delete + save + delete “frequently”, but the order of magnitude for this operations is not something that should worry you.

What you could do to extend the life of the card is to try to use it “close to 100%” (more to 80% or even less in real life) before deleting. You can back up once in a while (also not “compulsively” frequently), without having to delete it each time. Of course, that “100%” is very subjective (and not really 100% either), depending on the type of use.

For example, if you are going to travel (and “heavily” use your SD card), you might want to clean it and test it before.

That’s incorrect. There are independent SD card readers. Even if for some strange reason the camera wouldn’t be able to format the SD card, by formatting it with FAT32 under Windows it would work just as any other UFD (and in fact, the SD was already formatted using Windows before). The potential problem “could” still be a reliability factor in the SD card, but that doesn’t mean there is no use at all for it or that it can’t be formatted using other tools.

19

I’m going to take your advice. I usually use the “safe disconnect hardware” on most removable media, though I don’t know if I used it with cameras in the past. I also take too many photos and delete a lot, so I’m going to try to lessen how many photos I take. I’ll also backup or format every month or so.

Thanks for all the help guys! ;D
-Misuzu

20

I’m not saying you should take less photos. It would be against one of the main advantages of digital photos.

One possibility is to delete the unwanted ones not “every day”, but when your card is, say, 50% or 75% full.

The “principle” is that those unwanted photos (files in the card) are using specific spaces (compartments) of memory (of the card). When you delete them, those same spaces get to be available for new use. In some “extreme” situations, the same memory space is used again and again, while other spaces are used very infrequently. The “overused” memory spaces get to a point that they start failing (not saving the photo / file correctly), even if the other (less used) spaces are free and working correctly.

So, in some cases, very few memory spaces in the SD card might be failing, and then the SD card turns to be almost useless, even if most of the memory is potentially working correctly.

The technical details and the specific situations where this happens are a little more complicated than that (and the “lingo” I used is also not so technically correct either), but my intention is just to explain the main idea / goal.

For a specific memory area to start failing, it would need 1’000s or even 10’000 times of use (between writing and reading the same memory space again and again and again…).

So if you keep those unwanted photos / files a little bit longer instead of deleting them “immediately”, the next photo you shot will certainly occupy a different memory space (instead of using the same space you just cleared by deleting the previous photo). Again, this is not exactly technically correct, but it is just to give you an idea of what I mean.

The bottom line is: enjoy your camera and use it (and the SD card) as much as you want and need. Having multiple safe backups is what is going to really save you from a potential disaster. The rest is just hardware :).