CF CARD Readable on Camera not on MAC/PC

[ansongil]

Here is the problem:

I am able to view the CF cards on both build 21 for the normal RED CMOS Sensor, and Build 30 for the M-X sensor.

Both cameras can read all media, therefore I know that there is nothing wrong with the CF card.

I don't need to redundead or anything of that matter, so please do not suggest that to me.

So my problem is that not that I need to recover footage but that the cards are unreadable.



The problem here is simple that the cards are not readable on MAC/PC computers.

I have tried 3 different CF Card readers and 4 different computers none of them read the RED 16GB FLASH cards.

All of the 8GB cards work just fine along with other CF cards that are not RED Formated but used for other still photography cameras.

My guess is that there is a problem with the firmware of the cards, red one camera, or CF card reader.

Not sure what the problem is but I am in need of advice. If anyone has had similar problems and have resolved them please reply.

Thank you

 

[Alex Carr]

You need to use software that will read unmounted Volumes, I have software that will copy files from connected devices(radically different from mounted Volumes). ands its free. Google: CG security. Redundead only works with mounted Volumes, that's why its not a very useful tool in most data recovery situations.

Ive had this happen several times, there doesn't seem to be a real cause except pulling cards before ejecting them. And I've been successful reading files from devices every single time.

 

[ansongil]

Thank you for your advice about recovering the footage.

Yet, the problem still remains. How do I get these cards to read properly using Mac/PC computers.

If the disk is not readable it becomes very annoying not being about to mount onto a computer.

Have any advice on how to get the card readable on the computer?

I can not format the card in the computer, it does not permit.

thank you

 

[Steve Freebairn]

it would help if you posted what CF readers you've tried. I've had the least amount of problems with the Lexar FW800 CF readers. I've heard of lots of problems with CF readers that are built into monitors and printers.

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Thank you for your advice about recovering the footage.

Yet, the problem still remains. How do I get these cards to read properly using Mac/PC computers.

If the disk is not readable it becomes very annoying not being about to mount onto a computer.

Have any advice on how to get the card readable on the computer?

I can not format the card in the computer, it does not permit.

thank you

Before you do anything else you must recover any data you need from these cards.

If you have done this already, or if there is no data you need on the cards, then you are ready for the next step.

The first and possibly easiest thing to try is to reformat the card on the camera, and see if they are readable on a Mac/PC after formatting.

Chances are that they will not be, but its worth a try and takes little time.

The next step is to examine the volumes and repartition them.

A simple example- and also worth trying for the same reasons as above- is to look at the CF card using Disk Utility on OS X. While the card may not mount, it will probably be visible as a device in disk utility. If you right click on it then you should get options under erase for creating new partitions.

Regardless of how you get there, the next step after repartitioning is to format.

Now the CG Security site includes a tool called Testdisk that lets you do all this. Definitely check it out.

If you still can't get your cards working, then its time to call in your BombSquad rep. RED can almost certainly help.

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

it would help if you posted what CF readers you've tried. I've had the least amount of problems with the Lexar FW800 CF readers. I've heard of lots of problems with CF readers that are built into monitors and printers.

I have had good results with the Sandisk FW800 CF card reader too.

Generally the dedicated CF card readers are best.

I agree about the readers built into monitors and printers. Also the cheap USB readers are awful. Not to mention they are all slow as fossilized trees.

Oddly enough one reader I've had good results with is the one built into certain models of the Playstation 3. Its fairly fast even though its fundamentally a USB device (and thus still notably slower than FW400), and its very reliable.

 

[Alex Carr]

I have had good results with the Sandisk FW800 CF card reader too.

Generally the dedicated CF card readers are best.

I agree about the readers built into monitors and printers. Also the cheap USB readers are awful. Not to mention they are all slow as fossilized trees.

Oddly enough one reader I've had good results with is the one built into certain models of the Playstation 3. Its fairly fast even though its fundamentally a USB device (and thus still notably slower than FW400), and its very reliable.

There are far superior readers than anything usb or firewire 800. I ONLY use esata readers.

Dealing with a situation like this is not 1 click and will never be, it takes experience to solve puzzles with ease and not make any mistakes during the process.

 

[Thomas Wright]

You need to use software that will read unmounted Volumes, I have software that will copy files from connected devices(radically different from mounted Volumes). ands its free. Google: CG security. Redundead only works with mounted Volumes, that's why its not a very useful tool in most data recovery situations.

Ive had this happen several times, there doesn't seem to be a real cause except pulling cards before ejecting them. And I've been successful reading files from devices every single time.

ehm, i've had 16GB CF cards that don't mount, ie don't come up on the desktop when connected if that's what you mean, but when diskutil list is done in terminal the card comes up and subsequently redundead works. I don't know if this helps cos it was only with a certain faulty card not all 16GB cards.

 

[Deanan]

ehm, i've had 16GB CF cards that don't mount, ie don't come up on the desktop when connected if that's what you mean, but when diskutil list is done in terminal the card comes up and subsequently redundead works. I don't know if this helps cos it was only with a certain faulty card not all 16GB cards.

Sounds like the filesystem on the card got corrupted. Reformat after you recover with redundead and see how it does.

 

[Ian Laurie]

I have had several CF card readers that do not work with the 16GB cards but work fine with the 8GB cards. Sandisk FW800 CF card reader works great.

@Alex Carr, where did you get your esata CF card reader? I have never seen one but sounds like a fast alternative.

 

[Nelson Goforth]

There are far superior readers than anything usb or firewire 800. I ONLY use esata readers.

Alex, How are you connecting to the backup drives? I'm using eSATA for that, and the dual port adapter takes up my ExpressCard slot.

This has worked out well for me so far, but I'm always interested in knowing about options.

Nelson

 

[Logan Parks]

I have 3 16GB Cards, and they all used to work fine in the camera and pc/mac with a cheap cf card reader, but now they can not be read outside of the camera. So without much thought I went out and bought another cf card reader - Kodak a250. Turns out both card readers work - just not with my red cf cards. I know they're both cheap readers, but my point is the cheapest one used to work.I'm convinced it's a problem with the cards.

The RED records and plays back all of the footage fine, but simply nothing happens when I plug the cards in either of the two cf readers - in either the mac or pc.

I tried the disk utility on the macbookpro 17" i7... - showed internal HDD and DVD drive only.

I tried test disk on pc - still only showed my internal HDD.

Any other ideas?

 

[Chris Teague]

You need to use software that will read unmounted Volumes, I have software that will copy files from connected devices(radically different from mounted Volumes). ands its free. Google: CG security. Redundead only works with mounted Volumes, that's why its not a very useful tool in most data recovery situations.

Ive had this happen several times, there doesn't seem to be a real cause except pulling cards before ejecting them. And I've been successful reading files from devices every single time.

I'm having the exact same problem - a CF card plays the clips fine on the camera, but won't be read on any computer or reader. I downloaded CG Security and have tried doing some recovery, but I'm ending up with large files (which must be the R3D files) that have the extension ".apple" . Redcine won't recognize them, even if I manually change the extension to .R3D. Any thoughts on this? Thanks

 

[Joel Pfeiffer]

I dont believe there are any Esata Readers, I tried a Pci Express Sata Connected Reader but its an addonics model that requires a sata cable and power supply rather than power via pci , R3D Data Manager has saved me footage before and its easy to use, also in redcine-x go to help tab and click install redline, that works wonders as well