Author Topic: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?  (Read 14788 times)

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Offline Misuzu

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Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« on: November 12, 2011, 12:00:48 AM »
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. :)
« Last Edit: November 12, 2011, 05:16:50 AM by Misuzu »
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Offline bob3160

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2011, 12:08:01 AM »
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.
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ady4um

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2011, 12:21:16 AM »
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.

Offline Misuzu

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2011, 01:03:56 AM »
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?
« Last Edit: November 12, 2011, 01:24:10 AM by Misuzu »
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ady4um

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2011, 01:30:44 AM »
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?

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.

Offline Misuzu

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2011, 01:44:21 AM »
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?

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.

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! :D
I need my camera to be working.  ;)
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Offline bob3160

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2011, 02:02:13 AM »
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.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2011, 02:05:03 AM by bob3160 »
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Offline Misuzu

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2011, 02:31:33 AM »
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! :)
« Last Edit: November 12, 2011, 05:16:09 AM by Misuzu »
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Offline Misuzu

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files? (UPDATE)
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2011, 05:16:30 AM »
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.
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Offline CraigB

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2011, 06:57:11 AM »
Format it to NTFS and make default.

Offline Misuzu

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #10 on: November 12, 2011, 07:39:04 AM »
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 ;) ). 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?
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ady4um

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #11 on: November 12, 2011, 08:48:14 AM »
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.

SHARKY7SHARKY

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #12 on: November 12, 2011, 12:44:01 PM »
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 .

ady4um

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #13 on: November 12, 2011, 03:14:25 PM »
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.

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.

Quote
& 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).

Offline bob3160

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Re: Camera SD Card Corrupt Files?
« Reply #14 on: November 12, 2011, 03:29:20 PM »
I believe the correct format s/b Fat 16 as outlined in my post and in the instructions I posted.
Certainly NOT NTFS.
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