PowerShot S30 Corrupt CF Flash

[R=MC2]

Hi Folks,

Just got a PowerShot S30 with 128MB CF (Fuji) and on holiday took loads of pics. I ran into the problem where the message "No Image" appeared after I had turned the camera off and back on (was previously deleting unwanted pics). I was mighty pi$$ed off and immediately phoned Canon (UK) for support. They recommended that I try photorescue, so after I got back I bought a USB CF reader and purchased photorescue. The software successfully retrieved the images and movies - so full credits there. :-)

However, when I was looking at the contents of the flash, I found that the directory structure was corrupt. The camera's software had actually deleted some of the important dir names (e.g. 101canon) and remaining ones had the delete attribute set (E5H at the beginning of the name). I phoned up Canon again to complain and inform them of this problem, but have had not much luck.

I was hoping that I could get this passed on as a software bug to the actual softy engineers themselves. If anyone has had the same problem, then I say that we stand together and get this sorted out ASAP. Haven't they heard of journelling FSs? There should be no reason why this should occur, especially as it seems to have been a problem on previous models (any comments folks).

Let's hear your comments for an otherwise nice bit of kit...

Rob ;-)

[Chazs]

I had this problem once with the S40 about two weeks ago. Luckily I had already downloaded the pictures to my computer before it happened. After downloading, I viewed the files on the CF card on my Jornada pocketpc and deleted several files. After putting the CF card back in the camera I started getting the "no image" notice. I assumed it was from moving too many files around with the pocketpc, or possibly becoming corrupt when I slid it back into the camera (static electricity can be a killer on compact flash cards). I haven't had it occur a second time so I can't give you any more insight than this.

[Panayotis]

I Rob,

I have probably the same problem as you!
And I need your help!
I got a PowerShot S30 with 128Mb CF (I/O Data) and on Hawaiki Nui 2002 (in tahiti) took loads of pics!

My CF card is full. I know i have nices pictures because i watched them by the camera (on the little screen at the back)
At home i decided to transfer pictures to my pc and it doesn't work!
I did it twice: first time, it took a long time to transfer pictures, but pictures are 0ko big!!!!!!!!!!
When i tried second time, my camera told me CF Card full, Corrupt Data, No images!

If i go on POWSERSHOT S30 proprieties, i can see CF free 400ko, Total 122Mb

I am sure my pictures are still on my CF card but i can not get them because of corrupt data!

To use PHOTORESCUE do i really need a CF CARD READER? The free download photorescue is enough?
CF pcmcia adaptator is ok?
or should i buy USB CF READER

Please help me to get my pictures from my corrupt cf card!

Thanks

Stephane

[supermags]

Any CF reader works, as long as you can map the CF card as a logical drive (i.e. get a drive letter for it in windows)...

I downloaded the old version of photorescue called "digital image recovery" for free, and it worked for me (you have to look around for dir.zip file for a while...)

otherwise you can purchase photorescue (free version does not allow saving i think...)

I purchased a CF reader, and handed it back to store after 1 use :)
Magnus

[R=MC2]

Thanks for the info folks! Sort of reassurring to hear that other people are having the same problem with corrupt data. I will contact Canon again directly and try and find out what they can do to improve the situation (i.e. the software).

The main problem with CF cards and Smartmedia is that they use "NAND FLASH"!!! Beware - this is memory that is cheap and nasty - it can have bad blocks. The manufacturers usually detail this in their data sheets and unless the resulting software is clever enough to handle bad blocks, you will end up with lost data. I have worked on Nand Flash to know this all to well ;-)

Anyway, enough of the techy stuff - I'll see if I can find out a bit more from Canon and get back to you all. For the time being I would stick with good old photrescue and a CF card reader. I know it cost £££'s or $$$'s, but it's worth it for getting the pics back.

Later,

Rob ;-)

[R=MC2]

Hi Again,

I should have made a distinction between compact flash and smartmedia cards. CF cards have an internal controller in them that should handle the bad blocks during writing/erasing and ECC on the reads. Smartmedia cards are raw Nand flash devices without a controller, so the software in the camera needs to take care of bad-blocks etc.

Now the Fuji 128MB CF card I had did loose its directory structure, so one can only guess that it is the camera at fault. I have tried Canon but they insist that I should only be using Canon/Sandisk CF cards if this problem occurs.

Does anyone out there have a Canon or Sandisk CF card where the data/images were corrupt. If so, then this would seem to prove it is the camera at fault, not the CF card.

I am still waiting some feedback off the techy guys @ Canon, so I'll keep you all posted.

Cheers,

Rob ;-)

[herbie963]

hi

i'm using an s30 with 128 cf from crucial. i'm on holiday in oz and had just about filled up the card, then for some reason all the pics have disappeared and a new folder created. so i guess i've got the same problem as everybody else - i will have to wait to try the solutions when i get back home to the UK. cheers!

[herbie963]

me again, tried load of free downloads to fix my problem
photo restore didnt want to play but 'digital picture recovery' from www.winutils.net demo found my missing pics. rather than buy the program i then accessed the card from my card reader, right clicked on preferences then ran 'disk repair' (windows 2000) anyway all my files appeard in the 'found' folder'then i just went thru the process of loading each image with the .chk extension into an image viewer and resaving the pictures with a .jpg extension. Rekon I got 95% back with no capital expenditure.

[ruderobber]

Hi all,
We just lost a whole lot of images on our s30 we could see them on the camera but they wouldn't download. Then they disappeared from the camera as well. We will try photo rescue and see if we can find the problem. We too were not using a cannon cf card. Our shots were Christmas too so we are very upset.
Julie

[dazbang]

Hi guys,

I had the same problem a while ago.

I used the free program found at the following website and recovered all but one of my photos.

http://www.goto.onlinehome.de/dsc/jpegdump.htm

I hope this helps.

Dazbang

[12es]

RUN "CHKDSK /F" on the command prompt of the CF card using a card reader, that will fix the problem, emember to convert the lost clusters into files, rename them to .jpg and that will do the trick!!!

[paulgodin]

Problem is with memory card not the camera!
On a Powershot s230 I had a problem with corrupt data. I tried all the solutions mentioned above to no avail. I Tranferred the memory card to a s300 which had always worked well. It confirmed that the problem was with the memory card. I returned the card to the vendor and had it replaced. Problem solved once and for all.