20D CF card to look like a disk?

[wibbly]

Anyone know of a way to make a 20D's CF card look like an external drive in XP (other than taking it out and sticking it in a card reader!). At the moment, when connecting the canmera via USB2, it's recognised by XP as a camera rather than a disk, so some software (that expects a card reader) doesn't spot it's there at all.

John

[PacAce]

Did you install the WIA driver from the CD-ROM that came with the camera?

[wibbly]

Yes. I did not have a reason not to. I have read somewhere that it may work as I want if I uninstall it, but not sure if this is actually a feature that is supposed to work.

John

[PacAce]

Yes. I did not have a reason not to. I have read somewhere that it may work as I want if I uninstall it, but not sure if this is actually a feature that is supposed to work.

John

Last week I plugged my camera to both my Mac and my PC (XP) and although the camera did not mount on the Mac as a drive, it did mount on the PC as a drive and I was able to access the images on the CF cards in the camera. I don't ever access my images this way but I just gave it a try after reading about someone having problems doing it in another forum. But now that I think of it, I may have been using my 1DmkII camera (with the USB cable) instead of the 10D. I'll have to give it another try when I get home tonight to see if I can get my 10D to work the same way. I'm assuming the 20D will work the same way as the 10D but I could be wrong.

[merrrrjig]

Just download them to a folder in your computer and use the files off of your computer!

[wibbly]

I'll have to give it another try when I get home tonight to see if I can get my 10D to work the same way. I'm assuming the 20D will work the same way as the 10D but I could be wrong.

I plugged my 20D into a machine without the drivers loaded. It didn't want to play :-(

W

[wibbly]

Just download them to a folder in your computer and use the files off of your computer!

But it's sweeter to do it in one 'hit'. Doesn't look like it's possible with the 20D.

W

[Penguin_101_1]

The camera acts just like a disk I think.

[PacAce]

But it's sweeter to do it in one 'hit'. Doesn't look like it's possible with the 20D.

W

OK, I just connected both my 10D and my 1DmkII (one at a time, that is) and they both came up as disk drives (with camera model as the name of the drive) in Windows Explorer. I was albe to open the image folder in the CF card and view the individual image files. So, if it works for my 10D and he 1DmkII, I can't see why it wouldn't work for the 20D, too.

Not that it should make a difference, although it might, you did install the other softwares in the CD, right, such as FVU and ZoomBrowser? Mine are the latest versions that I downloaded from Canon.

[Mike Panic]

i wouldnt use anything but a card reader at this point... the cable to camera deal is WAY to slow

[phili1]

I have the same problem and Canon does not know how to correct it. It is easier to use a card reader.

[Jim_T]

Canon cameras don't support "USB mass storage" (At least I don't know of any that do)..

Because of that, they can't be treated directly as a drive.

Canon uses a set of commands (a protocol) to access the files on the card.

Canon has their own proprietary protocol, and most of the recent Canon cameras have the ability to use a universal protocol known as Picture Transfer Protocol.. (PTP).

Most (but not all) newer EOS digital cameras have an option in the menu to choose whether you want to use the Canon protocol (Normal) or Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP). If you have these options they'll be listed in the menu under "communications". (The 10D didn't have this originally, but was given the menu option in one of the later firmware upgrades).

To use the Canon (normal) protocol, you have to install the Canon drivers that came on the CD's that were included with the camera and you have to make sure the option is set to 'normal'

PTP is a universal protocol adopted by all the major camera makers. PTP is built in to newer versions of Windows, (ie. Windows XP), so if you set your camera to PTP, you can communicate with any XP computer without having to install any extra software.

But either way.. You're not really accessing the drive directly at a low level like you would a disk. When you move images about, Explorer (or any other GUI app) is converting your drags and drops to a set of commands that the camera recognizes. It appears as a virtual disk, but you aren't really accessing it directly. You can't do true disk functions like format, defragment or run a file check on a card while it's in the camera.

If your camera doesn't have a 'communications' option in the menu, then it only has Canon's proprietary protocol and doesn't support PTP. (The 1Ds didn't support PTP).

I don't know about the Mark II versions of the 1Ds and 1D... I haven't read up on them.... They no doubt have PTP and may support USB mass storage..

[wibbly]

PTP is built in to newer versions of Windows, (ie. Windows XP), so if you set your camera to PTP, you can communicate with any XP computer without having to install any extra software.

As an experiment I tried setting PTP and plugged the Camera into an XP machine without Canon drivers loaded. Nothing happened and the camera didn't appear in "My Computer" or in Explorer as is does then using Canon protocol & their WIA driver.

Anyone know if I have to do more to get PTP to work?

W

[wibbly]

i wouldnt use anything but a card reader at this point... the cable to camera deal is WAY to slow

Well for me, USB2 is sufficiently faster than USB1 from the camera to make this a viable option over ripping the card out the camera all the time, but I take your point. However, this is a mute point given that it now seems confirmed that the 20D can't behave as a drive in the first place! I will HAVE to go with the card reader if I want this funtionality...

[ScottE]

I don't understand why everybody doesn't use a card reader. I just leave one plugged into the USB port on my computer and put a card into it whenever I want to download. I only took the time to connect my camera to the computer once and decided it was a waste of time.

My procedure is to first copy the card to an external hard drive for backup purposes, then copy it to my computer hard drive and finally to format the card in the camera.

[yellow_belly]

However, this is a mute point given that it now seems confirmed that the 20D can't behave as a drive in the first place! I will HAVE to go with the card reader if I want this funtionality...Hi Wibbly, I loaded the standard software and my 20D comes up as a disk drive in My computer and Windows Explorer (Windows XP) so I am not sure why yours doesnt ???

I don't understand why everybody doesn't use a card reader.Scott ,if you ever had a bent pin on a Conpact Flash connector you would understand :) I use USB most of the time rather than take the CF card in and out all the time and IMO USB2 is very reasonably as far as speed goes :)

Terry

[Bodog]

I apologize for asking, but are you turning the camera on after attaching it to the computer? :o