SD card limit for transferring

Hi everyone,

I haven't been here for about a year now, having had a lot to do elsewhere, and of course taken a lot of photos with my Canon SX40HS. I must say I really happy with the purchase of this camera, and have learned a lot and become a great deal better at taking pictures. With the settings and possibilities with this one, it's been really fun.

Anyway, now to my question...I have a 15 GB sd card inserted and have had no problems at all with it, just formatted it in the beginning, and have transfered pictures now and then to my computer with no problem at all. I have never used all of the storage space on it, before transferring though. Now, however, having been abroad, birthdays and other events, I hadn't transferred my photos in a long while...as the card is so big, it has been no trouble at all. As I plugged it into my computer a few days ago, I was surprised to notice that it didn't show up on the screen, as connected. Instead I got the message on my camera's screen saying that it couldn't connect, or more literally, "unable to connect". I then tried connecting through using a card reader. This worked, but I decided not to use this method for transferring my pictures, since this way you don't get them sorted like you get when you do it directly from the camera. I then looked through the manual and found out, in the "Troubleshooting"-section that when you cannot transfer it may be that you are having to many photos stored on the card. That's good to know, since I then know it's not anything wrong with my camera, or mini usb slot.

What the manual didn't say, or I haven't been able to find anyhow, is what is the limit for the size/or the number of photos that can be stored, in order to be transfer them directly from the SX40HS via an USB -cable?

Great to be back again. Hope to get a quick reply, and hoping someone here knows this, and can help me.

Thanks in advance.

/Tobias

I can't see why there'd be a limit. However I would use the card reader and transfer your pictures into a backup folder of some sort just in case there is a problem with your camera usb slot or cable. At least then you have the pictures if it all goes pear shaped.

If it is a limit transfer all the pictures as above, then say delete half from the card and see if it will then transfer them via the camera, if it still won't you know it's not a limit and something else.

Have to agree with Fast Guy; transfer now - solve problem later.

There is a limit. I've seem others make comments on it. It effects the SX30/40/50 HD
and from what I've read the limit is 1000 files in the DCIM folder. Most of the people that
have made comments on it were using the timelapse feature. One possible solution would
be to use a WIFI enabled SDHC card like the EYEFI or the newer Transcend then you can
just attach to the card from your computer assuming it's got a wifi card in it, and transfer
the files across.

--Evan

Hello again,

Thanks for your replies.

Evan, it's interesting to hear that the limit doesn't just exist in the SX40HS. Wonder why there is a limit anyway, since the camera clearly can take a lot more photos and/or videos. Have to check that with the DCIM folder...seems like when you shot pictures with the camera, they tend to be stored in various folders according to what you have set the settings to. Personally, I have my SX40 set to make daily folders.

Again, thanks for the replies all of you. Actually, I first thought there was something wrong with either my camera or the cable, since there is nothing wrong with the ports on my computer, then I ruled out the cable since it's worked with another device without any problems. I went on looking through the manual and discovered that there is a limit in the troubleshooting section, but it only said that there is a limit, not how many pictures or megabytes it is at.
Good advice too to backup everything and then try once more. I'd have done that if Evan hadn't written the limit.

Will write later how it went, and possibly expand on the thing with the DCIM folder too, if I find out something interesting there.

/Tobias

This was the page I seen it on. http://chdk.setepontos​.com …ic=9577.msg9835​7#msg98357

--Evan

Hello again,

First of all, thanks for the quick replies. =) I really appreciate it.

Sorry for not replying earlier. Actually, I did reply a few day after the your replies, but unfortunately it was quite a long reply and when I sent it, my session on this forum had run out with the result of my reply being lost, instead of posted. Well, I didn't have the time then to re-write it, and have been at the summer house for a some time, with no internet connection.

Anyway, I will try writing this a bit shorter than last time. I began by backing up everything on the card, just as safety precausion, just like you suggested, in case anything would go wrong. I would have done this anyway, whatever else I would have done. Then I went on to creating a new folder on the card. I played around a bit with the amount of photos left in the DCIM folder, and found out that you can at leas have 1500 photos in that folder, and still have no problem with connecting it to the computer. I may be able to go higher than that, but didn't have the opportunity to try that. The reason I did experiment a little with the amount of photos is that it could be good to know how many pictures you can store in ther DCIM folder before running into trouble with the connection.

Furthermore, I made this secondary folder test, in order to see if it's possible to store photos and/or videos on the card in a way that doesn't interfer with the limit of photos the SX40 HS has (for some strange reason). This could be could to know if you have are in a situation where you can borrow a computer, but not having any other backup media in handy, and want to be able to continue taking pictures.

Again, thanks for your help. =) This is really an awesome forum, and I'll definitely help when I can too.

Oh, and Evan, I checked your link as well as bookmarked it. It was an interesting thread, and another great forum as well. For the time being, I'm not thinking of trying the hack, but I most probably will in the future. Besides, it seems that some threads can be useful to the original settings as well. So thanks again for showing the link. =)

Take care!

/Tobias