[Akbar Ukani]

Well I figured they will run some diagnostics on the card for free…I figured it is worth the risk since they actually specialize in data recovery and most importantly do it for free….they’ll charge me only if they find some data….I am assuming it will be somewhere around $800-$1000…..If you ask me its going to take them actually splitting the card open and retrieving the information…right now I could care less about saving the card

[Akbar Ukani]

Hey Craig,

Thank you for your assistance….I am going to send the card in to this data recovery firm which specializes in it…so hopefully they can give me an estimate….right now if they ask me to put $2k down for the recovery I am going to have to do it…its pretty much my neck in their hands…

but hopefully it won’t be a serious problem because I have recorded on that card maybe 2 or 3 times before without any problems….After reading the previous posts, I have a haunch that I didn’t wait long enough for the camera to finish writing to the card before hitting the record button….If i had only known earlier…..will keep you guys posted on it

[Akbar Ukani]

Its simply a wonderful camera…If you ask me a little heavy and cumbersome for a hand held camera; however the overall functionality of it is superb I would say….I wouldn’t think twice about buying another ex1 or ex3….The fact that the ex3 has the capability of interchangeable lens and a few other features doesn’t justify the extra $2k…atleast not for me…..

Lastly, ….be very careful with the MxM SDHC adapters and SDHC cards when you are recording….with these cards, once stop recording you will NEED TO WAIT approximately 5-7 seconds for the camera to write to the card…the actual SxS cards don’t take as much time though…maybe 2-3 seconds I would say…I know that because I am actually going through that problem right now and in dire need to get the clips off the card….people on this forums are extremely helpful if you have any questions

[Akbar Ukani]

Hey Craig…no need to apologize for asking me redundant questions…..Here is the info:

Card: Sandisk 16Gb SDHC card Ultra II Class 4 with a MxM SDHC adapter

Below are the answers to your questions…Please don’t mind the CAPS..It’s just to differentiate to make it easier to read…

1. When the cared failed you got a Restore Media message, correct?
1. NOPE…I DIDN’T GET THE OPTION TO RESTORE THE MEDIA….ALL IT SAID WAS “MEDIA ERROR….MEDIA(A) NEEDS TO BE RESTORED” AND IT SWITCHED TO SLOT B TO RECORD

2. Did you try to restore the media before removing the card from the camera?

If so what message did you get?
2. DIDN’T GET THE OPTION TO RESTORE THE MEDIA…JUST THREW ME THE ERROR

3. When you put the card in the camera now what message does it show?

This can give a clue to the current state of the card.
3. AFTER ALL THE THINGS I DID ON THE MAC TO CONNECT THE CARD, I GET THE SAME ERROR MESSAGE WHEN THE CARD IS INSERTED IN THE CAMERA SLOT….I EVEN TRIED 2 DIFFERENT MxM ADAPTERS…..SAME MESSAGE

4.[Akbar Ukani] “- took out the sdhc card and put it in a usb reader…card doesn’t show up in disk utility nor on the desktop ”

4. Just to be clear, are you saying you put the card in an SDHC card reader hooked to the USB port of your computer? Even a raw card should show up normally.
4. I TOOK THE CARD OUT OF THE ADAPTER AND PUT IT IN THE USB SDHC READER BY SANDISK…..I SAW A LIGHT BLINKING FOR A FEW SECONDS AND THEN NOTHING….THE CARD DOESN’T SHOW UP IN DISK UTILITY AND IT DOES NOT MOUNT ON THE DESKTOP

5. [Akbar Ukani] “- put the card back into the adapater (tried 2 different adapters) and used XDCam’s media interface…the computer asked me if i want to “initialize, eject or ignore”…I click on initialze and disk utility shows up with the card showing i have “14.8GB”..but no option to “mount” the bloody thing ”

5. You initialized the card?
5. WHEN I TRIED TO MOUNT THE CARD VIA THE CAMERA’S MEDIA INTERFACE, IT ASKED ME ON THE MAC IF I WISH TO “INITIALIZE”, “EJECT” OR “IGNORE”…..I HIT “INITIALIZE” AND THE CARD SHOWS UP IN DISK UTILITY

6. [Akbar Ukani] “1. From experience, do you know if the data is there?.. ”

6. Not if you initialized the card although it may still be rescued since it may only be the directory that was written over. If you did do that though and the card still can’t mount is seems like maybe the card itself is damaged rather than simply the file structure.

6. OH MAN =(…THIS ANSWER GIVES ME THE FEELING AS IF MY HEART JUST CAME UP TO MY THROAT……I DON’T SEE HOW INITIALIZING THE CARD CAN ERASE THE DATA…I THOUGHT WHEN YOU “FORMAT” THE CARD IS WHEN THE DATA CAN BE ERASED….OF COURSE EVEN FORMATTING HAS DIFFERENT OPTIONS..

7. Did you buy the card from a reputable dealer? There are counterfeit Sandisks out there.
7. THIS SUCKS….SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT IT FROM NEWEGG….I BOUGHT THE CARDS FROM AMAZON….PURCHASED 2 TRANSCEND CARDS FROM NEWEGG…NO PROBLEMS (CROSSING MY FINGERS)….SCREW AMAZON…I RATHER PAY THE EXTRA MONEY AND GET IT FROM AMAZON…..THIS MIGHT BE A COUNTERFEIT CARD….WHICH I HOPE DOESN’T DIMINISH THE CHANCES OF EXTRACTING THE DATA….ANYWAY TO TELL IF ITS A COUNTERFEIT CARD?

8. [Akbar Ukani] “2. Oh one more thing, the dumbest thing on my behalf, believe it or not I had another card (sandisk) lying around which gave me the same error before but clips on it were just test clips so I didn’t bother with it…the card showed IDENTICAL symptoms.”

8. Which does make me wonder if these are counterfeit. I will say that recent Sandisk SDHC Ultra II Class 4 cards seem to be unreliable but even that shouldn’t result in an unmountable card once initialized.
8. THE FACT THAT THIS OCCURS MAKES ME THINK THAT THE CONTROLLER ON THE CARD WHICH ASSISTS IN MOUNTING AND SO FORTH MAY BE DAMAGED ALSO…

9. [Akbar Ukani] “I connected the card via the camera and within disk utility I tried to “format”; HOWEVER this option was where the data would be in tact but the information which controls the card would be formatted (found under security options and the first check box is marked)…Doing this gave me an “input/output error”?”

I’m not sure I follow you. You tried to format this previous card and you got an input/output error?

I can’t help but be suspicious of the source of the cards because this goes beyond an EX corrupted data on the card issue.
9. WHEN I CONNECTED THE CARD VIA THE CAMERA, IT ASKED ME IF I WISH TO INITIALIZE….I HIT INITIALIZE AND DISK UTILITY WITHIN OS X POPS UP AND HERE IS WHAT I DID FROM THERE
– CLICK ON THE CARD WHICH SHOWS UP IN DISK UTILITY
– HIT THE ‘ERASE’ TAB
– HIT THE ‘SECURITY OPTION’
– SELECT THE VERY FIRST OPTION (FORMATS THE INFORMATION THAT CONTROLS THE CARD…DOESN’T AFFECT THE DATA…GOES ON TO SAY THAT THE DATA CAN BE RETRIEVED USING SOFTWARE)
– I HIT ‘ERASE’ AND IT THROWS BACK “INPUT/OUTPUT” ERROR

[Akbar Ukani]

I know about your situation..I googled it and your information about the card came up…that’s how I came across Rafael…Thank you for posting…will keep you posted

[Akbar Ukani]

Hey Rafael,

I surely do appreciate you taking the time to respond back. Unfortunately, I cannot get the card to “mount” via disk utility..here is what I did

– took out the sdhc card and put it in a usb reader…card doesn’t show up in disk utility nor on the desktop

– put the card back into the adapater (tried 2 different adapters) and used XDCam’s media interface…the computer asked me if i want to “initialize, eject or ignore”…I click on initialze and disk utility shows up with the card showing i have “14.8GB”..but no option to “mount” the bloody thing

BTW yes those 45 minutes were broken down into clips of maybe 15-20 seconds average..

1. From experience, do you know if the data is there?..

2. Oh one more thing, the dumbest thing on my behalf, believe it or not I had another card (sandisk) lying around which gave me the same error before but clips on it were just test clips so I didn’t bother with it…the card showed IDENTICAL symptoms. I connected the card via the camera and within disk utility I tried to “format”; HOWEVER this option was where the data would be in tact but the information which controls the card would be formatted (found under security options and the first check box is marked)…Doing this gave me an “input/output error”?

Man this is so frustrating…I am seriously going nucking futs here…pardon me…If only I had 3 wishes here?..trying to stay positive…I have inquired about a few websites in the U.S which specialize in data recovery…if i have to spend a $1000…I am willing to do it…will keep you posted

[Akbar Ukani]

LOL..as much sense as your post makes..I am one of those guys who just like to make things complicated =), but eventually thats what I am going to have to do…just utilize the software RAID functionality provided by Leopard in my Mac Pro and save a little bit of money to invest in the AJA card….Thank You

[Akbar Ukani]

I see what you are saying and it makes perfect sense; however I prefer not to use the main drive as part of the RAID and I have installed a blu-RAY burner in my second optical bay slot which leaves me only the 3 HD bays available.

Also, I am aware that the Caldigit RAID card supports internal drives; however if I wish to expand the drives I am limited to buying the Caldigit RAID Solutions which do cost an arm and a leg. I am sure there are other RAID cards which support both internal and external drives. I can buy an enclosure myself and additonal drives and save a good $1000-$1500 instead of going the Caldigit way

[Akbar Ukani]

Yeah I did check out the Caldigit RAID card. No doubt they are awesome, but I am just not a big fan of a card which limits me to their enclosures only. They cost an arm and a leg and with that money I can buy another mac….

[Akbar Ukani]

Hey Bob,

You are right…I tested the AJA application on my drives and the first 2 drives where I normally store my Video/Audio files for editing gave a reading average of just above 35MB/s. The third drive where I normally store my graphics gave a reading average of 55MB/s. I tried various frame sizes. Crap now I have to invest in a hard drives also in addition to the Kona Card and a x4 RAID Controller….btw can you recommend any good hardware RAID controllers that I can utilize in my x4 PCI-Express slot. Thank you