BPAV folder from card won't import into 'My Documents': any other way?
 

Hi there,
For whatever reason, when I drag my BPAV folder from one of my cards into 'My Documents', it goes through the motions of copying all the clips... but when the progress-bar finishes, there's no BPAV folder in 'My Documents'
I've tried twice with no luck.
I then tried manually dragging a couple individual mp4 clips into a new empty folder that I created in 'My Documents', but again, although it looks like there's copying going on, the folder ends up empty.

Any suggestions? I haven't been using ShotPut EXpress to try this. Should I go back to it? Is there another way to get these clips into Windows? (I'm a Mac user, but I have to use Windows, via VMWare, so I can then convert the files to mxf... something the Mac version of the Clip Browser doesn't do).

By the way, my BPAV folder from another card copied over perfectly.
Malcolm

Hi again,
Posting a question always makes me at least attempt to re-think things...
I've looked at the clip numbers on the card, and they go from 520 to 610. And they're all there.
When I put the card in my computer, it shows clip folders in the CLPR folder that include not just the 520-610 clips, but also clip folders with numbers like 306, and then 496 to 509. They're empty folders, but they're there on the card.
Are they causing my problems?
Should I use Finder, and drag them to the Trash, and then try copying to 'My Documents' again?
Malcolm

If you have Shotput Express, go ahead and use it. Far more dependable than attempting drag copying either in Windows or Mac OS.

Ned ,
Why do you say that Shotput is more effective.

- Lenny Levy

Ned, should I trash those empty folders first (they have nothing in them, and I think they may be confusing the issue)?
Malcolm

I've tried ShotPut EXpress... same story. Progress bar shows all the clips being copied, but when it finishes, there's no new BPAV folder in 'My Documents'.
Any ideas? I've got to get these clips copied... somehow.
Cheers, Malcolm

Try creating a new folder instead of using "My Documents".

Hi Dave,
I appreciate your reply. In fact, I did try to do just that... create a new folder, and copy the files into it. But the same thing happened.
I then tried copying just one of the mp4 files right onto the Windows desktop... it copied all right, but Windows couldn't recognize it, and Clip Browser didn't see it.
Now the good news - - I just successfully copied the BPAV folder. Am I relieved? Yes. But I'm not satisfied. Because it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Maybe it will make sense to one of you who reads this thread, so I'll try to describe the only thing that might, might be a clue...
I noticed during my failed attempts to copy my BPAV folder from my ExpressCard (directly from the card or via ShotPut), and remember, I had a lot of time to stare at the progress bar, that it was copying the whole hierarchy, including even the name of my ExpressCard - - could this be a problem? I wouldn't have thought so, except that the way I WAS able to finally copy the files over involved doing this first: I copied my BPAV folder to my Mac desktop, and made sure it (BPAV) was the folder at the top of the hierarchy. When I did this, it worked.
Maybe this is beyond simple, and I just didn't know it.
Is that the case? Or should things have worked the way I was trying to do them (unsuccessfully), because of some empty folders that confused the copy process somewhere along the line?
I don't mean to dwell on this, but I'd love to understand what's going on, because what happened to me today wasted a lot of time.
Cheers everyone,
Malcolm

Lenny

I think using Shotgun Express is more effective because:

1) User can be absolutely certain that everything copied and in the right directory structure
2) At least on the Mac, Shotgun is faster than a finder copy
3) Its ability to copy to 3 different locations is great for archiving. In a demo that I did at our Dallas FCP User group last week, I copied contents of SxS card to external FW800 drive and to a USB Memory stick.
4) Shotgun Express has the option to reformat your card in the computer so if using the shoot and unload method, it's easier than trying to shoot and reformat a card simultaneously.
(Note: I hope everyone is aware that it is possible to shoot to one card while formatting the other card).

Sorry for being so cryptic and not specifying my definition of "effective" but was trying to post while multitasking.

Ned

Hi Ned... I own ShotPut EXpress, and I'm pretty sure I'll start using it exclusively, once a few little wrinkles are worked out. I wish, for example, that once I've asked ShotPut to "Automatically reformat the card after offload", that when I next put the card in my camera, I wouldn't be told by the camera that "Media Need to be Restored". I wrote to the makers of ShotPut and asked about this, and was told that indeed, the media is all gone, but that the camera has to "Restore" some other files in the directory that have also been deleted, and that Sony needs.
I guess my hope is that the next release of ShotPut will allow me to reformat my card (after offload), and then when I put the card back in the camera, I can just start shooting... no 'Restore' necessary.

Now... If you've finished multi-tasking, would you mind reading my last post, to see if you can figure out where I'm going wrong?
Thanks, Malcolm

Malcolm, do you know if ShotPut will leave your stored camera settings in place when it does the file removal?

Yes, Dave. It seems to leave those files alone...
Malcolm

Malcolm

I can't figure out what your copy problem is about. Finder copies have just sometimes been really weird. I've experienced similar issues with P2 cards. Advantage of Shotput Express seems to be bypassing some of the finder copy limitations for faster and more reliable copy.

One more thing you could try... and I have always done this with P2 cards as well.

Instead of a Finder copy, use Disk Utility and make a new disk image of the card.

This is more reliable than finder copy owing to more error correction. Then you just double-click the resulting .dmg file to mount the contents.

Ned

Thanks Ned. I'll give that a try next time I run into problems. Of course, optimist that I am, I hope I don't have this problem again. Maybe it was those empty folders that was causing the problem.
Cheers, Malcolm