View Full Version : Ki-Pro mini strange cf card behavior


Dan Luke
March 31st, 2011, 09:03 AM
My KPM is set-up with the correct date/time. So is my Macbook pro. When I transfer clips from my 64 gig Sandisk extreme pro card, the file created times are not right in the computer list. They are 5 hours earlier than reality. OK so what you say. Well I wouldn't lose sleep over it, but when I insert the CF card back into the KPM twice now it has failed to record and warned me that i need to reformat.

Is there something about the trip to the computer and back that is whacking things on the card? Is this normal?
-dan

Jon Thorn
March 31st, 2011, 10:25 AM
Dan L. - The time on the Ki Pro Mini is set to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT); so if you never changed it to account for this, that would explain the time difference. Information regarding setting this is contained on page 41 of the operation manual:
" Time is set using a 24 hour format (military) and must be set to GMT time.
Note: there are many websites that will assist you in converting your local regional time to GMT (UTC)."

Here is an example of a website that I use to calculate GMT:
http://www.worldtimezone.com/index24.php

Regarding the CF card being inserted into the Ki Pro Mini and the prompt "Backup and Reformat" appearing: this usually occurs because the CF card was inappropriately removed from the computer or from the Ki Pro Mini itself. If you are using the Ki Pro Mini, you must use the SLOT button to gracefully unmount the media. This is covered on pages 10 and 52 of the operation manual. If you have removed the CF card from the computer or the card reader without gracefully ejecting it at the OS level, then the computer may have thrown up the "The disk was not ejected properly. If possible, always eject a disk before unplugging it or turning it off" error prompt. The simplest solution in both cases is typically to connect the media to Mac OS X again and the directory, which has been compromised by being removed incorrectly, will be repaired when the volume mounts. Having said that, I would strongly encourage you to back up the media by copying it off to your storage solution and then reformatting the media in the Ki Pro Mini to avoid further issues. It is pretty important with file based systems to mount and unmount them correctly whether on the Ki Pro Mini or a host computer with a CF card reader attached. The Ki Pro Mini is designed to not allow recordings if you receive the "Backup and Reformat" prompt in order to avoid fragmentation and potential problems.

Hope this is helpful,
Jon Thorn
Product Manager
AJA Video Systems, Inc.

Dan Luke
March 31st, 2011, 01:00 PM
Jon, I have set-up the KPM to my local time and I do understand and follow the unmounting/eject procedures.

When I use the ethernet file browser and look at my clip list on the KPM, all the clips have the right date/time. It is only when they are loaded up to a card reader and/or transferred to my laptop that the times are goofy.

Again just to be clear. The KPM is set to the appropriate date/time. The laptop is also set to the appropriate date/time. When listing the clips on the KPM the date/time is correct. But when loading the CF card into a reader connected to either esata or usb on my Macbook Pro the date/time is incorrect.

Twice now after ejecting the CF card reader from the laptop and receiving NO error messages, the cf card has needed to be re-formatted when inserted and then powered up in the KPM.

Dan Luke
March 31st, 2011, 02:42 PM
I think the problem is powering down the KPM without first unmounting the media. I assumed that if you were in the stop mode and you do a power down that the KPM would unmount any mounted media as part of the power down cycle. Apparently this is not the case.
-dan

Jon Thorn
March 31st, 2011, 05:34 PM
Dan L. - I just checked the behavior of the timestamping of files. I configured the time on the Ki Pro Mini, CONFIG parameter 55.6, to the appropriate GMT 24-hour value and recorded a file. It appears to work as expected on my Mac OS X system using a SanDisk Extreme Pro 64GB card and a FireWire 800 connected Lexar CF card reader.

Again, if you set the time value to 24-hour GMT (not your local time and not 12-hour) then the value that appears within Mac OS X should match. If you don't see this behavior, it might be worth doing a Factory Reset which is found in the CONFIG menu parameters, 99.0. If the issue still persists after this and setting the time value to GMT 24-hour, there is a small chance that there is an issue with the battery that controls the clock on the unit. If that is the case, this could be replaced for you by the AJA Technical Support department.

Regarding the "Backup and Reformat" prompt; have you actually done that with respect to the media? If not, the directory on the CF card could still be compromised. I would certainly backup the media and then reformat it.

If you need more help, you should also consider contacting AJA Technical Support via phone or email, Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm PST.

Hope this is helpful,
Jon Thorn
Product Manager
AJA Video Systems, Inc.

Dan Luke
March 31st, 2011, 07:16 PM
yes i have copied all the files off and reformatted each time i get the prompt. Interestingly the mac has no problem reading the compromised cf card and disk utilities verifies without any issues.

Jon Thorn
April 1st, 2011, 10:37 AM
Dan L. - I would suggest contacting AJA Technical Support so that they can walk through your equipment and workflow. Sorry, but nothing you are seeing is anything I can reproduce on any of my units. Nor is it something others are reporting.

It's possible that it's an issue with that particular CF card, or the CF card reader, or that CF card in that CF reader, or some OS level issue with mounting/copying/ejecting that particular piece of media, etc.

I think instead of spending a lot of time speculating, it's probably best to have AJA Technical Support go over everything with you in detail. AJA Technical Support is quite responsive so you should be able to talk with someone on the phone today or email them if you can't manage a call during regular business hours.

Sorry, usually I'm pretty good at diagnosing things... but this one is pretty baffling.

Regards,
Jon Thorn
Product Manager
AJA Video Systems, Inc.

Dan Luke
April 1st, 2011, 05:08 PM
Thanks Jon. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out it's operator error.

Dan Luke
April 3rd, 2011, 10:19 PM
So sure the file time was me setting the Ki-Pro to local time rather than GMT. And the CF cards becoming corrupted when removed after power down and not using the slot button, I couldn't get it to fail. I'll bet I
1) inserted CF
2)-powered up
3)-recorded clip
4)-powered down
5)-removed CF
6)-inserted into laptop reader noted clip list
7)-ejected reader
7)-go back to 1 & repeat
a dozen times without corrupting anything.

Of course that being said, I wasn't making it up when I've had the CF card go bad 2 or 3 times and I am being cautious about mounting & dismounting