Renaming Compact Flash Cards.
 

Renaming Compact Flash Cards.

I have a problem, as my stock of compact flash cards is growing and I use more and more cards on long duration work, when I mount the cards on the computer ready for backup the system assigns them same device name to all cards "NONAME". This can become a little confusing managing cards for backup from two or more cards.

My cards are all physically assigned numbers and which are also printed on the card. I record how many cards are assigned to a project and I keep my blank and used media in two separate locations to help eliminate reinserting used media.
My issue is when a pair of card are mounted on the desktop I would like to change the name of the card to reflect it's physical number eg "CF 001". Can this cause problems with the card files?

While I was trying to prove my system I tried changing the card name and deleting all the files in the }CLP{ folder and then re-used the card it the NanoFlash and continued recording. Well I got quite a few digital dropouts. I reformatted the card and started again.

I gave that idea away real quick, anyone have any ideas on the best way to manage the cards ?

Thanks

Dear Lance,

We will discuss this.

We will attempt to come up with a workable solution for you.

I have a few ideas. We will discuss these internally, to see what we can do.

I am thinking that you will want to asssign a physical number to the card, one-time, then everytime we format the card we keep the same exact physical number.

Can the number be limited to numeric digits, or do you want it to contain letters also?

Please note: We recommend that each CompactFlash card, after the card's files have been uploaded into a computer or other storage system, be reformated, in the Flash XDR or nanoFlash, prior to being reused.

I tried renaming the card but after format it wound up as "NO NAME" again.

Dear Aaron,

Yes, our Format process does a complete format, including resetting the Volume Name on the card.

We have discused this internally, and we expect to implement a change where the card Volume Name may be set once, and we will honor it from them on.

[QUOTE=Dan Keaton;1421934]



"I am thinking that you will want to assign a physical number to the card, one-time, then everytime we format the card we keep the same exact physical number.

Can the number be limited to numeric digits, or do you want it to contain letters also?"



I would like to see letters included so when you look at folder on the computer and can see the origin of the vision, Device Name & Stock number.

eg (CAM01 999)

Dear Lance,

Ok, we have been discussing a way to accomplish your request.

Dan I would like to see: Example (WCV 32-01) Owning 16 cards it would be nice to match the name on the back of the card.

Dear Paul,

For Discussion Purposes, this is what I am thinking.

1. One could go to a PC or Mac, change the Volume Name on the CompactFlash Card.

2. Go to the Flash XDR or nanoFlash to format the card.

3. During the Format Process, we read the Volume Name.

4. During the Format Process, we rewrite the Volume Name after we perform the full format.

With this approach, one can set the Volume Name to whatever one wants.

We respect and keep this Volume Name across formats of the card.

That sounds good to me Dan.

Dan I agree good choice for a system thanks

I am gearing up to shoot a feature with the nanoFLASH.

Card ID is VERY important as we will have at least four recorders running.

So the above discussed improvement is nearly required. And alpha-numeric, please.

BUT, what isn't clear to me is the clip/file number aspect.

What happens on day 2 of the shoot? Don't the numbers go back to 000000? That would mean you will have two or more clips with the same name (unacceptable), unless you can SEED the numbering method.

The script supervisor will be told the CLIP NUMBER (file number wouldn't matter since that is eventually "disposed with") which is then listed next to the slate/take numbers. It ain't pretty, but this lookup table would be needed to correlate a "random" clip name and the slate/take needed by the editor.

This is my understanding of it. Am I missing something?

Daniel, the clip numbers will not roll back to zero even after a formatting of all the cards. They will keep incrementing until they reach maximum and roll over. You should be fine on multi-day shoots.

Just make sure you set the unit id of each recorder.

Assuming a big shoot, when we hit 999, we'll start making clips with duplicate names.

This is a train wreck waiting to happen.

The editor won't want to go looking for ANOTHER file with the same name.

"Oh, THAT 01213.mov"

The more fiddling with files, the greater the potential for error.

Dear Daniel,

One can reset the Clip number to 001, which is remembered in non-volatile memory, by reseting the Unit ID.

When one gets near the 999 limit, one can change the Unit ID from 01 for the first camera to 11.

Camera 2 goes to 12, etc.

If you have ten cameras on a shoot, using this method, one can have 9,999 unique clip numbers, where a clip is one recording from when the recording starts until it is stopped.
And each recording can have up 999 (way more than enough) subclips.

You can always give EVERY recorder a new unit id for the shoot everyday. It would be IMPOSSIBLE to get two files with the same name