Need REAL big Help: Hoodman RAW Card Faliure
 

well, I got bit tonight....

I shot for a new client tonight and some reason one of my Hoodman 16gb RAW cards, after formatting it and shooting with it .... Failed big time. When it was put in the MAC Book Pro to transfer the media....the card was blank... nana, nothing was there. But the computer told us that 14.9 gb was used on the card...

and the other cards I used, Patriot and Transend worked just fine and the camera (EX3) never told me if I had a media error or disk failure as the camera recorded just like as always, humming right along.
....so the big question is:

Is the card toast or is there a way of getting the media back off the card?

The client is not too upset as it was a 6 camera shoot, and we recorded the project (a musical show) twice
today.

thanks

Bill Griffin
DP/Cameraman
Dallascamguy.com

What happens when you put the card back into the camera?

HOW are you putting it into MacBookPro?
Some have Express slot, some have built in SDHC slot.

I put it back in on media mode.....it came up as a file, but there was no picture....it said "unrecognized media, need to be formatted" or something like that....the client tried both a express card and the sdhc card slot...same results.

Can you copy the BPAV by hand to computer from an SDHC card reader.
It sounds like the card itself when bad if the camera is showing unrecognized media.
Can you reseat the card into the adaptor you had it in or a different adaptor and try putting it back into the camera?

tried that and no luck.....

Have you had a talk with Hoodman to see if they have any ideas?

Question is it the Adaptor which impacted the card or is it the card itself.
Adaptor is rebranded MxM unless they've changed anything.
Hoodman changes a premium for the reliability of their SDHC cards.

Unfortunately it's unclear from your posts where the point of failure is. You really should be more detailed in your posts. All we can do is ask questions and I'm still not 100% clear from your answers what you've actually tried.

Did you get any messages while you were recording?
Did you attempt to view the clips in camera before trying to copy them to computer?

You mentioned you formatted and then shot with the card.
Did you format the card in camera?
Did you test it before shooting with it?

Given the "unrecognized media" it doesn't sound like a card i/o controller issue. Given the message requesting a format it doesn't seem like a typical metadata corruption either. It sounds almost as if the card wasn't formatted properly.

I have spoken to alot of people this morning...sounds like the Hoodman card has failed....as the other SDHC cards worked with no problem.

Did you get any messages while you were recording? NO
Did you attempt to view the clips in camera before trying to copy them to computer? NO time to do so

You mentioned you formatted and then shot with the card. YES I DID
Did you format the card in camera? YES
Did you test it before shooting with it? NO, as it formatted

IT WAS as the camera said it was......

Interesting that the card should fail in that way. It sounds like the storage media aspect of the card failed (part of it). I'd love to hear Hoodman's explanation since their reputation is built on the reliability of their cards (or so I thought).

Hoodman need to look at your card asap. They do state they offer a lifetime warranty (although that won't cover your data). Since they manufacture the card themselves they are in the best position to establish exactly what the problem is.

We'd all be very interested to know what their findings are. Trying to work out what is user error, camera failure or media failure is very important as it helps us see the true picture with SDHC use and also lets us know what media is reliable.