Free SDHC Recovery Software
 

As regular viewers will know, I'm a big fan of the ATP Pro Max SDHC cards for shooting on the EX1. Never been let down by one and I own 7 of them.

Due to current work pressures I urgently needed some more cards. Usually I'd order up from MxM direct but I needed to order them on Friday and for them to be here today (Monday). While MxM are usually fast, with half a globe between us I thought getting a delivery over the weekend might be abit much.

So I ordered up some MxM lockables from Prokit. That was the easy part. Could I get hold of any ATP cards? Sadly none that I could guarantee would be here today.

So I ordered up some Sandisk Extreme Class 10's from Amazon. Pricey enough to give some confidence and seem to be well regarded.

The interesting thing though is that they come with a slip inside the box that entitles you to free RescuePro recovery software. There is a choice of Windows or Mac versions and there is one licence per box.

Obviously I have no idea if the software works but this may be worth looking at if you want to have some emergency software to hand.

The downside is that the subscription only lasts for one year. But I'd argue that even if the chances are that you'll never use it you have nothing to lose by having it to hand.

Meanwhile if anyone knows of any UK retailers who stock the ATP cards, it might be worth listing them here for anyone who needs them in a hurry.

Hi Marcus,
I ordered a few ATP cards with MxM on Thursday and received them today (Monday)

Sorry, I don't know of anyone in the UK other than proactive and they don't have any ATP cards

As I may have mentioned before, MxM are usually very fast considering the distance and in fact on a previous order managed to beat a UK retailers standard delivery time. But I just couldn't chance it given the distances involved and the fact that air freight has been disrupted recently. I needed the cards later today so I am currently running tests as I type! All seems good so far.

MxM recommend the Sandisks as well so it's hardly like I am diving back into the Transcend minefield. It's just I'd rather have ATP's.

Hi Marcus,

I had a 16GB SanDisk Ultra that I used in either an MXM or MXR adaptor fail a couple of months ago so I was interested to find the Rescue PRO offer supplied with a recent purchase. In the case of my failed card Rescue PRO did not help but neither has anything else that I have tried.

Before my card failed I got a few “Restore Media” warnings. Each time except the last I was invited to Restore. I guess the take home message is that if you get a couple of restore warnings immediately change cards and see if the warnings stop with the new card. If they do ditch the suspect card before it is too late.

The Ultra was the Class 4 wasn't it? I have a funny feeling there were some mixed reports about the later cards. Remember their performance was ludicrously over spec so its always possible Sandisk changed fabs and the performance still met the Class 4 spec but wasn't quite good enough for the EX1.

Of course any flash card can fail. SDHC can, so can SxS. Any media restore errors that you know weren't caused by you turning the camera off early need to be investigated and the card combo quarantined.

I must say the thing that worries me about the Sandisk cards is the risk of accidentally buying a forgery compared to the ATP's which are presumably so obscure nobody seems to bother. However its unlikely any of the copiers would be inclined to include the free software offer so I think I have genuine cards.