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64gb SanDisk card issue

TimothyHyde

Subscriber Member
I have a brand new 64gb SanDisk Extreme Pro SD card. I put it in the M and shot a few dozen shots this morning. I did NOT format it, as I sometimes do, but the camera seemed to write to it just fine. Images and data displayed as normal on the LCD monitor. But, when I put the card in a reader, the Mac said, "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer."

Did I lose the shoot? What should I do not, format in the camera and move on?
Thanks in advance.

Tim Hyde
Washington, DC
 

D&A

Well-known member
Hi Tim,

My suggestion will probably be one of dozens I'm sure you'll receive in response to your question. At present I don't specifically use an M240 but generally with the M9, I always format a new card in the camera first prior to using it. I'm also not sure if there is something specific regarding the exact Sandisk model card you used and the M240 or the remote chance you obtained one of the countless counterfiet Sandisk cards floating around.

In any case prior to reformating on a PC or in your camera, I would use one of the "good" memory card recovery programs to see if you're able to recover the image you took and presumably was written to the card. If it was initially written properly, there is a excellent chance you'll be able to recover the image file prior to reformatting. That's what I would initially do.

After that I'd test the card thoroughly prior to using it for capturing any important images.

Dave (D&A)
 

Chuck Jones

Subscriber Member
Tim, before anything else close down all of your open programs on the Mac, then reboot and see if the card will mount after the reboot.

If you can see the images on the card playing them back with the camera, you should be able to get them off. So the next thing to try is connect the USB cable to the camera itself, and see if you can pull them off that way. Could be a bad or flakey card reader and not the card itself.

For the future though, it is always a good idea to format your cards fresh in the camera you are going to use them in.
 

TimothyHyde

Subscriber Member
Thanks Chuck and Dave. I've made two discoveries in this process: 1) The M does not have a USB port. You have to buy the handgrip accessory to access USB capability. 2) SanDisk has divorced from or spun off their File Recovery software unit. It now costs $40 as a stand alone. Working on workarounds, something we do a lot in this business, I guess.
 

TimothyHyde

Subscriber Member
This is a little embarrassing. I should checked the card reader first. That was the problem. I had just read a smaller card from my Monochrom and a smaller card from the M yesterday with this reader, but apparently this reader won't work with a 64gb card, or maybe it just died. Either way, time to retire it. Thanks for your help, gentlemen.

tim
 

Duane Pandorf

New member
This is a little embarrassing. I should checked the card reader first. That was the problem. I had just read a smaller card from my Monochrom and a smaller card from the M yesterday with this reader, but apparently this reader won't work with a 64gb card, or maybe it just died. Either way, time to retire it. Thanks for your help, gentlemen.

tim
Glad you found an issue with the card reader and were able to get your images off the card.

However, I would format the card in the camera before taking more photos. On my Leica M-E (same as M9) I have two formatting options. The default one does a quick format the other one does a full format and might take several minutes.

With all the issues I've read about in the past I have made it my technique to doe the full format on a new card. Subsequent formats I use the quicker method.

I've also used the shareware program SDformatter without any issues.
 

algrove

Well-known member
Timothy-I the future please format the card in your M 240 as I always do and you should not have problems.

Perhaps you forgot, but formatting a card in the respective camera you will be using to me is like tying my shoes before walking in them.

Duane-- on the new M there is only one formatting option-much easier.
 
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