16 Gig CF Cards not mounting

[George Paatashvili]

So question is: how reliable are 16GB cards?

Could people who have these cards please share their experiences with them (we have a few 16GB cards on order, primarily to shoot in 4K HD mode, however after these threads we began to have some doubts).

[Florian Stadler]

I have just discovered the same problem. One of my 4 16GB cards will not mount with a SanDisk FW800 reader to a Macbook Pro. It also didn't mount with a Radioshack brand USB reader. It is only its 4th use. All other cards mount immediately when inserted into the reader. It played back during filming but I can't test it on my camera because it is at Red to get a recurring Audio Error fault resolved and I subrented a camera for the shoot. Luckily this is not a clients footage but my own, shot for stock on the prep day. I still hope Red will be able to help me recover the files once I contact them tomorrow.

I had 1 8GB card that did the same thing after little use and Red replaced it. I didn't have any important footage on it though and did not try to recover...

[George Paatashvili]

I have just discovered the same problem. One of my 4 16GB cards will not mount with a SanDisk FW800 reader to a Macbook Pro. It also didn't mount with a Radioshack brand USB reader. It is only its 4th use. All other cards mount immediately when inserted into the reader. It played back during filming but I can't test it on my camera because it is at Red to get a recurring Audio Error fault resolved and I subrented a camera for the shoot. Luckily this is not a clients footage but my own, shot for stock on the prep day. I still hope Red will be able to help me recover the files once I contact them tomorrow.

I had 1 8GB card that did the same thing after little use and Red replaced it. I didn't have any important footage on it though and did not try to recover...

Thanks, Florian. So this issue may occur to any card later on, even to 8GB cards... It's scary, when it actually happens with a clients footage, and it is not acceptable at all.
We have shot hundreds of thousands of still images on SanDisk cards and never ever have had a single issue with them over many years. I really thought RED cards were just as reliable...

[Panos Bournias]

It happened for the second time, w/ a sundisc FW800. Unfortunately w/ client footage. Waiting news from red. It is really scary as more and more news are coming up about cards that cannot mount. For now I use my HD and an older USB reader. I suspect that the Sun Disc in combination w/ the card creates the problem. A sudden power discharge from the FW 800 burns the card? Why still photographers say that they never have this problem? Seems like it can happen anytime. The clients were both really furious. Re-shoot is related to overtime no?
Panos

[Ariana]

Why still photographers say that they never have this problem? Seems like it can happen anytime. The clients were both really furious. Re-shoot is related to overtime no?
Panos

Cards failing in the stills world happens and there are recovery services we use for those times.

We bought 50 off the shelf cards from B&H and had a few dead ones after some time.

[Florian Stadler]

Update: I turned in the non-mounting card to RED late Friday afternoon with a drive to copy potentially recovered footage to. I got all footage recovered and a new, working 16 GB card today in the FedEx. Once again, Red's dedication to make it right for the customer is unbelievable. Thanks guys!

[Nate Clapp]

I was wondering- one theory for card failure is a bad firewire cable that is sending bad mojo to the card. (something that doesn't seem to happen to drives, except maybe fry the fw port?) what if you used:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/pr...express34.html
no cable involved. cable failure is always a scary possibility. Anyone use the sonnet card reader extensively? I wonder what Red's thoughts are re that vs the lexar pro FW800 (which I have, but some people had problems using that....)

-Nate Clapp

[Jarred Land]

We have a new firmware for the 16gb cards that resolve these corruption issues that happen on some readers. Brent will be contacting you guys to organize the update when its ready over the next few days, unfortunately we need to plug them into a machine here to do the upgrade and it cant be done remotely.

[Brent@RED]

This applies to all RED 16GB CompactFlash Cards that were invoiced on March 13, 2009 or earlier. An email will be going out to everyone this applies to as well.

Due to reports from our customers and own internal testing, we have discovered that some external CompactFlash reader/writers have insufficient specs to handle the requirements of the RED 16GB CompactFlash Card. As a service to our customers, we have created a new version of firmware for the RED 16GB CompactFlash Card. All cards shipping on March 16 or later will have this firmware.

For the RED 16GB CompactFlash Cards that you have with the prior version of firmware, RED will be offering to upgrade the firmware on those cards at no charge for this service. To be able to offer this at no charge, we will be upgrading cards in batches - on the 1st and 15th of each month. This will begin on April 1, 2009 and we will offer this until July 1, 2009.

Process Overview:
* Notify upgrades@red.com that you would like to send in RED 16GB CompactFlash Cards for firmware updating.
* We will assign you an RMA number and give you shipping information. NOTE: Since this is an optional program, you are responsible for shipping the cards back to RED. You can also drop them off in our RED Store.
* As long as we have the cards in our hands three full business days BEFORE a scheduled firmware update on the 1st or 15th, we can get them in the next scheduled batch. If we receive it too late, it will go in the next scheduled update batch.
* Please allow us 5 business days AFTER a batch enters the update process on the 1st or 15th to ship the cards back to you. RED will send you the cards via FedEx 2 Day Air at no cost to you.
* Note that every card will be completely reformatted, have the firmware updated, and - if needed - will be relabeled. So, please make sure there is no footage on the card and also be prepared to lose whatever labeling you have on the card.
* All cards will be tested before shipping back to you. If, for any reason, a card is found faulty during testing, you will be issued another card.
* You can choose to send all of your cards back in one batch - or do multiple batches. Whatever is more convenient for you.
* RED will notate your account that you have has this update performed.

John Restivo is the BOMB SQUAD rep who will be coordinating this program. Please consider him your direct contact for this program. If you have any questions or concerns, please let John know.

Thanks, BC

[Chris Parker]

in the meantime, should productions be holding off on using the 16GB cards? how dangerous is it? i start a pilot in two days with 10 16GB cards......so was wondering.....