Can't transfer my 30D files to Vista 64 OS

[Philmar]

I just installed Vista x64 a while ago. I use Zoombrowser EX (v 6.3.1) to download my RAW photos using a SanDisk ImageMate 12-In-1 Memory card reader. It is compatible with Vista 64.
http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/com...FUSB&os=32-bit

Shot a lot of photos yesterday. When I plug the reader and full card in to my PC I get a message: "You need to format the disk in Drive J: before you can use it" I cancel out of this, since I suspect formatting will erase the recently taken files.

When I attempt to acquire the photos using Zoombrowser it gives a message:
"No images to download from memory card" - but the images ARE there. They show up on the 30D lcd screen. They've not been downloaded previously.

If I attempt to use another program, this time Photoshop Bridge, to download the files, I get a message "Failed to obtain thumbnails from the device. The device is not connected or busy"
When I plug any of my other cards in to my pc I have similar results.
Am at a loss as to how to get the cards to work on Vista x64.
Luckily I have an ancient XP Pro laptop that I was able to downloads the files to - but it is excruciatingly slow as it only has USB 1.0. Downloading 8 gbs to the laptop takes a while, as will transferring them (via usb 1) to my 1 TB external HD (which I can use to transfer them to my Vista pc).

Do I have to format these cards to be used in Vista x64? If so, which format? And will they still work in the 30D? Everytime I use the cards in my 30D I reformat instead of simply erasing all. Should I format in Vista and simply erase evey time the card fills up again (after downloading them, of course)??

[Jonathan Ratzlaff]

Why don't you just use windows explorer in vista.  I you go to my computer, you should be able to see the camera

[Philmar]

Why don't you just use windows explorer in vista.  I you go to my computer, you should be able to see the camera

The second after I plug the reader and full card in to my PC I get a message: "You need to format the disk in Drive J: before you can use it" I cancel out of this, since I suspect formatting will erase the recently taken files. When I click on it through My Computer, I get the same message.

[DarkPenguin]

What happens if you hook the camera up and download the images from there?  If that works, download the images to your pc, format the card in the camera and then see if it works in the PC.

[Philmar]

What happens if you hook the camera up and download the images from there?  If that works, download the images to your pc, format the card in the camera and then see if it works in the PC.

I've used the SanDisk reader since I had the 30D  - not sure if I know where the cable for the camera is. But the files are on my PC as I was able to download to my XP laptop and then to my external HD.

[Philmar]

any card (I have 4 SanDisk Ultas) that I reformat in my camera says the same thing when I then try to access it on my pc: "You need to format the disk in Drive J: before you can use it"

Happens again even if I use a different USB port.

[Jack Varney]

It might be worth formatting one of your cards on the Vista 64 system to see if the behavior is different. Check a card in Explorer and right click to bring up Properties and make sure that it is formatted for Fat32.

[Jonathan Ratzlaff]

Your camera uses a fat16 file system as do many older cameras.  If your camera cannot handle cards larger than  2Gb, it is a fat16 camera.  looks like vista 64 cannot read fat16 files.
If you format the card in fat32 in the computer, the camera won't be able to read the card.
You may find more information here: http://en.kioskea.net/faq/sujet-885-mounti...n-fat-16-ms-dos

[Philmar]

Your camera uses a fat16 file system as do many older cameras.  If your camera cannot handle cards larger than  2Gb, it is a fat16 camera.  looks like vista 64 cannot read fat16 files.
If you format the card in fat32 in the computer, the camera won't be able to read the card.
You may find more information here: http://en.kioskea.net/faq/sujet-885-mounti...n-fat-16-ms-dos

Thanks for your reply. My Canon 30D can handle cards greater than 2 GB. It handles both my 8 gb and 4 gb cards.

[Philmar]

It might be worth formatting one of your cards on the Vista 64 system to see if the behavior is different. Check a card in Explorer and right click to bring up Properties and make sure that it is formatted for Fat32.

Thanks for your reply. I was thinking of trying this. But was afraid I'd render the card useless for my camera. But if it doesn't work I could just reformat in the camera. I'll try it when I get home.

[Philmar]

It might be worth formatting one of your cards on the Vista 64 system to see if the behavior is different. Check a card in Explorer and right click to bring up Properties and make sure that it is formatted for Fat32.

Windows asks me to reformat it. Under Properties it is blank next to the 'File System" It reads as having no bytes. When I try to re-format it it in Vista in Fat32 it says "Windows is unable to complete the format"  then it asks me to check if it is not read-only. When I try to reformat it in Vista, it can correctly identify the size of the drive (i.e. it knows it's capacity is 4 gb or 2 gbs depending on which one I've inserted).  But when I put it in the 30D it reads as a CF error. So I just reformat it in camera and it works. But it won't be identified when I put it back in to the pc. I think it might be the SanDisk reader.

[CynthiaM]

I just installed Vista x64 a while ago. I use Zoombrowser EX (v 6.3.1) to download my RAW photos using a SanDisk ImageMate 12-In-1 Memory card reader. It is compatible with Vista 64.
http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/com...FUSB&os=32-bit

Shot a lot of photos yesterday. When I plug the reader and full card in to my PC I get a message: "You need to format the disk in Drive J: before you can use it" I cancel out of this, since I suspect formatting will erase the recently taken files.

When I attempt to acquire the photos using Zoombrowser it gives a message:
"No images to download from memory card" - but the images ARE there. They show up on the 30D lcd screen. They've not been downloaded previously.

If I attempt to use another program, this time Photoshop Bridge, to download the files, I get a message "Failed to obtain thumbnails from the device. The device is not connected or busy"
When I plug any of my other cards in to my pc I have similar results.
Am at a loss as to how to get the cards to work on Vista x64.
Luckily I have an ancient XP Pro laptop that I was able to downloads the files to - but it is excruciatingly slow as it only has USB 1.0. Downloading 8 gbs to the laptop takes a while, as will transferring them (via usb 1) to my 1 TB external HD (which I can use to transfer them to my Vista pc).

Do I have to format these cards to be used in Vista x64? If so, which format? And will they still work in the 30D? Everytime I use the cards in my 30D I reformat instead of simply erasing all. Should I format in Vista and simply erase evey time the card fills up again (after downloading them, of course)??

I recently upgraded from an Xp machine to a Vista 64 bit machine and have found compatibility issues to be very funky.  I have seen software that is checkmarked on the Microsoft site as being vista 64 bit compatible completely crash the  new system, requiring a boot into safe mode in order to uninstall the software as otherwise the system would crash, reboot, get to desktop, crash reboot, etc; I couldn't get to the control panel without booting to safe mode.  I have also seen programs written for xp install and work just fine.

Do you have the Canon raw codec installed:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controll...s=windows_vista
I think I knew about installing this before I even attempted to get any images off a card so maybe this is necessary for vista 64 to even read the card.

Also, make sure that you have vista64 versions of any canon software installed:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controll...wnloadDetailAct

One other piece of advise.  Once you get all of this working, it is a bit of a trick to get the windows 64bit explorer to see the raw thumbnails.  By default, when you go through the start menu to your computer, the system will use the 64 bit explorer so it will use this if you are in "Pictures" but 64bit can't display the raw thumbnails.  If you want to see the thumbnails then you need to use the 32 bit explorer which is located at C:\Windows\SysWOW64\explorer.exe.  But once the 32bit explorer sees the thumbnails, then the the 64bit explorer will be able to read them.  So you might want to make a shortcut on your desktop for the 32 bit explorer.

Make sure you have very reliable backups both on the file level and disk image level.  In the early days of our relationship I had to use Norton Ghost many times because something didn't want to play nicely with vista 64.  The image backup in particular saved me from multiple trips into the abyss of windows hell.

Hope that helps

[John.Murray]

Your camera uses a fat16 file system as do many older cameras.  If your camera cannot handle cards larger than  2Gb, it is a fat16 camera.  looks like vista 64 cannot read fat16 files.
If you format the card in fat32 in the computer, the camera won't be able to read the card.
You may find more information here: http://en.kioskea.net/faq/sujet-885-mounti...n-fat-16-ms-dos

That is incorrect:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766145.aspx

Your problem is that you card has a corrupted directory.  There are many good recovery utilites out there.

I had a similar problem some years ago and lost an entire card with a full days shoot.  I've since always been in the habit of formatting the card whenever I re-introduce it to the camera.

hth - John

[Philmar]

That is incorrect:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766145.aspx

Your problem is that you card has a corrupted directory.  There are many good recovery utilites out there.

I had a similar problem some years ago and lost an entire card with a full days shoot.  I've since always been in the habit of formatting the card whenever I re-introduce it to the camera.

hth - John

Thanks, FYI - I have 4 separate cards. None are working on the pc. However, they store files when I take a photo. They download fine to my laptop using the cardbus adapter. The cards aren't corrupt. I am convinced now that the problem lies not in the cards but the reader. The cards work fine in my camera.
I wonder if it is caused by a bent pin inside the reader? Wonder if that would result in the behavior I see.

[Philmar]

UPDATE - my card reader doesn't even work in my XP laptop. Yet the same card does work in the laptop when I use my cardbus adapter to load the files.  Inside the reader are many pins that mate with the CF card. I suspect one of them might be dead/broke/bent. I am convinced it is the reader that is the source of the problem. I looked at the date of some of the RAWs on my pc and I have used the card reader successfully to load shots on to my vista pc. I still have XP on another drive and it won't work on there either.
Time for a new CF card reader....hopefully one that lasts longer than 3 years!!

Thanks for everyone's help.