CF card corruption on OSX

nekokami · 10-06-2007, 09:29 PM

I've had a series of CF corruption problems when transferring files to and from OSX 10.3.9. In particular, the latest firmware update allows the iLiad to export its CF card through its USB port as a USB drive, and though this works fine on Linux (Ubuntu) and WinXP, when I tried it on OSX I corrupted the card to the point that I nearly had to scrub it and start over. I eventually was able to repair the filesystem on WinXP, but not until I removed the card from the iLiad and used a separate adapter. So be careful with CF cards and OSX. I think it's an OSX problem, actually -- I think the OS isn't correctly unmounting the virtual drive. (I think this because I still have the problem on OSX using the standalone adapter. I think I've heard that Apple knows about this bug as well.)

I probably could have repaired the filesystem under Linux with fsck if I'd used the standalone adapter. I didn't test that -- since I was able to fix the fs under WinXP, I decided to quit while I was ahead. I may do some more tests later so I can provide some bug info to Apple and iRex.

As a side note, a common symptom of this kind of filesystem correuption, in my experience, is that shell access stops working. I'm not sure exactly why that should be, but when the filesystem gets corrupted, the application folders stop acting like applications and just open as folders.

Just thought I'd share....

ProphetOfReason · 10-07-2007, 02:56 PM

I have the same problems with OSX 10.4.10. Additionally, I'm using a Sandisk Extreme III 8GB card which the Iliad only recognizes as a 4 GB card. This card was reported to be working, and reformatting it doesn't seem to help.

I received my Iliad yesterday and I'm already incredibly impressed with the device.

ig88 · 10-07-2007, 05:23 PM

I use an SD card on my Mac OS 10.4.10 card, and I haven't had any corruption issues.

However, after years of experience with various cards and drives for various devices, I have learned a "trick" that will make your experience much more reliable:

Whenever I use any memory cards (or USB drives for that matter) with the Mac, I always reformat them using Apple's Disk Utility. Of course you will still format them as DOS, but I have NEVER lost a card or data after always reformatting the disk with Apple's Disk Utility.

Before I started doing this, I had all kinds of reliability issues with cards and drives.

nekokami · 10-07-2007, 10:28 PM

Ah. Thanks for the tip! I'll give that a try as soon as I have time to backup the contents again (to the linux box).

It's a 4Gb "no name" card, so I wasn't sure if it might be the card itself at first, but I've definitely tracked the problem to accessing it on the Mac. Hopefully this trick will fix the problem -- it would be much more convenient for me to be able to access the iLiad via my PowerBook than to use the desktop linux/windows box in the living room where the kids tend to have the tv blaring inane comedies.

xristy · 10-08-2007, 07:38 PM

iLiad er 0140/ 2.11

I'm using 10.4.10 and a Sandisk Ultra II 8GB with no problems so far and I've been doing quite a few transfers. The CF has about 6 GB in use just now.

grayfox · 10-17-2007, 09:01 AM

I had about 30 or so objects on my 2GB SanDisk card and I
decided to reorganize the files into several subfolders...bad move!

I am running MacOSX 10.4.10.

As I started dragging some of the iLiad folders into the newly
created folders I noticed that when I told the os to reorder the
folders that some would not move.

When I opened some the new folders the contents where not
correct ( Python books in the TclTk folder etc...)

I started dragging the iLiad folders off of the CF onto the
mac Desktop and was able to recover all of the original files.

I reorganized the files on the mac, refomatted the CF and copied
the files back to the CF.

I guess I am going to have to be a bit more careful...

Jerry

ig88 · 10-17-2007, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grayfox

I had about 30 or so objects on my 2GB SanDisk card and I
decided to reorganize the files into several subfolders...bad move!

I am running MacOSX 10.4.10.

As I started dragging some of the iLiad folders into the newly
created folders I noticed that when I told the os to reorder the
folders that some would not move.

When I opened some the new folders the contents where not
correct ( Python books in the TclTk folder etc...)
Jerry

Out of curiosity, did you originally format the card using Apple's Disk Utility after you just bought it?

grayfox · 10-17-2007, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ig88

Out of curiosity, did you originally format the card using Apple's Disk Utility after you just bought it?

No, I initially used the CF card with the "out of the box" (fat16) formatting.

Note that the mac reformats to a fat32 file system.

Jerry

ig88 · 10-18-2007, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grayfox

No, I initially used the CF card with the "out of the box" (fat16) formatting.

Note that the mac reformats to a fat32 file system.

I know. I wanted to know if you had used Apple's Disk Utility to format the card initially.

As I stated in my previous post, I used to always have unreliable experiences with cards (SD, CF, MemoryStick, etc) on my Mac until I started formatting them myself first with Apple's Disk Utility.

Go figure.

grayfox · 10-18-2007, 06:09 PM

Hi,

This may be useful for linux an mac users...

A quick way to copy files from one place to
another is to use rsync. The first time
it is used it will copy all of the files, subsequent
copies will only copy the things that are newer.

My cf card on the mac is known as /Volumes/CFILIAD
On my desktop I have a folder named CardBackup

The command I used was:

Code:

 rsync -av /Volumes/CFILIAD/ /Users/jerry/Desktop/CardBackup

This cloned the CF card to the CardBackup Folder.
Note the slash after CFILIAD and no slash after the
CardBackup.

You can also direct rsync to delete files on the target that are
no longer in the source.

It is worth reading the man page for rsync before using the command.

Jerry

mores · 10-19-2007, 04:37 AM

thanks for the reformatting tip.
i had a number of problems with memorysticks that i hooked up to my mac with a card reader. i lost a number pictures from my phone-cam, until i started not removing the card and transfering by bluetooth instead.

Ivan · 10-24-2007, 07:06 AM

I already format it. IT happend the third times to me- all diles just disapear in CF cotent under th ereader. I foudn they are all still exit when I check vi USB connection to my computer.
I guess there is a series bugs there. Ivan

nekokami · 10-24-2007, 08:27 AM

Sometimes the iLiad just loses track of the CF card. Rebooting the iLiad seems to clear it up.

It's annoying, I agree.

wallcraft · 10-24-2007, 10:34 AM

This happens to my iLiad too, and I don't have a Mac. In particular: on bootup the CF contentLister entry shows no space available and no files. Presumably the CF card has not been mounted. A reboot usually brings back the CF card. Is there a fix for this (e.g. from the command line)? I put most extra software on the CF card - but if there is a command line fix, then adding a contentLister runnable run.sh in main memory implementing it would save a reboot.

nekokami · 10-24-2007, 01:27 PM

Yes, a software fix not requiring a reboot would be very nice. (mount command, maybe?) But I suspect it's a hardware problem of some kind. I guess it could be a device driver error, though. Or maybe an obscure timing error, perhaps in the driver loader?

10-06-2007, 09:29 PM	#1
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	CF card corruption on OSX I've had a series of CF corruption problems when transferring files to and from OSX 10.3.9. In particular, the latest firmware update allows the iLiad to export its CF card through its USB port as a USB drive, and though this works fine on Linux (Ubuntu) and WinXP, when I tried it on OSX I corrupted the card to the point that I nearly had to scrub it and start over. I eventually was able to repair the filesystem on WinXP, but not until I removed the card from the iLiad and used a separate adapter. So be careful with CF cards and OSX. I think it's an OSX problem, actually -- I think the OS isn't correctly unmounting the virtual drive. (I think this because I still have the problem on OSX using the standalone adapter. I think I've heard that Apple knows about this bug as well.) I probably could have repaired the filesystem under Linux with fsck if I'd used the standalone adapter. I didn't test that -- since I was able to fix the fs under WinXP, I decided to quit while I was ahead. I may do some more tests later so I can provide some bug info to Apple and iRex. As a side note, a common symptom of this kind of filesystem correuption, in my experience, is that shell access stops working. I'm not sure exactly why that should be, but when the filesystem gets corrupted, the application folders stop acting like applications and just open as folders. Just thought I'd share....

10-18-2007, 06:09 PM	#10
grayfox Connoisseur Posts: 68 Karma: 203 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: Razr/iLiad	Hi, This may be useful for linux an mac users... A quick way to copy files from one place to another is to use rsync. The first time it is used it will copy all of the files, subsequent copies will only copy the things that are newer. My cf card on the mac is known as /Volumes/CFILIAD On my desktop I have a folder named CardBackup The command I used was: Code: rsync -av /Volumes/CFILIAD/ /Users/jerry/Desktop/CardBackup This cloned the CF card to the CardBackup Folder. Note the slash after CFILIAD and no slash after the CardBackup. You can also direct rsync to delete files on the target that are no longer in the source. It is worth reading the man page for rsync before using the command. Jerry

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10-07-2007, 02:56 PM	#2
ProphetOfReason Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2007 Device: Iliad	I have the same problems with OSX 10.4.10. Additionally, I'm using a Sandisk Extreme III 8GB card which the Iliad only recognizes as a 4 GB card. This card was reported to be working, and reformatting it doesn't seem to help. I received my Iliad yesterday and I'm already incredibly impressed with the device.

10-07-2007, 05:23 PM	#3
ig88 Gadget Guy Posts: 76 Karma: 84 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iLiad - iPhone - OSX	I use an SD card on my Mac OS 10.4.10 card, and I haven't had any corruption issues. However, after years of experience with various cards and drives for various devices, I have learned a "trick" that will make your experience much more reliable: Whenever I use any memory cards (or USB drives for that matter) with the Mac, I always reformat them using Apple's Disk Utility. Of course you will still format them as DOS, but I have NEVER lost a card or data after always reformatting the disk with Apple's Disk Utility. Before I started doing this, I had all kinds of reliability issues with cards and drives.

10-07-2007, 10:28 PM	#4
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	Ah. Thanks for the tip! I'll give that a try as soon as I have time to backup the contents again (to the linux box). It's a 4Gb "no name" card, so I wasn't sure if it might be the card itself at first, but I've definitely tracked the problem to accessing it on the Mac. Hopefully this trick will fix the problem -- it would be much more convenient for me to be able to access the iLiad via my PowerBook than to use the desktop linux/windows box in the living room where the kids tend to have the tv blaring inane comedies.

10-08-2007, 07:38 PM	#5
xristy Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 210 Join Date: Sep 2007 Device: iPad	iLiad er 0140/ 2.11 I'm using 10.4.10 and a Sandisk Ultra II 8GB with no problems so far and I've been doing quite a few transfers. The CF has about 6 GB in use just now.

10-17-2007, 09:01 AM	#6
grayfox Connoisseur Posts: 68 Karma: 203 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: Razr/iLiad	I had about 30 or so objects on my 2GB SanDisk card and I decided to reorganize the files into several subfolders...bad move! I am running MacOSX 10.4.10. As I started dragging some of the iLiad folders into the newly created folders I noticed that when I told the os to reorder the folders that some would not move. When I opened some the new folders the contents where not correct ( Python books in the TclTk folder etc...) I started dragging the iLiad folders off of the CF onto the mac Desktop and was able to recover all of the original files. I reorganized the files on the mac, refomatted the CF and copied the files back to the CF. I guess I am going to have to be a bit more careful... Jerry

10-19-2007, 04:37 AM	#11
mores Guru Posts: 834 Karma: 102419 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Vienna, Austria Device: iPhone	thanks for the reformatting tip. i had a number of problems with memorysticks that i hooked up to my mac with a card reader. i lost a number pictures from my phone-cam, until i started not removing the card and transfering by bluetooth instead.

10-24-2007, 07:06 AM	#12
Ivan Connoisseur Posts: 51 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2006	I already format it. IT happend the third times to me- all diles just disapear in CF cotent under th ereader. I foudn they are all still exit when I check vi USB connection to my computer. I guess there is a series bugs there. Ivan

10-24-2007, 08:27 AM	#13
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	Sometimes the iLiad just loses track of the CF card. Rebooting the iLiad seems to clear it up. It's annoying, I agree.

10-24-2007, 10:34 AM	#14
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,975 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	This happens to my iLiad too, and I don't have a Mac. In particular: on bootup the CF contentLister entry shows no space available and no files. Presumably the CF card has not been mounted. A reboot usually brings back the CF card. Is there a fix for this (e.g. from the command line)? I put most extra software on the CF card - but if there is a command line fix, then adding a contentLister runnable run.sh in main memory implementing it would save a reboot.

10-24-2007, 01:27 PM	#15
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	Yes, a software fix not requiring a reboot would be very nice. (mount command, maybe?) But I suspect it's a hardware problem of some kind. I guess it could be a device driver error, though. Or maybe an obscure timing error, perhaps in the driver loader?