I have the weirdest problem. I'm shooting raw on cf cards with my Cannon 1Ds Mark III and download the images to my macbook pro via imageingester. i check the images with bridge and everything looks fine. But when i copy the files to my imac a 20% of the images get corrupt.

My first thought was bad transfer. I tried various ways to transfer the images and still the same problem. even when i copy from macbook to external hd, connect the hd to the imac and check the files without copying them, some images look corrupt.

I used this workflow for years (except switching from capture one to image ingester and bridge a few months ago) and for millions of images and i've never seen this before.

Older RAW files on my imac seem ok.

Thank you

I have a MacBookPro running the latest version of Leopard. I just returned from a vacation to Alaska where I shot over 3,400 images. About 2,000 were shot with my Canon 1DsMk3 and the rest with a Panasonic Lumix P&S.

Each day I downloaded the images to my MBP HD using a USB card reader and LR 2.0. I then downloaded the cards into my Epson P5000 which has CF and SD card reader slots built in. The LR library and the images on my MBP were then backed up to an external FW OWC 320GB pocket drive.

When I got home, all of the files and LR library files were transferred to my MacPro 8-core LR 2.0 database. I had no problems at all with any of the files.

I think that you may have something going on with your MB OS or HD because your process seems to be okay.

Bud James

Quick questions...
Do you format your cards in the camera to clear them?
Have you "wiped" your cards recently?
Have you run your "Verify Permissions" on the MBP recently?
Have you done a "VP" on the drives you're testing?
Are you using the same port for the various transfer tests you've run? (that is, have you tested on different USB and FW ports?)
Have you tried moving the files via a network, to avoid the ports altogether?
Did you try simply downloading any of the cards without using any programs, drag and drop from Finder?

...sorry for all the ??, but you're right, it is a weird problem.

I always format cards in the camera. corrupt files come from 3 different sandisk extreme IV. so it shouldn't be a card problem
What do you mean 'wiped'?
I've done 'verify permissions' and 'repair disk' on both computers.
I haven't tried different ports but i did copy files via wifi, the same problem. so it shouldn't be a transfer issue.

please note that from cf to macbook everything is ok. the problem occurs when the files are being copied from macbook to imac.

could it be some weird imac hardware failure? imac seems ok except the raw issue.

crap. I got nothin.

It seems like you've totally covered the bases. The next step would be to try the files on another machine entirely, to see if it's a problem with the iMac specifically.

("Wiping" a memory card means using a utility to actually write data to the card, to over-write any file fragments... technically a format just rebuilds the directory, it does not erase any data, and sometimes the data has bits, bytes and pieces all over the card. The early Canon cameras, I'm talking D30 here, needed a periodic wiping to avoid CF issues. Doesn't sound like your problem at all...)

Hold on... Do they look the same in Finder, and other applications? Have you tried opening them in Photoshop? Wondering if it is Bridge issue, on the iMac.

Jeesh... sorry, one other thought. Take one of the files on the iMac and transfer it back to the MBP. Is it corrupt? (again, trying to isolate the iMac)

Sorry for the onslaught of random thoughts here... I wanted to throw this out before heading out the door.

I noticed that you'd made adjustments to the files. I'd pull the XMP files out and see how that affects your preview (on the iMac). I also am really interested in what happens when you try to open the corrupted files in Photoshop.

...I got a few theories.

Thank you very much for your help. Things get a bit 'blurry' when you have this kind of serious problems. And you help me narrow it down.

So I copied corrupted RAW's back to macbook, still bad, the files get corrupted permanently.

Copping files from macbook to a secondary imac i own, there are no problems.

Finaly its not a main imac's adobe bridge issue, I used Capture One too with no success .

So I think i'm dealing with a Mac Os X (10.5.4) issue. Maybe a security update i installed recently? Anyway I'm probably going for a full format later today...

Before you do the format... What are the specs on the iMac? There have been some corruption issues with 10.4 etc on the G5sm aybe also 10.5?, I'm wondering if that may be the direction to go...

Check out this thread... http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5833019

and this too...
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/05...3_graphics.html


hmmm.

Have you always used imageingester?

Try loading an image that has not gone thru imageingester and see if that might have a hand in this.
If nothing else you will have eliminated at least one factor in the equation.

One other little trick is to address any corrupt preferences associated with the user account...

Create a new user, and log in using that User.

Try the whole process from there.

If it happens still, then it's not the User Account prefs, if it doesn't happen, then it's something that's bad in your main, previous User account preferences.

What version of ImageIngester are you using? If it’s version 3.x.x, remember that it’s still an early beta and not recommend for critical work. I’ve pushed thousands of images through version 2.4.x without a single hiccup. If you have any suspicion about II being the cause, I’d suggest contacting Marc Rochkind directly, he’s very responsive.

Greg

my workflow is cf (via imageingester 2.4) to macbook pro and then copy images to imac (24'', 2.3 intel, white).

its not an imageingester issue since the corruption is happening when copying images from macbook to imac. images on the macbook pro look fine.

its not a adobe issue since the the images look bad with capture one too (not using adobe at all).

changing user doesn't resolve anything.

i think its serious mac os x issue and i see no other solution than formating (though i'm extremely
bored of spending a day installing and calibrating and setting up)

l

I'd agree at this point. Sorry!

I suppose you are running the same version of OS X on both machines?

Have you tried DiscWarrior, a disc repair and maintenance application for the Mac?

Chances are using DiskUtility to repair permissions, as he's done, will flag any issues. Disk Warrior is generally used to fix things that DiskUtility can't, but invariably finds...

I've gone over this with a few of our techs at Tech Superpowers (Apple Service, IT and tech support) and we're all in agreement that it sounds like an OSX/hardware issue that has been touched on in the links above. We have yet to find any documentation of this issue with 10.5.xx, but I'm pretty convinced its the problem here - an issue with his particular iMac and the OS he's running.

How are you making out, and can you tell me what version iMac, for my own info, please?

Ted

I keep reading on this thread that you're copying these files through third party software onto a different device.

What happens when you open the drive icon, the folder containing your images on the CF card, from the Finder on the desktop, copy to a newly created folder on the desktop, then copy that folder onto the iMac I'm assuming is networked through a cable of some sort?

Basically rule out third party software interface copying as the culprit.

I think the fact that the files are OK on both the Macbook Pro, that he's downloading to, and the other iMac he's checked them on they're OK too, pretty much rules that out. It's an issue with that particular iMac. (...still would like to know the specs on that box. )

sorry i didn't have time to reply sooner. loosing my main computer threw me completely off schedule.

since the raw corruptions i had numerous issues. zip files not unzipping (corrupt message) only in this specific imac, corrupt indesign files, photoshop crashing at startup (a restart fixed that). disk utility still checks ok!

well i'm reinstalling mac os now, and lets hope trouble stops here.

my imac is a 24'', 2.3ghz intel, white (bought nov'06), 500gb hd, 3gb ram (if you want more details i'll post them as soon as install finishes and i can check them )

vassilis

ps. these issues i had in the last couple of days made me very concerned about the back up processes i follow (you can't be careful enough). i mean i didn't loose any images since i'm very thorough with backing up but i'm surely gonna double check my workflow.

and at the risk of sounding cliché i have a feeling that apple isn't what it used to be.

many thanks for your help

yeah, I kind of figured... sorry to nudge, but that info goes a long way to answering OS issues. The fact that is is an Intel iMac, not a G5, for example, eliminates a bunch of possible causes.

That aside, with your additional corruption problems there is no doubt in my mind the system has serious hardware issues. It could be the drive, it could be the logic board, RAM, or some other random thing, but clearly approaching catastrophic. I'd very strongly advise you to bring it in for service, to either an Apple Partner or an Apple Store. They will run a hardware diagnostic on it. Without that, you're just stabbing in the dark.

Any other work you do may risk making the problem worse... don't want to scare you, but we see this stuff every day... don't matter if it's Apple or otherwise. But let's not go there...

You still need to take the third party software out of the loop. The point of source on the first copy from CF card to macbook hard drive to imac HD needs to be straight forward with nothing else getting in the way.

Are the files corrupt when copying (drag and drop) on to the desktop from CF card to the iMac? If so then you've got hardware problems.

Normally I'd agree with this... it's always a logical first step, and I always advise anyone to simply drag and drop files rather than using any app do bring them in. (How hard can it be, really, and it removes one source of exposure from the process).

But, in this case, the escalating nature of the problem, the additional corruption of files, in other apps, from other sources pretty much rules out any issues with the third party "ingesting" software.

I'd bet my bottom dollar on a hardware issue... hopefully a simple (cheap) one.

and the verdict...

so i tried to format and reinstall leopard. a few times. and every time some different bundle was failing to install (install dvd tried many times). so following teddillard's advice i brought it to an apple partner for service, to find out that a RAM's dimm was broken (dimm was still in warranty). changed it and everything is back to normal.

thank you

vassilis

ps apple didn't have anything to do with it afterall

SWEET! Thanks for the udpate!