D7000 and unformatted cards « Nikon Rumors Forum

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D7000 and unformatted cards

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skifam5

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Hello,

I hope I am posting this in the right forum. I received my new D7000 on Monday. I just upgraded from a D70s. Tonight I was taking pictures at my son's scouting event. My camera stopped taking pictures and showed an error. So I switched memory card. When I got home I looked up the error which said the memory card was not formatted. The card had been formatted, but no in the camera. My first question is why would it let me take pictures on an unformatted card? Secondly, is can I recover those files?

Thanks!

Posted 2 years ago #
NSXType-R

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Perhaps because you didn't turn off demo mode on the D7000, you could still seem like you were shooting photos? That's the first thing I do when I got my DSLR. It's in my menu somewhere, I don't know where for the D7000.

So possibly, your camera never wrote to your card. That's just a hunch, perhaps it did.

Maybe another member can speak better about this.

Posted 2 years ago #
NikoDoby

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Please post these types of 'problems' in the "D7000 Problems" thread. Although this might be just a bad card and have nothing to do with the camera. You didn't say what brand, size, or speed the card was. There is software you can purchase that can (maybe) recover your files from the card. I mainly use SanDisk's RescuePro. It will work with all brands and not just SanDisk. There are several other recovery software that 'might' be able to recover your files. It just depends on how bad the file corruption is. Just keep in mind that the recovery process is very slow and might take several hours depending on card and file sizes. Always format your card in the camera. Never in the computer.

Do a forum search for more info from various other discussions on card errors.
http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=1953

Posted 2 years ago #
SkintBrit

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The menu item NSX is referring to is (on a D700) in the CSM "custom shooting menu" item F11. If you set this to locked, it will stop the camera shutter from working if it doesn't detect a memory card. I always have this selected for safety, may be in a different location on a D7000.
Good luck with finding your photo's!

Posted 2 years ago #
OneShot

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The setting "SkinBrit" is talking about is F8 on the D7000....
However; its not helping me because my d7000 is telling me there is no memory card in the cam when there is one in there!

Posted 1 year ago #
iris chrome

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Welcome to the forum OneShot. This goes without saying but did you try different memory cards? And did you check that the card isn't locked either? If yes to both, then try to place the card into the 2nd slot and leave the 1st one empty. If it works then maybe your first slot is faulty. Good luck.

Posted 1 year ago #
R8R

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skifam5 said:
When I got home I looked up the error which said the memory card was not formatted. The card had been formatted, but no in the camera. My first question is why would it let me take pictures on an unformatted card? Secondly, is can I recover those files?

The camera may use the same file format as whatever the card originally was formatted to, (most likely the FAT32 file system) but the camera formatting will set up the correct directory, etc.

So, do a Google search for recovery software and it's possible to get the files back. Unless you have attempted to re-format the card, all of the file data (if any) should still be there.

Once that is done, re-format the card IN THE CAMERA, then take some test photos. If the card gives you problems in either slot of the camera (test them one at a time) then TOSS THE CARD. Better to buy a fresh one that works then to take a chance losing great pics.

Also, feed the camera good cards. Go for at least class 6 or better.

Posted 1 year ago #
rbid

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When you insert the card on you computer, which kind of "format" it has? (if you have Micro$oft Windows, try a right click on the remote drive and then properties).. Sometimes some manufacturers use NTFS as card format and the camera do not like it. Try reformating the camera on your camera or on your PC but with a FAT32 format.

Posted 1 year ago #
casperwb

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buy a new high quality card or two. buy only the highest quality cards, do not try to save money here. do not buy a Ferrari and put the cheapest tires and oil you can get in it, best quality only.

make sure you format it on the camera.

this is easier to do than formating it on the computer.

note for the future: always follow the instructions that came with the camera, the manufacturer printed these instructions to prevent you from having problems and putting the blame on the camera.

again: format your cards in the camera.

no problem? not the cameras fault.

Posted 1 year ago #
Bkjerabek

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I have a year old D7000. I used up the room on an older 2G SanDisk card then switched to a SanDisk SDHC Card (4), 4GB the other day for a shoot. All seemed fine, shooting away, or so I thought until I looked down to review, saw only four pics! The word FORMAT in red with line through it I think was in the upper left of my display window. Horrible! Was allowing me to shoot but dumping cards off the back or something. Thought it was my card, so I switched out and finished the shoot without problem. Did not use that card again.

Yesterday shot a wedding for a friend and was fine until the very end of the shoot. Was using a new (again) 16G Dane-Eled Pro Ultra SDHC class 10 card. All again seemed to go well, I checked often then somewhat the same thing happened. I had the entire wedding party, all 22 (!!), ready to go, shot several amazing (!) pics, looked down to review and there were four! At this point a man who owns a photography shop took a look said you must have reformatted... did something, maybe on the right top of the camera or opened it, not sure what, he was fiddling, I was ready to faint, and he says oh, there they are well most of them anyway... you lost about ten.

WHAT IS GOING ON?! Is it might D7000 sensors? Bad cards plural seems hard to believe... did a setting get messed with!!?? I have 75 family photos for my school scheduled in one week and can not have my camera mess up. HELPPPP.
Thanks.

Posted 1 year ago #
Bkjerabek

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Oh, and yes I reformatted the second card in my camera before I used it. BJ

Posted 1 year ago #
CaryTheLabelGuy

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Bkjerabek said:
I have a year old D7000. I used up the room on an older 2G SanDisk card then switched to a SanDisk SDHC Card (4), 4GB the other day for a shoot. All seemed fine, shooting away, or so I thought until I looked down to review, saw only four pics! The word FORMAT in red with line through it I think was in the upper left of my display window. Horrible! Was allowing me to shoot but dumping cards off the back or something. Thought it was my card, so I switched out and finished the shoot without problem. Did not use that card again.

Yesterday shot a wedding for a friend and was fine until the very end of the shoot. Was using a new (again) 16G Dane-Eled Pro Ultra SDHC class 10 card. All again seemed to go well, I checked often then somewhat the same thing happened. I had the entire wedding party, all 22 (!!), ready to go, shot several amazing (!) pics, looked down to review and there were four! At this point a man who owns a photography shop took a look said you must have reformatted... did something, maybe on the right top of the camera or opened it, not sure what, he was fiddling, I was ready to faint, and he says oh, there they are well most of them anyway... you lost about ten.

WHAT IS GOING ON?! Is it might D7000 sensors? Bad cards plural seems hard to believe... did a setting get messed with!!?? I have 75 family photos for my school scheduled in one week and can not have my camera mess up. HELPPPP.
Thanks.

Are you sure the D7000 didn't start a new folder on the SD card? Are you running the latest firmware? V1.02 is the latest. If you move from U1 and shoot, then move to U2 and shoot, the D7000 has been known to create a new folder. I think they fixed this on the new firmware, but I couldn't be sure on that. I don't use the user settings due to not really needing them. This is something you should look into further.

Posted 1 year ago #
nikonfangirl

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i had this problem too! i read on this book(Nikon D7000: From snapshots to great shots by John Batdorff) that you have to format the card ON YOUR CAMERA before you start clicking away. hmm ill quote the exact words here:

'When you purchase any new SD card, you can pop it in your camera and start shooting right away and probably everything will work out as it should. However, what you should do first is format your memory card in the camera. This process allows the camera to set up the card to record images from the camera ...The card may work in the camera at first without being formatted, but chances of failure down the road are much higher"

Tested and true.

Posted 1 year ago #
rbid

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CaryTheLabelGuy said:
Are you sure the D7000 didn't start a new folder on the SD card? Are you running the latest firmware? V1.02 is the latest. If you move from U1 and shoot, then move to U2 and shoot, the D7000 has been known to create a new folder. I think they fixed this on the new firmware, but I couldn't be sure on that. I don't use the user settings due to not really needing them. This is something you should look into further.

V1.03 is here, Read here: http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=4288

Posted 1 year ago #
ccantrell

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Just got a D7000 and bought 2 brand new Sandisk 16G Class 6 Ultra cards, on the approved list. Card errors out of the gate. Formatted in camera, etc. IMO, Nikon has a bigger problem here and with the risk of losing shots and the randomness, I'm seriously questing my purchase. Disappointing for a camera like the D7000.

Posted 1 year ago #
rbrylawski

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To anyone experiencing memory card issues on D5100/D7000, get the newest firmware download and your memory card issues will be gone. I thought I was losing my mind as my Sandisk 16GB Extreme was constantly not being recognized, and would need to removed and re-inserted just to take a picture. Thinking I had a defective card, I returned it and got a new one to find the same problem. Did a Google search and found many people were having this issue, then found Nikon released a firmware update. The firmware update was not quite as "easy" to download as was published, but with Nikon Tech Support, I finally updated the firmware and voila, no more memory card issues.

Posted 1 year ago #
ttnam2000

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I had the same trouble with a ScanDisk Extreme Pro 8GB SDHC UHS-1 card. I was getting errors from the camera erratically until I upgraded the firmware to 1.03. The problem has disappeared and I have taken more than 1,000 NEF with the card.

Posted 1 year ago #
rbrylawski

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I'm glad it worked for you as well. Did you have any difficulty downloading the firmware? For me, it was not easy........

Posted 1 year ago #
ttnam2000

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Not really. I just timed the download at http://crossgate.nikonimglib.com/dsd_redirect/redirect.do?P=tZrty17&R=zTTIF24&L=CETpi00&O=L9n6r00 . It took 5 seconds to download the whole file. It may depends on how busy the server is. You should try it after mid night EST.

Posted 1 year ago #
rongo

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skifam5 said:
Secondly, is can I recover those files?

Thanks!

A quick format option won't erase the data at least for quite a long time (until overwritten). I find this digital camera recovery site http://www.digital-camera-recovery.com/ lists a couple beautiful programs for unforamt and recover data. Merry Christmas!

Posted 1 year ago #
LesM

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Perhaps there's a good reason why the camera permitted some photos to be taken before it gave an error.

Could it be that the first few photos taken are held in the camera's buffer even if the card which is inserted is unusable, and the camera only objects when the buffer is full?

Posted 1 year ago #