Have I destroyed my smart media cards?

[herman]

I just got back from a great trip with my 5050 but I ran into a strange problem that I need some help with. I filled up several Smart Media cards on the trip so I took them to where I had access to a card reader and a CD burner. The cards read fine and I got the pictures on to the CD but when I put the SM back in my camera to erase them, the screen came up with 2 choices, power off or format media. When I try to format the cards, I get a card error. 2 of 3 identical cards have the problem, the other one is fine. The cards seem to be OK as I can access the cards on the reader, add and delete files to them while they are in the reader. I think what I did to 2 of the 3 cards was to accidently copy the data that I had pulled off of them back onto them. It appears that the camera can not reconize something on the card and will not allow me to reformat the cards. Anyone got any ideas as to what I did to the cards and if I can somehow reformat them?

 

[plsdiver4377]

Try using the reader to completely remove all the data from the cards and then reformat. I had something similar happen last year (I added data back to the card using my PC) to one of mine and I believe that is how I resolved the issue, but I could be mistaken (I've slept since then).

Best of Luck

P.S. I will check at home later and see if I can find any reference to when this happened on my home PC.

 

[justleesa]

I'm not 100% on this but from the Olympus class I think I remember them saying something like that...when you DL the format is changed to suit the computer. In putting it back on the chip you pretty much ruined the chip. You can go to the olympus website and ask the camera dr. there...they have something where you enter the problem and they either have prepared answers for repeat questions or answer you question specifically if it is something new.

 

[plsdiver4377]

I just ran a quick search and found a solution (this guy claims). Take the cards and format them in another brand (fuji, kodak) of digital camera (not Olympus), then put them in your camera and format. He claims this will solve the problem. He states that he was told by Olympus the same information as stated by justleesa.

I cannot vouch for this, but it's worth a try.

I have looked a little more and every source I've been able to find says that the card is recoverable, but a reader and little work are involved. Try the links below which I hope will help you out.

http://store.compuapps.com/coreprofus.html

http://www.mikebuckstudios.com/smedia.htm

Good Luck

 

[herman]

Thanks, I talked with Olympus and was told they were aware of some card readers reformatting the cards so that their cameras would not read them. He also said that one of the card reader companys had made patch or something that would allow you to correct the formatting. PNY I think it was. From the links above I may have a chance. At least they were cheap ($15) 64mb cards and not some high dollar cards. I have got several things to try before giving up, any other suggestions will be useful.

 

[Dee]

Dang...sorry you lost the cards. Hope some of those fixes work for you. I've been lucky so far using card readers. But when I started hearing about these problems, I started downloading directly from the camera. It's just as fast and less equipment to keep up with.

BTW....we wanna see those photos!

 

[Scubamedicjoe]

yes herman we want to see the pic's lol
hope all goes ok bud .

 

[ReyeR]

This article is for restoring the panorama feature on SM cards. I think it might help in recovering your SM card as well: http://www.geocities.com/roberthaus/pan/index.html

Good luck!

 

[mk57nato]

Are the cards smartmedia aka sm or xd cards which are different. Because i thought that only xd would work with panorama mode.
One problem i learned about using card readers in the computer, if you format them from the computer the computer has a tendancy to use fat32 format. Where as most devices, including your 5050 use fat 16. So you have to specify format in fat 16 or your device(i.e. camera) wont reconize the card correctly and cant format or store info on it.

I had this same problem with my mp3 player and older camera, got a card reader for the computer so i wouldent have to use the mp3 or cam to transfer, after transfer i decided to format the card and found out that it no longer worked in my mp3 or cam. Found out i had to reformat in fat 16, did it and everything was happy and hunky dory again.

Btw this is with all the other removable medias, but i am not sure about the xd, as this is the first xd card i have had since i got the cam. Im pretty sure about the fat 16 vs the fat 32, but i dont know about the panorama. whether it is a file on the card or something built into the card. fortunately my media reader doesent have an xd slot so i never got the chance to mess it up.lol
All though if it is a file that allows panorama, i wonder why we couldent copy that to the cf card and use the cf card with panorama?

 

[ReyeR]

Yes you can do panorama with SM cards as well, as long as it has the correct header info. Olympus brand SM cards come pre-foramatted with the correct header info and hence they (Olympus) say you can only do panoramas with Olympus branded SM card. The procedure I've linked to above can be used to i. restore the panorama feature on an Oly branded SM card or ii. change the header info of non-Oly branded cards to enable the panorama feature.
Yes you are right, the file system of the Oly range cameras is FAT16. However you should never format Oly branded SM or xD cards using your computer and card reader/writer or you risk wiping out and disabling the panorama feature. You can safely format CF cards with your computer w FAT16 but I see no benefit and just use the camera to do so.