Odd problem w/ transferring images
Oct 30, 2019 13:37:08 #
gvarner
Loc: Central Oregon Coast
MrMophoto wrote:
Sounds like most respondents are focusing on either the SD cards or the cables. I instruct students to "cut" their photos from the SD cards and paste them in their individual folders, I talk about protecting their work, etc. I do have a lot of extra cables and a few extra SD cards so I can swap them out to see if the problem persists. I have also noticed that a new camera, purchased this year, is also misbehaving.
I do want to thank everybody for their input
I do want to thank everybody for their input
Have them do a copy and paste. Then format the card in the camera. You don’t want to let the PC delete the files from the card when you do a "cut" and paste.
Oct 30, 2019 14:09:40 #
MrMophoto wrote:
I teach high school digital photography
I would suggest sending an email to our technical group with all of the pertinent details and see if they can suggest a solution.
You can reach them at askbh@bhphoto.com
Good luck!
HERSHEL
Oct 30, 2019 14:37:42 #
Are all students using the same brand computer with the same version of Windows?
Have you tried using the software that comes with that model camera? If you don't have it, it should be available from Canon's website.
Have you tried using the software that comes with that model camera? If you don't have it, it should be available from Canon's website.
Oct 30, 2019 15:12:08 #
Upon reflection I suspect that beside cable trouble or bad cards it might be what made the school computers I used have so many problems. Build up of files, fragments, etc and very fragmented drives in the individual computers that are approaching capacity - they need room to work or they slow down.
And the school did not use "housecleaning apps" like CCleaner, Revo DeFrag or System Mechanic or even anti-malware and anti-virus apps on the individual devices-they relied on those things being on the servers - which doesn't always help the individual computers/work stations.
I proved to our head tech that I knew how to use those kinds of apps and got the password to install and run them in my classroom. That is how I found one desktop with over 600 viruses/malware apps on it.* The teacher before me had allowed students to use the teacher's desktop and some of them had hacked the server connection to get to the open web. I had disks of the district house cleaning apps and a couple I used on my own devices and ran them on every school desktop and laptop I ever used. The tech said people were always amazed at how much faster the ones I did that too worked. At least until someone gunked them up again. We had a lot of really good computer geeks and nerds in that large student body and the head tech managed to get together a team of them with the house cleaning programs and new software. They traveled around the campus cleaning and updating the classroom machines-starting with those they got the most complaints about. Everywhere they went things ran better. The computer lab teachers (4 PC, 1 Mac lab) were given the same disks and told to use them. The school also had 2 or 3 roll around racks with 30 desktops each that teachers could sign up to use in the classroom. Those were booked about a full semester in advance. They got the treatment on a regular basis also.
*This school was an over crowded three track school so teachers in teams of 3 rotated in and out of 2 class rooms. If I taught an extra class (6 instead of 5 + a prep period) I often taught the extra class in someone else's room during their prep period (a traveling teacher was using my room during what would have been my prep) and had to stay for a full period after school to get in my legally required prep period. Plus because we had a shortage of rooms some teachers had to be traveling teachers (it rotated to share the pain). I once got "traveling" and an extra class at the same time - 6 classes, 4 subjects in 6 different rooms everyday - I had an attache case, back pack and duffel bag with "My" stuff in them that I carried from room to room.
And the school did not use "housecleaning apps" like CCleaner, Revo DeFrag or System Mechanic or even anti-malware and anti-virus apps on the individual devices-they relied on those things being on the servers - which doesn't always help the individual computers/work stations.
I proved to our head tech that I knew how to use those kinds of apps and got the password to install and run them in my classroom. That is how I found one desktop with over 600 viruses/malware apps on it.* The teacher before me had allowed students to use the teacher's desktop and some of them had hacked the server connection to get to the open web. I had disks of the district house cleaning apps and a couple I used on my own devices and ran them on every school desktop and laptop I ever used. The tech said people were always amazed at how much faster the ones I did that too worked. At least until someone gunked them up again. We had a lot of really good computer geeks and nerds in that large student body and the head tech managed to get together a team of them with the house cleaning programs and new software. They traveled around the campus cleaning and updating the classroom machines-starting with those they got the most complaints about. Everywhere they went things ran better. The computer lab teachers (4 PC, 1 Mac lab) were given the same disks and told to use them. The school also had 2 or 3 roll around racks with 30 desktops each that teachers could sign up to use in the classroom. Those were booked about a full semester in advance. They got the treatment on a regular basis also.
*This school was an over crowded three track school so teachers in teams of 3 rotated in and out of 2 class rooms. If I taught an extra class (6 instead of 5 + a prep period) I often taught the extra class in someone else's room during their prep period (a traveling teacher was using my room during what would have been my prep) and had to stay for a full period after school to get in my legally required prep period. Plus because we had a shortage of rooms some teachers had to be traveling teachers (it rotated to share the pain). I once got "traveling" and an extra class at the same time - 6 classes, 4 subjects in 6 different rooms everyday - I had an attache case, back pack and duffel bag with "My" stuff in them that I carried from room to room.
Oct 30, 2019 15:15:23 #
I would suspect it is an SD card issue. Consisting of old or deleted files on the card, or the cards have become fragmented. I would suggest, that you first format all cards in camera. Then after your students have successfully transferred data from SD card to the computer, they should then format their SD card in the camera, ready for next shoot.
Oct 30, 2019 17:00:40 #
Congrats on finding the culprit! Now to find a way to keep those machines clean...
Oct 30, 2019 17:07:28 #
Haenzel
Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands
I presume the desktops act as clients connecting to a terminal server. Terminal servers (in a farm) are not always configured identically. If they are they're not always equally fast due to numerous circumstances. Depending on the type of load balancing clients might connect to a slower server (perhaps through an overloaded switch) causing the delays you describe. There are lots of areas where it might go wrong..
Oct 30, 2019 21:32:34 #
amfoto1
Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA
I recommend you teach the students to remove the memory card from the camera and use a card reader to download it. it's simply "best practice", since there are a number of variables that can cause problems using the USB cable to download from the camera.
I'd also reiterate a previous response... tell them to "copy" from the card instead of "moving" images from it. That leaves the originals on the card until it's confirmed the copies are good.
Another point that's been made... best to do an in-camera format of the card after the download has been completed and confirmed good. This is probably the reason you are seeing slow downloads... if the cards are only formatted once at the beginning of the semester.
It would be great if each computer had a built in card reader, but if it doesn't accessory card readers are widely available and relatively inexpensive. It will depend upon the reader connectivity, how fast the downloads will be. If the computer or reader uses USB 2, that will be a lot slower than USB 3. Built in readers can be the fastest of all, being connected directly to the motherboard.
I'd also reiterate a previous response... tell them to "copy" from the card instead of "moving" images from it. That leaves the originals on the card until it's confirmed the copies are good.
Another point that's been made... best to do an in-camera format of the card after the download has been completed and confirmed good. This is probably the reason you are seeing slow downloads... if the cards are only formatted once at the beginning of the semester.
It would be great if each computer had a built in card reader, but if it doesn't accessory card readers are widely available and relatively inexpensive. It will depend upon the reader connectivity, how fast the downloads will be. If the computer or reader uses USB 2, that will be a lot slower than USB 3. Built in readers can be the fastest of all, being connected directly to the motherboard.
Oct 30, 2019 21:44:38 #
PHRubin wrote:
Congrats on finding the culprit! Now to find a way to keep those machines clean...
There is a product called Deepfreeze that allows wide usage including certain file storage privileges depending on the setup. No matter what is loaded or downloaded, including viruses just magically go away
on reboot or power off. The three higher ed institutions in my experience have all used it in student labs.
Oct 30, 2019 23:43:57 #
If the problem cannot be identified as a card problem, or cable problem, there are several option in the computer. Defrag has been mentioned. Also check the size of temp files and prefetch. Footprints will slow the computer.
Are they all using RAW or JPG or both? That will impact size of file transfers. If previous students are not clearing the card, the next student may be downloading more files than their own. I agree they should cut & paste, the format card in the camera. You need to narrow down the possibilities to just one or 2 variable. Good luck.
Are they all using RAW or JPG or both? That will impact size of file transfers. If previous students are not clearing the card, the next student may be downloading more files than their own. I agree they should cut & paste, the format card in the camera. You need to narrow down the possibilities to just one or 2 variable. Good luck.
Oct 31, 2019 10:07:52 #
MrMophoto
Loc: Rhode Island "The biggest little"
Thank you everyone who replied to my call for help! There are some very legitimate reasons and fixes for the problem. I have contacted the IT dept to have a look at the machines as well as the remote servers. I will also have students regularly reformat the cards in the cameras, which I have them do anyway, just not as often as suggested. I can see that narrowing down the issue will take some time and effort, but then, photography is one of my passions and teaching photography is the best job I ever had. I guess this just comes with the job
Thanks again everyone!
Thanks again everyone!
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