NEF corruption - PS CS3 and Lightroom 1.4

So, I came to start browsing through several hundred raw files tonight and each kept giving me an error in Lightroom 1.4 "unexpected end of file error". Hhmmm..so I tried Photoshop CS3 bridge..saw the thumbnails ok for the Raw and JPGs, but wouldn't open the NEF files - in fact it froze my PC and required a reboot. Given that these images are from my recent (and first) Sipadan trip I am somewhat concerned....

A few mins googling and it appears this is a common problem with NEF files in Lightroom and other Adobe programs....appears to be related to using new CF cards which have NOT been formatted IN THE CAMERA.... guilty I say! I got a new SanDisk Extreme III 8GB card for the Sipadan trip and simply plonked it into my D300..fired a few test shots and everything appeared fine. Even downloading a few images..all fine. But it appears that SOME raw files get corrupted and thats when the fun starts. You don't know which ones..and when there are 500 to test (and a corrupt file locks/crashes yr system) it gets tiresome very quickly. So what to do with unidentifiably corrupt files on the CF card?

The solution appears to be in 2 parts.

1. Prevention. Format any new cards in the camera prior to use.

2. Recovery. If you have corrupt files - in fact this may work for a number of corruption tupes - there is a great shareware program called Photorec http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec which although looks a bit intimidating if you are not used to command prompt working through the DOS screen, is not too bad and has worked wonderfully. It rebuilds the files and then stores them in a user specified location. In my case, I put them onto a hard drive, batch renamed everything in Adobe Bridge and bingo, have my files back and pristine.

Just sharing my experience in case anyone has thought they had a similar issue that they couldn't resolve..and I guess also to advise people to ensure the cards they are using are properly formatted.

I'll re-format my 8Gb card and test some more..there is also a rumour that the newer, bigger Sandisk cards have this problem and may be unrelated to the formatting issue described above. ANyone have similar experiences?

Steve

Hi pxguru, I'm sure you know this now but just to reiderate your point most CF Cards come with rescue programs and other bits on the card and usually tell you to download the programs prior to using the card and to reformatt before using. I have had no problems myself using nef files with cs3 or cs4 bridge, I did have to go to preferences in Lightroom in order to see all exif information. I also use nikon capture for my D-300 and everything seems to be compatible so far 10,000 pics later still no ploblemos. If you still have the box the cf came in check it out it probably came with a recovery program. Too late now but check next time. I hope you didn't loose too many pictures,like to see some.

I am new to shooting RAW format Nikon, having used Canon RAW only until now.

I did not format my SD card for my D90 as there is nothing in the instruction manual stating I need to do this and I did not read it here soon enough.

Neither Lightroom 2.3 nor CS4 Bridge will open the NEF files from my D90, claiming incomplete or corrupt.

I can view the NEF files with ViewNX and it will allow me to convert the files to 16 bit TIFF. Is that a desirable option? I have not done any of this before.

So let me make certain I understand what you are all saying.

With my Canon G9, I just buy an SD card, drop it in, use it as desired then read the RAW files in Lightroom or CS with no problems.

But I cannot do this with my Nikon D90?

And does this mean, while both my D90 and G9 use SD cards, I have to format the cards differently so I cannot interchange using them easily?

And somehow, the buying public is supposed to accept this level of 'service'?

At the moment, I am feeling rather 'serviced'.