The 1 GB IBM Microdrive in my Canon EOS D30 digital camera seems to be dying. The first symptom was that images took longer and longer to load -- increasing almost geometrically based on the number of images stored. The second symptom was that when reviewing an image I took today of Istanbul's Blue Mosque (yes, I'm playing tourist), the camera displayed a mysterious ERR22 and hung. Power cycling brought the camera back to what appeared to be normal. Third, in the hotel room this evening, when trying to either enlarge or delete one specific image -- there may be more problematic ones, I'm not sure yet -- the camera consistently hangs with a dread ERR22. A Canon engineer has said (http://www.robgalbraith.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/000003.html) that ERR22 is a write error -- which is odd, since it doesn't make sense for viewing an image to require a write. It's not clear whether the Canon software has corrupted the drive or the IBM drive hardware is failing. Both are three months old (http://www.politechbot.com/p-02655.html) and under warranty, not that will help me much when traveling for three weeks. Neither will the common suggestion of reformatting your Microdrive -- at least if I want to save two weeks' worth of photos. It does seem (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/viewtopic.php?TopicID=894) to be a pretty common problem with both the 340 MB IBM drive and 1 GB drive, a shame for equipment that's hardly inexpensive. Fortunately I brought my trusty analog EOS 5 and more than enough film, just in case, though I didn't think I'd need to rely on it. I brought two small Compact Flash cards as a backup to the backup, but they'll only store a day's worth of serious shooting. So if you're relying on a D30/Microdrive combination for long-duration travel or vital photo shoots, be warned: This appears to be a relatively common problem that IBM and/or Canon should have addressed long ago. -Declan (As a courtesy, I've copied Canon and IBM PR reps.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Events: Congreso Nacional de Periodismo Digital in Huesca, Spain from Jan. 17-18 (http://www.congresoperiodismo.com) and the Second International Conference on Web-Management in Diplomacy in Malta from Feb. 1-3. (http://www.diplomacy.edu/Web/conference2/) -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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