Images from PC to memory card

[gail]

I think you can move images from your computer back to a memory card. But the question is, it adviseable. Thanks in advance.



gail

[Alan T]

gail wrote:

move images from your computer back to a memory card

This will work, sometimes. Provided you haven't edited the images, removed the attached exif data etc., the followingprocedure works well for me, if I want to return old, uneditedimages e.g., to give a slide show via the camera's 'TV out' socket....

1. Format the card in the camera, not using the computer.

2. Take a dummy photograph, to create the correct folder structure, and put the returned images next to that dummy photograph. You can then delete the dummy photo using the camera's own 'delete' facility.

3. Ue the camera's own file name convention.

If you *have* edited the pictures in an image editor, it's much more difficult.

The only reliable way I've found is to use the 20ukpound shareware package "TVWriter" from www.satsignal.net. This works for many different camera makes, and writes images suitable for transfer back to the card. I don't know how he does it. You still need to make sure the folder structure and filename conventionare acceptable to your camera. TVWriter has a freeware demo version so you can try it out, but that puts a banner on each image.

Note that TVWriter works well on ANY jpeg image, so it allowsyou to use your camera with a TV as a poor man's general purpose video projector & presentation tool.

Good luck!

[gail]

Thank you Alan. Doesn't seem to be worth the trouble, or possible risk.

thanks again,

gail

[gail]

I have a related question. Do the same steps apply if you simply want to put images back on the card so you can bring it to a local printer so the images can be printed by them?

thanks, gail

[Alan T]

gail wrote:

Do the same steps apply if you simply want to put images back on the card so you can bring it to a local printer so the images can be printed by them?

No, because the printer will use a card reader and computer and not a camera to read the images. You can just use the card as if was a big floppy disk.

Note that if you want to use it in the camera, you'll be best formatting it in the camera.

[digcamfan]

It would easy to burn the images to CD and then take them to your printer.

Or, you could copy them to a flash USB drive and take that to the printer.

Personally, I prefer CD...no telling what nasties your printer firm may on its

machines that could infect your flash drive and thus your PC when you returned home.

[gail]

digcamfan wrote:

Or, you could copy them to a flash USB drive and take that to the printer.

I've had several people contact me the last few days, all having problems with images, or the card itself, after they:

- transfer (images) back to the memory card from their computer

- cut an image from the memory card and paste it onto the hard drive (as opposed to copying (drag and drop) or transferring imagesusing the camera or a memory card reader.

Some evensaid they try toaccess the images on the memory card via a program such as ACDSee.

It seems to me it's hardly worth using a memory card as you would a CD, floppy or zip drive. So many people have heaps of trouble with their card after they do these things. Am I missing something?

thanks, gail

[Alan T]

gail wrote:

It seems to me it's hardly worth using a memory card as you would a CD, floppy or zip drive. So many people have heaps of trouble with their card after they do these things. Am I missing something?

No you're not. If you can, use a CD-R.

But putting pictures back on the card can be useful if you want to do a slide show on a TV.

[JimC]

gail wrote:

I've had several people contact me the last few days, all having problems with images, or the card itself, after they:

- transfer (images) back to the memory card from their computer

- cut an image from the memory card and paste it onto the hard drive (as opposed to copying (drag and drop) or transferring imagesusing the camera or a memory card reader.

Some evensaid they try toaccess the images on the memory card via a program such as ACDSee.

It seems to me it's hardly worth using a memory card as you would a CD, floppy or zip drive. So many people have heaps of trouble with their card after they do these things. Am I missing something?

As a general rule, I don't try to write to the media using a PC (and writes include deletes, which is what a cut and paste is doing). This is because sometimes the drivers can cause corruption of the card (usually because buffers are not being flushed properly before the user removes it).

One way to be safer is to use the "Safely remove hardware Icon" in your Sytem Tray. Another way is to make sure you have the "Optimize For Quick Removal" checked under the device properties.

Even using these precautions when copying files to the media, it's a good idea to format the card with the camera menus prior to using it again. I always do this (format the media with the camera) prior to every use anyway. It's just as fast as deleting the files, and insures that I always start out with a fresh FAT (File Allocation Table).