Deterioration of CRS files

[louoates]

That is correct - the image files (CR2) used to be fine but are now deteriorating. I have hooked the hard drive up to a different computer and the same files are corrupt.
 I have them stored on the hard drive - I add new image folders. I sometimes go back and work on a file or pull one if I need something but other than that the files simply sit on the hard drive. I checked a copy on another hard drive and the same files are deteriorating on that hard drive as well which makes me think it is not the hard drive. Could it be something in the file download that just took a while to show up?
I did a shoot in March 2010 and some of those images are deteriorating- others from a trip in Aug 2010 as well. In Oct 2010 I had a card go bad and I lost a whole shoot. I of course threw that card away and got a new one. It is possible that these images from March and Aug were also taken on that card - could that be why I am getting some deterioration? nothing that I have taken recently shows signs of deterioration - at least not yet.

If that card went bad in Oct 2010 I would think that's your problem. I would also think that it could easily have been ruining images before then on a sporadic basis. I know that I seldom open all images from a shoot, just the ones I want to work with. So maybe you hadn't opened those until recently. I know that for me it would seem to have recent deterioration rather than problems from long before. It would help to know if you can see those "corrupted" images okay in Bridge. If they look bad there maybe you can look at the image dates and determine if they all were taken after you discarded the bad card.

[Schewe]

I can see the corrupted files in Bridge and when I open in Camera raw they are still messed up.

The odds are real good those captures originally were corrupted...either by the card (or some card) or in the transfer. Images sitting on a hard drive won't go bad by themselves...something had to corrupt the files and if you've got multiple copies on multiple hard drives that are bad, it's not the hard drives...

Also, to be clear, depending on your Bridge preferences, the corrupted images might be viewable due to the embedded EXIF JPEGs in the file. The file itself could be corrupt but the JPEGs ok...which unless you actually go into the raw file, you wouldn't know. If you have your Bridge preview preferences set to Always High Quality, Bridge has Camera Raw render the previews from the raw file, not the embedded JPEGs...that's critical when you want to make sure images are readable at the raw level.

[Rayr]

I had a similar problem, and do not have an answer.

What I have done is label the cards, and create an import preset with the keyword of the card label.

When I import, I have to remember to change the preset to the card, or keyword my images with the label.

I can then see if it is one card in particular or something else that may be causing the problem.

Since I started it I have not had any corrupt images (not that this would solve the problem).

[mcbroomf]

Are all your HDs external?  If so are you using the same cables when you switch computers and hard drives?

[milt]

The example in the OP seems to show that elements of the original image remain in place across the whole image, but the colors are changed in various blocks of the image.  Is all of the corruption of this nature?

If so, then this was not some component or process that might randomly corrupt bits (e.g. memory cards, hard drives, motherboards, cables, etc.).  Instead, this was some component that was aware of the format of the image files, such as the camera, image processing software, etc.  I don't know the CR2 file format, but it is also logically possible that simple file truncation might cause this effect for some file formats.  In this case, it would be some component or process that was able to preserve the integrity of the file system, but change the file lengths, such software that moves files between locations, etc.

If some of the corruption is of another kind, then some more examples might be useful in narrowing things down.

--Milt--

[hjulenissen]

If so, then this was not some component or process that might randomly corrupt bits (e.g. memory cards, hard drives, motherboards, cables, etc.).  Instead, this was some component that was aware of the format of the image files, such as the camera, image processing software, etc.  I don't know the CR2 file format, but it is also logically possible that simple file truncation might cause this effect for some file formats.  In this case, it would be some component or process that was able to preserve the integrity of the file system, but change the file lengths, such software that moves files between locations, etc.

I believe that CR2 is variable length compressed. That being the case, it is pretty hard to predict the visual effects of file corruption.

-h

[John.Murray]

The .cr2 file format contains a lossless .jpg - is the .jpg preview also corrupted?

http://lclevy.free.fr/cr2/#key_info