memory card not putting photos in order

[jann1033]

i format my card after each use but occasionally like today i will take photos with a span of time between them( ie this morning, then this evening) without downloading them...when i do download them they aren't in order, ie the morning has some of the evening mixed in with them although the time stamp is right( ie 11am for a batch next to a 7pm batch then back to 11am batch)...is something wrong with the card? is it somehow skipping places? so far the format has always left me with nothing on the card but i don't get why it's mixing up the photo sessions like that. or is it downloading them weird or something? any ideas?

 

[MICKEY88]

i format my card after each use but occasionally like today i will take photos with a span of time between them( ie this morning, then this evening) without downloading them...when i do download them they aren't in order, ie the morning has some of the evening mixed in with them although the time stamp is right( ie 11am for a batch next to a 7pm batch then back to 11am batch)...is something wrong with the card? is it somehow skipping places? so far the format has always left me with nothing on the card but i don't get why it's mixing up the photo sessions like that. or is it downloading them weird or something? any ideas?

are you sure your folder on your pc isn't set to arrange photos by size or something other than the order taken

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

are you sure your folder on your pc isn't set to arrange photos by size or something other than the order taken

I would have to agree with Mickey88 here. I had a card that I somehow had set to arrange the files by some odd criteria and every time I inserted the stupid thing the files would be all over the place. Once I set the folder options everything was fine other than that. Well the pictures on that card sucked too but then I realized that was my fault and not a folder problem.

Jeff

 

[jann1033]

the same card doesn't always do it and neither does the same software...i use photoshop elements 5 to download, and it only happens occasionally but i usually use the same card unless it's full ( my card reader doesn't always want to read my other 2gb card so i only use that if i need to) so that was why i was thinking it might be a card issue. but it's happened a few times lately so i
just wondered if that would be something that happens pre card dying or something in case i had to replace it before vacation. otherwise it's not a big deal.
if i had changed something any ideas where it would be since as far as i know i haven't...but that doesn't mean i didn't by mistake

 

[MICKEY88]

I would start by checking inwindows explorer, check the folder settings

I've had that happen already where it somehow changes and my files aren't in order, by date taken

it might be a windows quirk..

 

[garris3404]

My wife has a Canon S3. The ramdom re-sequencing upon transferrring the pictures from card reader to PC happens soradically for her. I have used the same cards on my Nikon D50 and never had a problem. I think it only happens when she deletes pictures in the camera, prior to transferring. And I always reformat the cards in the cameras.

 

[Groucho]

Are the numbers in the file name out of sequence?

If the numbers in the name seem to be correct but those are out of order, then it's just a Windows setting. If you're getting issues where, say, pic 1001 was taken in the morning, pic 1002 was taken at night, then pic 1003 and 1004 were taken in the morning, then it's something to do with the camera.

The card shouldn't have anything to do with it, it just accepts what's written to it, it wouldn't change filenames.

Garris might be on to something, perhaps if you delete some photos, the camera tries to fill in the holes?

I had a couple times (very rarely, but it happened maybe twice in about 8,000 pics) on my first DSLR where it would jump back a few numbers, so when I put them on the PC, I had a few duplicate filenames.

 

[ukcatfan]

is it somehow skipping places?

I think the topic is pretty well covered, but I want to cover this little part. The card is like any other media for a computer and as such it does not have to even store the entire file in the same physical spot on the drive. The file structure handles where the parts of each file are located. Being flash media that you format regularly, it is unlikely that you are causing the card to physically split up the files, but if you were to say delete a file that is 10MB and then the next picture taken is 11MB, the first 10MB of that file would go to the empty space you freed up and the remaining 1MB would go to the next available spot. Basically, when you delete a file, it is not physically moving every other file down a spot to fill the free space. If it were, the processing speed of you camera would be horrid. Look to the defrag system tool if you are on a Windows pc to understand more about fragmented files. That program basically sorts data to get parts of files together to speed up access time.

Kevin

 

[jann1033]

i'm don't delete them in the camera since i can't see them well enough..

the files are numbered wrong but the time is right( ie number 130 was taken at 7, 136 at 11) so it must be skipping places for some reason and filling them later....like i said it's not really a major problem( since it's not like i am taking weddings professionally and would get the wrong bride and groom or something) so as long as it isn't the card it's ok. i'll be doing the same thing today so i'll see what happens.
thanks for the input

 

[MICKEY88]

what program are you viewing the files with.. are you copying from card or moving from card..

if copying from card, the next time it happens, open windows explorer and view the pics on the card... if they are mixed up on your pc but ok on the card, then it's not a card or camera issue, it's pc or pc software.

if they are mixed up on the card, then you know it is card or camera related..

 

[jann1033]

what program are you viewing the files with.. are you copying from card or moving from card..

if copying from card, the next time it happens, open windows explorer and view the pics on the card... if they are mixed up on your pc but ok on the card, then it's not a card or camera issue, it's pc or pc software.

if they are mixed up on the card, then you know it is card or camera related..

thanks