Issues ejected SDHD cards?

I don't know if i'm the only one, but I shoot weddings, and I have an SDHC card in my ceremony camera, two SDHC cards in my Nikon, and an SDHC card in my Tascam audio recorder, and when i go dump my footage off in FCPX, i'm having the hardest time ejecting cards. If i'm in FCPX, and i hit the eject icon next to the SDHC drive inside the Import window, it locks up and won't eject, and no files on the card show up inside this import window inside FCPX anymore. And if i go out to finder to eject it, it says FCPX is using it, but the files have all transferred off the card onto my hard drive, and i even look, it's done with all it's transferring.

I try closing finder, or making sure it's viewing the desktop or something where there's no way it's viewing the drive for the SDHC, but it doesn't work. I end up having to close out of FCPX just to eject my card. I do this about 4 times while trying to import a project.

does anyone else have this issue? Suggestions on what i'm doing wrong?

Just to let you know that you're not the only one. It's really annoying. I usually eject the card in FCPX to no real avail (it does only eject "half way" as you described) and then remove it from the machine getting a system info that one should not do that. Never had any damage done, though.

I find that as the OS becomes more sophisticated, it becomes more and more sloppy at handling simple tasks. I have endless issues with shutdown, and with ejecting my USB2 external hard drive. I never had this problem with Tiger, or Leopard.

It would not surprise me if it turns out code that was thought to be deleted was in fact left in, and this causes conflicts. It was a point of some heated exchange here on this forum that Apple not release any new features until all the bugs have been coded out, that suggestion was not taking well..

Just thinking, how are the SD cards formatted? If it is not in a format that is 100% Mac compliant, might this cause an issue? Mavericks tends to forget it has a drive attached at the USB port, I get a warning about unplugging without doing the correct process, I did not nothing to the drive, it was just dropped by the OS...

Maybe this is a similar issue?

There is no physical way for any software developer to discover and fix every single but in software before it is released. You're talking hundreds of thousands of different computers with every conceivable hardware and software configuration that could possibly exist. Simply not realistic. No software has ever been 100% bug free, ever.

This seems to be an OS issue rather than a FCPX issue. I've found it hard to empty the trash sometimes because I have an image that I downloaded from Firefox in the trashcan and Firefox is still running. I think it's the same issue at play here. It thinks an app is still using something when it's not. The app never "lets go". You have to quit FCPX, eject the card, and then restart FCPX. Then import the next card, quit FCPX, eject the card, restart FCPX and do the same for every card you have. Be sure to provide feedback to Apple on this issue otherwise they might think people enjoy this.

No software has ever been 100% bug free, ever.

Not true. There's many programs that can be bug free. Granted they are simple programs and usually for older computer systems but they run as intended and without bugs.

Not in my professional 30 year IT career...

Three items ...

1. I haven't experienced this problem as I do not import my clips from the cards directly into FCP X ... all my cameras record in AVCHD so I use ClipWrap to re-wrap the .mts files into .mov files and re-name them in the import (to my server) process.

My clips need to be available for other users in other software (in a referenced fashion) from the server, this process eases the overall workflow for my entire staff.

I'm not suggesting that everyone adopt my workflow, merely pointing out that possibly transferring the data on the SDHC cards via Finder or another solution could help avoid the issue until the problem is addressed.

2.100% bug free software? Indeed, I don't think there is a perfect piece of software to be found. If you want to find a flaw, eventually it will reveal itself. The significance of the discovered flaw can be subjective.

3. This problem is a very basic task that should not be present ... it apparently is an issue not just for FCP X, but other apps as well ... or OS based ... and should be addressed post haste.

@MsJustine
The cards are all FAT32 so that shouldn't be the issue. I think it is an OS system problem. Just frustrating!

Glad to know i'm not the only one with this issue!

Hi Brady

I think the problem is FAT32, FAT is an ancient file system, I would not be at all surprised if Yosemite has issue with a system from the 1990's.

I say this as my external hard drive has 3 partitions, one of which is FAT32, so when I sdhut down or try to eject this USB drive on my MAC it has issues with shut down or ejecting, I never thought about the FAT formatted drive until you raised it, and it answers all my questions.

I suspect as I am not in the camera business that FAT32 is the best "format" for SD cards formatting that will work with cameras, Apple Journaled formatted SD cards will not work with cameras, I am not sure on this, but I suspect it to be true...Again a case of the consumer being short changed in the battle for supremacy...

yea, idk. i mean i know FAT32 is an old file system, but so is NTFS, but that is what almost every Windows OS runs on. I don't think anyone's planning on replacing FAT32 anytime soon, unless i'm completely wrong. I think this is pretty much a standard for most cameras. I don't believe you get a choice when putting your SDHC card into a DSLR or any other camera for that matter, on what type of format you want the card

Lead Gas is old, but that does not mean it is good, FAT32 cannot handle to data rate and the metadata we need for FCPX for example, This is a fight between the coders of NLE's and the coders of hardware such as cameras, it seems Apple does not want cameras to use an Apple modern file format, I have no idea why..

This is a problem and the consumer/professional is left in the middle, with inferior systems as Apple and others do not care about the file format system of cameras.

MsJustine wrote: … it seems Apple does not want cameras to use an Apple modern file format..…

LOL!
Apple's own proRes is in most cinematic cameras & recorders 'standard'
support.apple.com/en-us/HT200321

What I was referring to was the card technology, not the codec which is very different, the card file format, this is the technology such as FAT32, NTFS, Extended Journaled. This has nothing to do with what you record, but the base of the card structure.

This use of FAT32 is the problem in this case, or at least I think it is, FAT32 has an upper file size of 1byte less than 4GB, and we all know just how tiny 4GB is...

is it no wonder that Yosemite could and really should have an issue with technology from the 1980's, FAT32 was replaced by NTFS, which allows a file greater than 4GB...

Why has Apple not allowed Extended Journaled to be the native card structure on SD cards, USB thumb drives???

Prores is a coding system, this is a way to save drive space, and has zero to do with the basic information on the SD card.

I think apple will allow you to format the structure of the SD card to Extended Journaled, or USB thumb drives to that matter. I just don't think the people making the products do that because of the confusion of buying a drive that is locked in for one OS and one OS only.

I haven't tried this, but i'm sure if i format my SDHC card to Extended Journaled, it would work fine. But the second I plug that SDHC card into my Nikon D7100, it's going to tell me that I need to format the SDHC card in order for the camera to record onto it.

I haven't done this yet, but i can give it a try later tonight

"Why has Apple not allowed Extended Journaled to be the native card structure on SD cards, USB thumb drives?"

Nothing stops you from doing this. There is no "native" card format. BMD cameras read/write to OS X Extended Journaled cards & SSD drives. Others do, also AND write ProRes files.

Back to topic, does anyone know why FCPX/OS does sometimes not eject cards properly? And what one could do to avoid that? So far I have not found a reason, it doesn't always happen.

And y'all are verifying for sure that there are no background tasks running?

MsJustine wrote: What I was referring to was the card technology, not the codec which is very different, the card file format, this is the technology such as FAT32, NTFS, Extended Journaled. This has nothing to do with what you record, but the base of the card structure.

This use of FAT32 is the problem in this case, or at least I think it is, FAT32 has an upper file size of 1byte less than 4GB, and we all know just how tiny 4GB is...

is it no wonder that Yosemite could and really should have an issue with technology from the 1980's, FAT32 was replaced by NTFS, which allows a file greater than 4GB...

Why has Apple not allowed Extended Journaled to be the native card structure on SD cards, USB thumb drives???

Prores is a coding system, this is a way to save drive space, and has zero to do with the basic information on the SD card.

Entirely wrong. It isn't a question of Apple "allowing" a user to format a card in a specific format ... it is if the Camera Maker for your camera of choice can use something other than FAT32.

Many DSLRs and lower end pro and prosumer camcorders only recognize FAT32 ... if you popped in a card formatted in NTFS, HFS or any other popular format ... the camera wouldn't likely recognize the card and reformat it as per the camera's firmware.

I have a 32GB USB Thumbdrive with Yosemite installed ... the full OS not the installer ... that I carry with me as an emergency startup drive for my Macbook Pro ... I also have a 32GB SD Card with the same OS for emergency backup for my Macbook Air ... neither are formatted in FAT32

Apple isn't the limiting factor here.

Overturf wrote: Back to topic, does anyone know why FCPX/OS does sometimes not eject cards properly? And what one could do to avoid that? So far I have not found a reason, it doesn't always happen.

The only time I have ever had an issue with ejecting a card, was after viewing the content of the card using QuckTime, the OS would not let me eject until after I quit QT ... even though I was no longer viewing the contents of the card in that app.

If I transfer the contents go the card using drag-n-drop in Finder or rewrap the .mts files using ClipWrap ... I don't have any such issues ejecting the cards.