Trouble copying/moving .nef files

[heeby89]

I'm having trouble transferring photos from my SD card to my computer that I took with a Nikon D3100.

I can see the files in Windows 7 and I can see the files in ViewNX 2. But it takes a very long time for the .nef thumbnails to load, and the computer times out almost every time I transfer a .nef file to my hard drive. Of the dozen or so .nef files, I've been able to transfer 6. I even bought a new graphics card because I thought it was an under-powered computer causing the problem.

The SD card is in a USB card reader (Dynex) which is attached to the computer by a short USB cord. I'm using NX 2 version 2.7.1 64 bit.

jpeg files transfer almost instantly, its just the .nef files that are problematic.

Why is it taking so long to transfer these files? They're all between 10 and 12 MB.

 

[Chris R-UK]

Do you have the latest version of View NX? If you don't download the latest version and try that.

Do you have the same problem when moving the files in Windows?

 

[DigitalPhilosopher]

Set your camera to be recognized as a mass storage device, then plug it to the computer. Windows will recognize it as such (mass storage) and open a window with the contents (or you might have to do it yourself from the "My computer" window). Try to copy the files from the camera to the computer directly. It should work much faster. If that is the case, then I would blame either the memory card reader, NX, or both!

 

[baloo_buc]

Unfortunately it is impossible to set mass storage mode on the camera.

I would say that you should start to use Windows Explorer. If the problem persists then you may have a software issue (it may be also some virus involved in it).

 

[John Deerfield]

There are potentially a lot of different issues, from a bad card reader, a slow USB port, a bad USB cable and so on. So locating the issue can take some time. First, use Nikon Transfer to download the images from the memory card. This is a free utility that either came with the camera or you can download it from the web. To be clear, we want to use this utility. We do not want to copy and paste or otherwise attempt to move the files off the card: use Nikon Transfer that is what it is for. Can it be done other ways? Sure, but we want to narrow down where the issue it and by using the utility we eliminate potential problems. If the transfer is still slow using Nikon Transfer, then change all the hardware. By that I mean, if you were using the Dynex card reader on USB port 1, then use the camera, with a different USB cable on a different USB port. If that solves the problem, then it's either the card reader, the USB cable or the port. If that doesn't solve the problem, unplug ALL USB devices except the keyboard and mouse and restart the computer. Now try to import the images with just the one device attached to a USB port. And make sure the USB port is on the computer, not a hub. At one time there was a theory that the USB ports would default to the lowest common denominator. I don't know if that's still true, but my using just the one device, we eliminate any other potential conflicts. If none of that works, ouch. How much Ram do you have? How much free hard drive space do you have?

 

[heeby89]

I've tried using Windows explorer and I have the same problem: jpegs are easy to move, but the .nef files take forever and more often than not don't transfer at all.

I'll try a different computer and see if that helps.

If the camera doesn't have the latest firmware, could that be causing the problem?




I have the latest version of NX 2.

 

[leno]

Can I add also that the new graphics card was always going to be a waste of money. It is not involved in any way when you move the files. Sorry wasted money.

 

[heeby89]

I only have 8GB of ram. I upgraded to a better graphics card hoping that would be of more benefit than more ram. I have 322GB free of a 465GB hard drive.

I only have one hard drive on this machine. I don't think it is partitioned.

 

[heeby89]

I initially started by downloading from the camera directly to the computer. This wasn't working so I then used the card reader thinking that would be faster. It wasn't.




Could it be a firmware issue on the camera?

 

[John Deerfield]

heeby89 wrote:

I only have 8GB of ram. I upgraded to a better graphics card hoping that would be of more benefit than more ram. I have 322GB free of a 465GB hard drive.

I only have one hard drive on this machine. I don't think it is partitioned.

Have you followed ALL of my instructions (download using Nikon Capture, different USB port and cable and so on). Unless you take out all the commonality, you aren't going to find the issue. It isn't a matter of how many hard drives you have on the computer, it is a matter of what else is accessing the I/O of the USB bus: a printer? A hub? A tablet? An iPod? Any USB device. If you have followed all of my instructions and the problem still persists, you have a serious issue. It could be a bad USB bus. It could be a bad stick of Ram. It could be some sort of malware infecting your computer. Any of which is going to be problematic to find. There is an application called Memtest that you could use to test your Ram. If you are positive you have a good, working, USB 2 cable, you can try downloading from every single USB port your computer has to see if maybe it's just one or two ports on the same bus. You would need to run so sort of virus protection to find viruses or other malware. >>> OR.... get a different memory card, go take a bunch of Raw photos on the new card and try to download them. Actually, I would start with this idea! You might have a bad card, or bad block on the card or even possibly a corrupt .NEF, all of which might give you a hiccup.

 

[ARShutterbug]

What happens if you turn off the automatic thumbnails? Maybe your PC is trying to convert each RAW file instead of displaying an embedded JPEG.