Vixia HF R600 (cannot download videos to computer)

[Dal]

I inserted a Lexar 32 GB 95MB/s SDHC memory card in my Vixia HF R600 camcorder a few months ago and used it several times while away on vacation in the summer.  Last week, for my daughter’s birthday party, I wanted to take some pictures with my digital camera (different brand) but the memory card was full so I removed the memory card from the Canon camcorder and inserted it in my digital camera and snapped a few pictures.  I then put it back in my Canon camcorder to take videos at the birthday party.  Over the weekend, I tried to download all the pictures and videos from the memory card onto my computer.  The only thing that I can download are the videos  from our vacation in the summer which were all taken prior to using this memory card with my digital camera at the birthday party.  Although I can see the folders created for the videos that I took at the birthday party using Windows Explorer, when I open these folders, they are empty so I can't download anything.  I can watch the birthday party videos on the camcorder; I also hooked up the camcorder to my TV and can watch them there too but I can’t seem to be able to download them because I can't see them in the folders. 

I have also tried to use the Canon Transfer Utility LE and still no luck.  Any help would be very much appreciated as these are videos that I would certainly like to download.  Thanks!

[IamintheUK · Accepted solution]

You have two choices. If you have a card reader on your computer, put the SD card in there and copy your files. Or download the pics with the SD card in your digital camera using its' copy software. You should not mix cameras on the same card as their formatting is probably different, causing the sort of problem you have now.

[VideoGeek]

I will second what IamintheUK typed.  

If you have a card reader copy the files you can see to your PC.  

After, and only after, you have copied the files insert the card back in the digital camera and connect it to the computer via a USB cable and try to copy the pictures/videos from the memory card while it is in the camera.  If there is any capture software that came with the camera be sure it is installed.

Sharing the SD card between devices is rarely, if ever, a good idea.  You may be mixing one file structure with another and that is bound to cause problems.  

[Richard]

Hi Dal,

Thanks for posting.

The location of your videos depends on the format you used to shoot your movies.

If you shot movies in the AVCHD mode, your movies will be stored in the "Stream Folder".  Movies shot in MP4 will appear in folders, located inside the DCIM folder.

[Dal]

Thanks but unfortunately it still doesn't seem to work.  Just so I'm clear, I recorded a few vidoes with my Canon camcorder, I then removed the memory card and used it in my Nikon camera to take some pics, and then removed the memory card and placed it back in my Canon camcorder and took more videos.  I only seem to be able to download the vidoes taken prior to the time that I used the card with my Nikon camera.  I can watch the videos taken after the Nikon "incident" on my camcorder so they are clearly there somewhere, I just can't seem to be able to download them. 

Here is what I did last night.  With the camcorder connected to the laptop, I downloaded all the videos that I could (the ones taken prior to the time that I put the memory card into the Nikon camera).  Then, I took the memory card out of the camcorder and inserted into the Nikon camera.  I connected with a USB cable to computer.  D3100 showed up under Computer and showed 14 GB of 29.8 GB free so obviously my video recordings are taking up space.  I clicked on Removable Storage and saw two folders, DCIM and MISC (this one is empty).  When I right click and select Properties on the DCIM folder, it says Contains 0 files, 32 folders.  When I left click on the DCIM folder, I can see the 32 folders which are titled based on the day when the videos were taken.  When I right click and select Properties on each of them, it says Contains 0 files, 0 folders and if I look inside each folder, they are empty.  I don’t get it, how is it possible that about 16 GB of space is used up yet all the folders are empty.  As someone suggested, I also tried to use the Nikon ViewNX 2 which is the software to view/edit pictures and videos with no luck.  Just to be clear, the videos that I’m trying to download were taken with my Canon camcorder.

[IamintheUK]

This problem is no doubt caused by the card having been formatted in your Canon. The space used suggests that all the files are there, but the Canon does not recognise the Nikon files, and the Nikon does not recognise the Canon files. A card reader on your computer should allow you to see and dowload all of the files. If your computer does not have a card slot, USB card readers can be bought for not a lot of money. Or see if someone you know has a computer with a card reader.

[Richard]

Hi Dal,

Thank you for your reply.

We recommend against sharing memory cards among multiple devices without formatting the memory card with your camcorder, before using the cards in your camcorder.

Since your computer indicates that some space has been taken by movies, you may be able to recover your movies with data recovery software that's designed to recover AVCHD or MP4 (depending on the format you used) movie files.

[Dal]

I used a laptop with a card reader and it worked!  I was able to move all the videos from the card onto the laptop.  Thanks everyone for your help!