Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

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ChrisGreaves
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Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

Post by ChrisGreaves »

This is not a critical issue; curiosity, mainly. I’m especially curious about this new sort of storage technique on the cheap camera.
Win7 Home Premium, DataRam RAMdsk 3.5.130 configured to 250 MB Fat32.

The Nikon Coolpix camera has a folder DCIM which I Ctrl-C and then Ctrl-V into my ram disk which is Drive F: This camera has the new-fangled file doo-dad that isn’t like a regular lettered drive under Windows, but still and all ...
NotEnoughSpace01.png
During the COPY process an error box pops up; I shrug and repeat the Copy to a hard disk drive B: (today DOS SUBST to T:\Blotter\20150410\ - my parents wedding anniversary) and the copy works and I load the photos into the appropriate folder with today’s date.
So this isn’t a major problem.
NotEnoughSpace02.png
The camera shows 51 files totaling to 213MB; that’s about right; I know each photo is around 4MB nowadays. (That’s about 5 CARTONS of 80-column punched cards, each carton holding 5 boxes, each box 2,000 cards, each card filled to the max with Hollerith characters, if I’ve done my sums right) (That’s each photo!)
NotEnoughSpace03.png
The ramdisk Drive F was carefully flushed before use, and shows that 34MB have been copied in, 212 MB remains free.
Is this just cruddy software on the part of Nikon’s Coolpix, or is it, perhaps, DataRam not coping very well?
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

Post by ChrisGreaves »

NotEnoughSpace04.png
FWIW I went back and made copies of the desultory effort and managed to cram (nice one Chris!) another seven copies of the folder before Ctrl-C/V gave up defeated.
So Ramdisk has the capacity to hold the images; it seems that at one end of the line or the other the transfer operation is failing, possibly due to a “bad message” coming back or a “bad interpretation” of a good message.

FWISW the camera card is an old one – ONLY 4GB, but still and all that’s 1,000 images. And at 5 cartons of punched cards per image that’s around (or more correctly arectangle) 200 cartons of cards. (attached workbook)
Both strength and memory fade, but I’d estimate a carton of cards is about 100 pounds, so we are talking 20,000 pounds here, or the order of ten tons.
So this memory card – which weighs a gram or two, is the equivalent of me trying to park a ten-ton truck into a shirt pocket.
What an image!
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Rudi
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Re: Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

Post by Rudi »

Have you tried copying the actual photos instead of the entire directory.
IOW: Open the DCIM folder to reveal the images, CTRL+A to select them all and drag them to a folder on the F drive. Sometimes this can make a difference.
Also, if the F drive was empty to start with, try reformat it before you transfer the images.

As for your math(s); I neither agree or disagree
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Rudi

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BobArch2
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Re: Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

Post by BobArch2 »

ChrisGreaves wrote: Both strength and memory fade, but I’d estimate a carton of cards is about 100 pounds, so we are talking 20,000 pounds here, or the order of ten tons...!
When I first joined the work force in 1958, I worked in the Data Centre at CNR. One of my jobs was to ensure that there was a supply of punched cards in the computer room housing a pair of IBM 650’s. Those cartons contained 10,000 cards (5 boxes /2,000 cards each) weighing 50lbs. The stock room had shelving units 8' in height. The fun was to move those 50lbs cartons to the top shelve when the inventory arrived from IBM and then as the cartons were needed, moving them from top to floor level. There were two of us and tossing those boxes around made for a fun day. Would definitely not want to try that today at the age of 74!!! :grin:
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John Gray
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Re: Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

Post by John Gray »

Chris: you will remember that nostalgia isn't what it used to be...

Bob: you are fortunate that you didn't have a card-iac arrest!
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DaveA
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Re: Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

Post by DaveA »

Chris,
Why are you using "Copy and Paste'?
Why not just select and drag them to the F drive?
Copy and paste is a very slow method, the files must be loaded in to the clipboard and then copied to the F drive. The drag and drop bypasses the clipboard.

And, why a RAM drive?
I am so far behind, I think I am First :evilgrin:
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Rudi wrote:Have you tried copying the actual photos instead of the entire directory.
Good experimental thought, Rudi.
Tried it this morning

I loaded this morning's photos to the hard drive in the normal way; that created a folder F:\DCIM\100NIKON\ folder.

Then I copied a slew of photos from my hard drive to the camera, then essayed again with Ctrl-A; Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V as you suggested:
NotEnoughSpace05.png
There were about 60 photos on the camera card, nowhere near the 1,000 limit.
(sigh)
Next please!
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Last edited by ChrisGreaves on 13 Apr 2015, 14:00, edited 1 time in total.
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

Post by ChrisGreaves »

BobArch2 wrote:...hose cartons contained 10,000 cards (5 boxes /2,000 cards each) weighing 50lbs. ...
Thanks Bob.
My estimate of weight was based on sacks (3 bushels) of wheat at 180 lbs. I was JUST unable to lift them, and I figured a carton of cards was half that weight.
I recall lugging a large briefcase with two boxes of cards back and forth to my residence; so I was lugging 20 pounds.

OK. So it's not a ten-ton truck; it's more like the capacity of one of those Ford F-150s.
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

Post by ChrisGreaves »

John Gray wrote:Chris: you will remember that nostalgia isn't what it used to be...
never heard that before!
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

Post by ChrisGreaves »

DaveA wrote:Why are you using "Copy and Paste'? Why not just select and drag them to the F drive?
Hi Dave, and thanks for these two good questions.
I dunno why; except that I'm a keyboard guy and am used to fingers flying to the Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V combination.
(Actually, about ten years ago I super-glued the little finger of my left hand to the Ctrl-key because so many useful shortcut keys were in that region - All, Save, Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Bold, ...)
Copy and paste is a very slow method, the files must be loaded in to the clipboard and then copied to the F drive. The drag and drop bypasses the clipboard.
I didn't know that. I thought that Copy of files to the clipboard copied their descriptors, and not the contents. I figured the descriptors (or whatever MS calls them - the file name and other particulars) is very fast.
Ultimately, of course, the file contents have to be thrashed out of the hard drives, unless it's an intra-drive copy, right?
And, why a RAM drive?
Another good one.
I take photos throughout the day; they accumulate on the camera.
By copying them through a ram drive I doin't have to worry about going back and deleting the folder once the (newer) files have been copied to the final resting site (T:\Pers\Canon\Camera\2015\2015-04\2015-04-12 this morning)
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DaveA
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Re: Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

Post by DaveA »

This RAM drive is a FAT 32.
This just may be the issue if it is a FAT32!
The FAT32 has a much larger minimum file size than NTFS.
Also any subfolder eats up a some of these larger FAT 32 sectors.
I am so far behind, I think I am First :evilgrin:
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Not enough space (copying camera files to a RAM disk)

Post by ChrisGreaves »

DaveA wrote:....The FAT32 has a much larger minimum file size than NTFS. Also any subfolder eats up a some of these larger FAT 32 sectors.
Hmmm!
Thanks DaveA.
I will experiment with different styles of RAM disk (once I get back toa clean reinstall).

I also found myself wondering whether telling Firefox to use the ram disk as a cache had an impact; 'twould be so if Firefox put a "hold" on the cache size in bytes thereby reducing the available line of credit, in a manner of speaking.
Another experiment to add to my list ... :grin:
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