Problem opening files from SD card

[AstroAndy]

Hello folks

I’m wondering if there are any IT wizards out there that can help with the following problem.

Working with a mini pc remote setup and APT as capture software, I don’t have a whole lot of storage space left on the mini pc, so I got a micro sd card w/ 1000GB.

I can’t set the capture folder to the sd card (it keeps jumping back to the APT image path, so I transferred the capture files manually to the sd card.

The problem is, the files seem tto get corrupted, and I can’t open them on my processing pc. The error message reads: Tried to move past end of file.

Mini pc, processing pc, and sd card are (formatted to) NTFS; I have also tried to rename the files, still, no luck.

What can I do to solve this, any ideas?

Andy

[Oddsocks]

That you have both corrupted files written to the SD card and the file path to the SD card can’t be permanently set in APT config suggests that there is possibly something wrong with the card or its formatting.

A first step would be to upload a specific file from the capture PC to the NASA on-line fits file checker site >link< and verify that the source file is ok, then repeat with the same file uploaded from the SD card.

If the source file from the mini PC passes the verifier test but the same file from the SD card fails then you’ll know that the problem lies with the SD card, or the way that files are being transferred from the mini PC to the SD card.

If the SD card does appear suspect try re-formatting the SD card on different PC than you used last time and remember to eject the card in the OS before pulling the card out of the slot, which is usually the reason that SD cards become corrupted.

(As a Mac user myself I have to use exFat format on SD cards, or disks, when transferring files from a Windows PC to a Mac as Mac’s don’t support the NTFS format.)

Lastly, if both the source file on the mini PC and the SD card fail NASA’s on-line fits tester, and depending on the type of corruption that the source file has experienced, then you might be able to repair the source file via scripting, as in this specific example from the PixInsight forum >Link<.

HTH.

William.

[Elp]

Have you tried writing just a few of the files to the SD card and omitting the one which comes up with the error?

[AstroAndy]

Thanks, William, I'll see whether can run those checks, and see whether I can apply the fixes you suggested.

Since I don't have the source files anymore (ie. I cut them from the APT file path to the sd card because of storage space), I can only run some of those checks, thanks for the suggestions.

@Elp, they all come up with the error.

Andy

[Elp]

If you haven't overwritten the data on the SD card with new data you can normally recover it with Recuva.

[Oddsocks]

2 hours ago, Elp said:

If you haven't overwritten the data on the SD card with new data you can normally recover it with Recuva.

Another recovery tip...

If you haven't rebooted the host computer yet the original files may still be in the Clipboard, press CTRL + V keys to view the clipboard (or Windows Key + V to see clipboard history in Windows 10/11 - note: only if Clipboard History is enabled in System settings - Clipboard, this function is now set to default to disabled for security reasons in Win 10/11).

If the original files are there you can rewrite them to another location, or restore them to the original location. If the Clipboard is empty the original files may still be recoverable from the hard drive, provided that the space they were occupying has not been overwritten.

I've not used Recuva so I can't comment on whether that can recover deleted files from the OS hard-drive, but there's several other apps that can, some free, some paid for, and the paid-for apps often come with a limited time free-trial.

Lastly, some post-processing apps don't care about certain types of FITS file corruption so it might be worth seeing if you can open the file(s) in something else and then re-save with a new name to a different location.

If you post one of the faulty FITS files here, or on a cloud drive somewhere and provide a public share link, maybe other forum users will test it to see if their post-processing app can open the file.

William.

Edited November 23, 2023 by Oddsocks

[malc-c]

12 hours ago, AstroAndy said:

Hello folks

I’m wondering if there are any IT wizards out there that can help with the following problem.

Working with a mini pc remote setup and APT as capture software, I don’t have a whole lot of storage space left on the mini pc, so I got a micro sd card w/ 1000GB.

I can’t set the capture folder to the sd card (it keeps jumping back to the APT image path, so I transferred the capture files manually to the sd card.

The problem is, the files seem tto get corrupted, and I can’t open them on my processing pc. The error message reads: Tried to move past end of file.

Mini pc, processing pc, and sd card are (formatted to) NTFS; I have also tried to rename the files, still, no luck.

What can I do to solve this, any ideas?

Andy

APT does allow the path for the save location see here  If it isn't saving the changes then it could be a permission setting in the PC (try running the application as an administrator).

What is the data transfer rate of the SD card.  There are particular grade of SD cards designed for use with video and large format cameras that produce huge files.  If you use a cheaper card that is not rated for high data transfer rates it could be causing the corruption as its dropping packets or bits in the process.

[AstroAndy]

Thanks for the suggestions..I have meanwhile replaced the mini pc with another mini pc with more storage, I'll just do the file transfer from pc to pc, or use a usb ssd..lugging equipment upwards of a 100 pounds over 4 flights of stairs, setting up and tearing down in a dark zone I have to drive to and stay in the cold all night is enough without me having to worry about a file problem.