Media Best Practices

This section describes best practices to ensure that your media cards continue to provide reliable storage and fast data rates. Following these best practices may prevent your media card from becoming fragmented, which can lead to data integrity errors.

  • The only files that should be saved from your computer to your media card are Preset files, Firmware Upgrade files, and LUTs. DO NOT save other files, folders, or applications to your media.
  • DO NOT back up your hard drive to the media card. When using a Mac, the system may ask if you want to back up your files to the media card using Time Machine; DO NOT use the media card as a backup disk.
  • DO NOT delete clips off of your media card using a computer. Delete clips only by formatting your media card in-camera. For more information about formatting your media card, refer to Secure Format.
  • DO NOT format your media card using a computer, unless the media card cannot mount to the camera. For more information, refer to Secure Format.
  • When ejecting the media card from a computer, ensure that the icon has completely disappeared from the Finder window (Mac) or from Windows Explorer (Windows) before removing the media card. Sometimes, the pop-up saying that the media card has ejected displays too early.
  • When the reader has a write-protect switch (such as the CFexpress Type B Media reader), it is recommended that you set the card reader to write-protect when uploading clips to prevent connected devices from adding any unwanted data to your media card.

Indexing on a Mac

NOTE: You can use the RED media reader with Write-Protect to prevent the Mac OS from indexing your media card.

Most newer versions of the Mac OS automatically index all external drives when you connect them. This includes when you connect media cards.

Indexing makes the connection process take longer. While the media card connects to the Mac, DO NOT remove the card. Indexing writes hidden files to the media card. When you insert an indexed media card in the camera, it can take the camera a while to recognize the hidden files and connect to the media card. While waiting for the media card to connect, DO NOT remove the card or turn off the camera. After the camera successfully connects to the media card, perform a secure format to remove the hidden files. For more information, refer to Secure Format.