Problem Transferring Photos to Cmoputer

I have been trying to transfer 3100 photos from a 1gb sd memory card that i have used in my Canon camera. It has been ok in the past and i can use another card that had photos on it fine to transfer to this computer. But abode program that i used and canon zoombrowser program that came with camera both say that there are no photos to transfer, but i can see them when camera not attached by cable to computer.

My only idea is that there is too many photos on card and the program cant read the card quickly enough before it gives up and says it has failed. Any ideas/solutions so that i can free up this memory card?
Thanks.

Are you using Windows XP?
The default program on XP is usually better than the two other programs you are using.
Connect your camera using the cable with the camera power off, then turn on power to the camera.
As either the Canon Zoombrowser or the Adobe programs windows come up, close them.
You should have a third window open called Removable Disk which says "Windows can perform the same action each time you insert a disk or connect a device with this kind of file: Pictures. What do you want Windows to do?"
Then there is a list. First on the list is "Copy pictures to a folder on my computer using Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard".
Choose this one, click Okay, and follow the wizard to download from your camera to My Pictures folder.

If you have previously used this window and selected another option (Canon Zoombrowser or Adobe) and checked the box at the bottom of the window "Always do the selected action" then you will not be seeing this window offering multiple choices and your computer will do whichever option you already told it to always do. I don't know how to tell it to go back and use the Camera Wizard once you have told it not to, sorry.

I don't know if any of this will help with your computer not seeing this particular set of memory card photos that is in your camera, but it is usually the cleanest, most straightforward way to download photos from a camera, if there are photos on your card.
Another option is to use an external usb memory card reader instead of your camera.
A third possibility is that your cable camera to computer is faulty.
You are saying that it sees the camera but not the photos, is that correct?

Above is good advice.

I always use a card reader rather than attempting to move photos via the camera.

There is a chance that your card is somehow corrupt. Rare but happens. There is good file recovery software available if the other ideas don't work. Just do a search on this forum for this previously discussed solution.

Here's how to open it manually:
Start/All Programs/Accessories/Scanner and Camera Wizard

The other advantage to using a card reader is not chewing up the batteries on your camera.

That brings up another possibility, thanks Justin23.
Are your camera batteries charged up enough to completely download the large mass of photos on that card before the camera shuts off?

Batteries fine, cable from camera to computer fine as used it to transfer other cards' photos.

Tried using Windows xp own program Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard but option to select "Next" is shaeded grey (can't click it, dont know why) With other memory card that has 3 photos it went through steps fine.

If left to try (and buying) external usb card reader (which may or may not work) proberly just send the card home as cheaper to buy new memory card at this stage in my travels.

Does Bobtrips or anyone else know of this good file recovery software that i could try. By the way good brand SanDisk card.

Thanks again.

Have foud a couple of recovery programs so thats sorted, if go down that route, but it seems if they are to work they need to see the memory card reader as a seperate drive on the computer eg E or F.

When connecting camera to computer it never shows up as a drive, so i think i would need to invest in one of those external memory card/usb readers. If no real quick solution may just sort it out when get back home.

Thanks

Get a card reader, then if you still can't access the images, get Photo Rescue and use that with it.

3100 images on a 1Gb card sounds a bit high, unless they're fairly low resolution - so I'd say data corruption is a possibility. We'll know better once you've tried the card reader though.

Another initial step might be to look through the images on the card, and ruthlessly delete the ones that don't cut it. There's no reason to be sentimental about it, if a photo didn't work out, nuke it. That can be easily 10-15% of the pix that aren't really worth saving, perhaps more on digital. Get rid of them and your massive file will be a bit smaller, and perhaps more manageable. You might also check your computer's current performance. Potentially there isn't enough memory left to handle all the new data.

Not the best of ideas, deleting images while looking at them on the camera LCD. Lots of quite good images don't show well on a small screen. And lots of marginal images can be greatly improved.

globalgadabout: That's a bad idea if there's potential corruption on the card, you'll be making a lot of changes to the filesystem - which usually only makes things worse. The best option with a bad filesystem is to do as little as humanely possible with it until you can make a stab at recovery. I also tend to agree with Bob that camera screens are a bad way of determining overall quality anyway...

BobTrips.....I think sometimes you can spot the duds, and it just seems that OP has quite a lot of photos to upload all at once....however......LAN, I sit corrected, didn't realise that deleting from the card at this stage might make things worse...static2....good luck

Well i find a rather simple solution, the computer i was using (not mine) had a direct slot for sd cards and once card inserted all programs read card find. Dont know now if i should use the card for photos or what the real problem was and if it will happen again in future? Thanks again

First thing I would do is to format the card in the camera.

Second, I would make that card my backup, not primary card.

I'd also take time to test it out. I'd shoot it full of worthless images (just fire away at nothing important) and see if it has upload problems.

Finally I'd get a card reader and use that rather than using the camera for uploading.