Card reader won't read - and in general a year later and NOT impressed with MAC

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Hi I have a Canon EOS.. and when i put the card reader it does not read. So I take it out and plug in the camera with the card and still nothing.

So I take out the the camera and put the card in the reader and restart then the computer won't even boot.

In general I have had more freezes, more frustration, slower launching times and over more frustration with MAC. I have tried so hard to love it but I dont.

I am sill trying to figure out also how to have high res photos and rename them and lower the res and create a new folder for them. Preview lets me adjust the originals but not keep both.

Many times when I go to attach a photo the comptuer freezes. Office org freezes the computer.

I don't want to hear that I should go back to PC I want to know why my computer does not function as it should. It is slow to launch programs, it hangs. Thuderbird is very slow to load emails. I have tried runing a fan under it but it is still not the amazing piece of equipment I thought it would be. I am considering putting on windows. sad but true.

I thought this was supposed to be the computer that let me handle graphics effortlessly. I can't even see and sort by file size and type when opening files. What an inferior piece of machinery. Pure rubish and I have yet to see the advantage of having paid double for this thing that is all form and no substance.
 
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Most problems with Macs are user created. Sorry, that's just true. How do I know? Because there are so many Mac users who don't have the kind of problems you're having, doing the things you want to do.

For instance, you absolutely should be able to sort files by size or type. We can solve that one easily. First, what View(s) do you use? There are four of them for a reason.

But, you're not going to get much further with such a sour attitude. Fix that first, then the other problems will gradually melt away.
 
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Sure I can sort files by size, type, date and name but not when opening or attaching. can you?
When I use thunderbird to attach a file my only options are Name and date.
And now for reading a flash card i get some stupid error message about the USB using to much power. Did I really create this problem?
I have now destoryed the useless card reader and have my canon plugged in. Uselss as NOTHNG shows up. so is my USB broken? Do I really have to go to my work on my day off and use a PC just to download photos off a card? YES I do.

Because this stupid mac won't read the camera or the card!
So please please tell me what I am doing wrong?
 

cwa107


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It's interesting that you have had so many issues with your machine. It almost makes me think that you may have an underlying hardware problem.

I think what I would do first is to run the Apple Hardware Test:

Intel-based Macs: Using Apple Hardware Test

And if that comes up clean, I would run the SMART Utility to test the disk (AHT is not always comprehensive with the HDD):

Apple - Downloads - System/Disk Utilities - SMART Utility

And if everything comes out clean with that, take a look at this guide:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/os-x-operating-system/93819-basic-os-x-mac-troubleshooting.html

It starts out extremely basic, but gets into a lot of disk maintenance and repair that may help with your general lack of reliability.
 

Raz0rEdge

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For starters, WHAT Mac do you have? We can't remotely begin to tell you if things should be slow or fast without knowing that. Are you running Leopard? Snow Leopard?

I have an iMac with Snow Leopard which has the SD slot on it. When I plug in the SD card from my Camera, it immediately loads up and I can copy the files out. I've created an Automator workflow to resize my images down to 800x600 for putting on websites..

Regards
 
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Been using Macintoshes since the early 1990s and I've seen every kind of issue that they can have. Anything from people putting their System Folder in the trash because they "didn't use it" to people renaming their home folder in OS X.
 

cwa107


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We all know there's a lot of satisfied Mac users here... it is an enthusiast's site after all.

Let's focus on troubleshooting, starting with the simple stuff I mentioned in my previous post in this thread and hopefully we can narrow it down.
 

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Is your Canon a EOS Digital Rebel or another model?
 
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I agree with the above. We don't need to preach "Mac" here.
But I think there is a few steps you "the original poster can take And I'll list then in point form.

1. Download this. "Onyx"
Titanium Software
Be sure you download the version of the Onyx application that works with your version of OS X you are running. And be sure to read the documentation with the application well. And then you can use the application to run many maintanance things with Onyx. And that might help you with your Mac being slow.

2. I like Thunderbird. It seems to work well for me. But you can try this:
Thunderbird Help - Online Help for the Mozilla Thunderbird Mail Client
And try to get it to answer your questions you have. But if after everything you can not get thunderbird to work, there is an alternative.

This alternative is "Mail". it is an application, does basically the same things as Thunderbird. But it is made by Apple and comes standard with every OS X. It might jut run a touch faster as it'd be more optimised for OS X.

3. This point is totally optional. But if you really want to give Mac another shot. Then there is a book you can buy. "The Missing Manual". They have a different one out for each version of OS X. And many people (myself included) feel it is one fo the best how to books for OS X. Evne pros get something from those books. A totally optional thing. But ti helps a lot of people.

4. "Mactracker".
Mactracker
That is am application that is like an encyclopedia about every Macintosh computer ever made. And an application I recommend to everyone. And why I say this to you is, you can get specific details about the Mac you own and you can post those details up here on this forum so we forum goers can more adequately help you to fix your issues. Plus it's cool to have that kind of info at your fingertips. Well I think so anyways.

5. "I am sill trying to figure out also how to have high res photos and rename them and lower the res and create a new folder for them. Preview lets me adjust the originals but not keep both."

You said this in your original post. And there is an easy work around with this. in the finder you just have to select one of your pictures and press "Command + D" or go to file and press duplicate. Then you have a duplicate file of the picture. And then you can play with one of the duplicates and it does not matter if the original is not kept when you deit the photo cause the other duplicate file is always there untouched as a backup for you. And if you need a 3rd or 4th copy or another file duplicated the same process is done. "Command +D" or file -> duplicate in the finder.

6. About your Canon EOS 350D card reader. There is this from Apple.
Mac OS X v10.5: Digital camera RAW formats supported
Mac OS X v10.6: Digital camera RAW formats supported
So if you are using an older version of OS X, your camera card might not be suported by the system. But by upgrading to the lastest system your computer will handle you should fix the issue. If you do not post back here about it and someone will help you to look into this issue further.

7. "I have tried runing a fan under it"
If you have OS X 10.4 or later on your computer there is a widget you can download that will tell you the current temperatures of your core computer components. And then you will know if or if not there is a heat issue with your computer. Also this widgit has a lot more useful information.
iStat Pro, a Dashboard Widget by iSlayer

Lastly I'm sure we can get your as you call it "inferior piece of machinery" to work and do just what you need it to do. ANd if you have any other question feel free to ask.
 
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For starters, WHAT Mac do you have? We can't remotely begin to tell you if things should be slow or fast without knowing that. Are you running Leopard? Snow Leopard?

I have an iMac with Snow Leopard which has the SD slot on it. When I plug in the SD card from my Camera, it immediately loads up and I can copy the files out. I've created an Automator workflow to resize my images down to 800x600 for putting on websites..

Regards

I agree more info is needed never had trouble with a Mac and any digital
camera's or supported cards.
 
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First off, the freezes and crashes sound like a hardware problem, which can be most likely be diagnosed and fixed with either Disk Utility (which comes with your Mac) or with Onyx (which you can download free). But first try Disk Utility, since Onyx has many more options and I don't want to confuse you. Just search for Disk Utility in Spotlight and open it. Select your Macintosh HD in the left hand pane, then follow the instructions on the right.

You also might want to try creating and logging into a different user account to see if the slowdowns are happening across all users (indicating a hardware problem) or if they're just isolated to your own account (indicating a problem with your home folder).

I have noticed that many of your issues have been very easily fixed in the past, but it doesn't sound like you've tried very hard to find the answers. In the iMovie video tutorials I've made for you, the issues were pretty basic and I was able to troubleshoot most of them with a minimum of work. Just watching the video tutorials at apple.com gave me most of the answers I needed, since I had never really used iMovie before. You can't just open up an app and expect it to just start doing all your work for you. It always helps to prepare by familiarizing yourself with it via tutorials, and at least get a general idea of the basic functions. Or play around with the app using a test file first before you use it for a real project.

I have never resized photos in iPhoto before, but a quick Google search brought up this page of simple instructions:
Using iPhoto to Easily Reduce Your Large Sized Digital Photos - Interrupt19
It was literally the first result in the search results. All you need to do is create a new album in iPhoto by clicking the plus sign at the bottom left and name it something like "Resized". Then select the photos you want to change and choose Export from the File menu. It will give you options for Small, Medium, Large, etc, but it also has a Custom button so you can choose exactly how big or small you want the photos to be. It will even give you options for renaming the photos. Then just choose the destination album and export.

Again, I have never done this myself, but the steps were incredibly easy to find. I don't know why you are having so much trouble finding these answers. You do seem to have a history of getting really frustrated over things that are relatively easy to troubleshoot with just a little exploring. I know Macs are known for being intuitive, but they won't just automatically do everything for you with no action on your part.

When you say you can't see or sort files by type when you open them, what do you mean, when you open them? Do you mean from the dialog box that opens when you choose to attach something?

As for Thunderbird, I've never used it, but when I attach photos with Apple Mail, it works flawlessly.

But if you are experiencing crashes and your card isn't being read, I would say it sounds like you have a hardware problem. Run Disk Utility first. We can go from there.
 
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Oh, and if you don't use iPhoto, you can use Kstudio Resize, which I've used in the past. Just do a google search and you should find it. There are other resizing apps you can try, but this is one I can personally recommend.

Also, I don't think an Open or Attach dialog box has the full range of view options as a regular Finder window, just Name and Date Modified. But you can open a Finder window, sort the files as you wish, and just drag them into your email message. You don't have to use the Attach dialog. In fact, I rarely do. For whatever reason, I look for my files in Finder, then drag them into the body of the email I'm sending. I think at some point there were more view options, but I never really noticed since I personally don't need things sorted that specifically from a dialog box. Just one of those differences in the OS. But it is possible to sort files anyway you want and attach them directly from the Finder. In fact, it involves the same number of steps.
 
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I would leave the frustration out of the threads as I have noticed most of the times it is not the mac/pc but the user. There might be ways or fixes that are not aware of and so is this thread, clearly you hanging in here means that you are a new user so there is always a learning curve. I have been using a mac for 3 years now but still I am not a pro and that is me not the system...
So coming back to the camera question - I normally "copy" my pics from the card and have no problems at all and talking about backup or iPhoto not saving the original - there is always a copy on the card itself for me to go back too... something to think about...
 
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I agree, Sau, but she is saying that her card reader isn't even recognized to get the photos off of in the first place. Unless I'm mistaken.
 
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It sounds to me like you have a bum card reader - especially because you mention that the computer says USB is drawing too much power. So when I say bum - it may work on one computer but not another - it just depends on the specs of the reader.

Also you mention that you plug it in the camera and nothing happens - usually something happens - like iphoto opens - so that makes it sound like you may have a bum usb too. Now if the cardreader was busted it may have damaged your usb hub which would lead to all kinds of trouble which you are having.

Frustrating I agree - but what you need to do is debug the problem systematically. Does the card reader work with other machines? Does your EOS work with other machines? Is there another Mac you can try it on? Is there a PC you can try it on? Systematic trial and error will help you debug where the problem is.

I suggest all this because I had a bum usb drive wire that caused system crashes and questionable mounting, as well as too high power message - replaced the wire and everything just started working. Turns out my son used the usb cable as a carrying strap.
 
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So many people willing to help, but expat girl just wants to complain from the looks of things. I'll give her a chance to respond and post something that will help us help her before I jump to any conclusions, but how can one expect us to help resolve issues without a) knowing specific behaviors of the user and b) knowing WHAT MACHINE AND OPERATING SYSTEM we are dealing with.

Still we don't know what OS is being run, what model Mac we're dealing with, or the end user behaviors that could be causing these issues.

The camera card not reading or recognizing is probably because it for whatever reason is formatted to NTFS (at least that'd be my guess, because a FAT32 card would be readable and write-able by OS X).

So, expat girl, I implore you, nay, I beseech thee - answer these questions for us so we may begin to help you.

Also, might be a good idea to answer them in your initial post next time you need help, lest you look like a jerk.
 
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Oh yeah, I forgot to ask... are you putting the card into a slot in your Mac, or into an external card reader? This is where knowing what kind of Mac you have would come in handy, since a regular Macbook doesn't have a card reader and a Macbook Pro does.

If you are using an external card reader, are you using the same USB wire with the reader and with the camera? That would suggest to me that there is an issue with wire, not with the computer, the card or the camera.

What steps have you taken towards isolating the problem so far? Complaining won't solve anything. Even with Windows, it takes some experimenting to find exactly where the problem lies.
 
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Also, as far as sorting files to be opened, you can open a Finder window, organize them by file size, name or what have you, select the files you want and simply drag them onto the icon in the Dock for the application you want to open them with, and that application will launch with those files opened and ready to work on. For instance, if I had a list of Word documents in a folder, I could sort them by file size, select the ones that are under a certain size, then drag then onto the Word icon in my dock. Word will launch and all the files I selected will open along with it.

In this case, it's not a matter of OS X not working the way it should. It's that you are expecting it to work like Windows. To quote Yoda, you must unlearn what you have learned.
 
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And now for reading a flash card i get some stupid error message about the USB using to much power. Did I really create this problem?

So please please tell me what I am doing wrong?

Possibly, by not doing things correctly.

Don't know. But, you're dealing with three pieces of hardware. What makes you so sure the Mac is the problem? .....

It sounds to me like you have a bum card reader -
Could be.

The camera card not reading or recognizing is probably because it for whatever reason is formatted to NTFS (at least that'd be my guess, because a FAT32 card would be readable and write-able by OS X).
Could be.

In this case, it's not a matter of OS X not working the way it should. It's that you are expecting it to work like Windows. To quote Yoda, you must unlearn what you have learned.
Most certainly.

But, learning cannot take place until complaining stops. Your move.
 
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btw, expatgirl, there were quite a few video tutorials on YouTube about resizing photos, even from within Preview, as seen here:
YouTube - Resizing Images Tutorial using Preview on Mac

Just choose "Save As" instead of "Save", create a new folder location, and you're done.

See what I mean? Just a little exploration, and most of your questions can be easily answered.
 

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