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Data loss or corruption


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I just had a batch fail QC for "data loss or corruption," which was a first for me. When I had a look at the tagged image, the entire bottom half of the frame was blank -- i.e. it had literally disappeared. This is very odd because I checked each image in the submission several times before uploading, which seems to suggest that somehow the file got corrupted either while sitting on my hard drive waiting to be uploaded or during the actual uploading process. Has anyone else had this happen? Any idea what might cause this problem? Thanks.

 

P.S. The good news is that I only had to wait three weeks rather than the usual four to get the QC results.

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The question I'd be asking is why a 3 weeks fail for a non QC issue. Data Loss or corruption is software, not technique.

 

This is the sort of CR4P that really peeves me.

 

3 weeks "sinbin" is a farce.

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I'm really surprised that Alamy dropped you in the sin bin for what is obvious a digital glitch in the upload . . . and not at all your fault. Personally, I only try to track down the cause of persistent, repeated problems. I would just forget this and move forward (unless it happens again, of course).  

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I'm really surprised that Alamy dropped you in the sin bin for, what is obvious a digital glitch in the upload . . . and not at all your fault. Personally, I only try to track down the cause of persistent, repeated problems. I would just forget this and move forward (unless it happens again, of course).  

 

That's what I thought at first but then realized that it most likely wasn't a processing error -- i.e. the file arrived at Alamy in its corrupted state. Apparently, half of the image vanished while it sat on my hard drive. The work of digital goblins perhaps?

 

I probably won't resubmit this particular image but would like to try to solve the mystery.

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I'm really surprised that Alamy dropped you in the sin bin for, what is obvious a digital glitch in the upload . . . and not at all your fault. Personally, I only try to track down the cause of persistent, repeated problems. I would just forget this and move forward (unless it happens again, of course).  

 

That's what I thought at first but then realized that it most likely wasn't a processing error -- i.e. the file arrived at Alamy in its corrupted state. Apparently, half of the image vanished while it sat on my hard drive. The work of digital goblins perhaps?

 

I probably won't resubmit this particular image but would like to try to solve the mystery.

 

 

If it was corrupt when it left you do you not have the image file you uploaded? I select from thumbnails rather than a list of files so that means I can (probably) see the the images and would notice an incomplete one as my batches are small (<25). I keep the files (usually created from raw) until they have passed QC, copy them to an "uploaded" folder and then from time to time I clear out all the files from my uploaded folders. If I need them again I go back to the raw (the adjustments are stored with the image in C1Pro or LR) and reprocess to the size I need.

 

At the weekend I had a news image arrive similarly incomplete when my ftp connection failed. I just had a partial fail and the rest were processed as normal

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I'm really surprised that Alamy dropped you in the sin bin for, what is obvious a digital glitch in the upload . . . and not at all your fault. Personally, I only try to track down the cause of persistent, repeated problems. I would just forget this and move forward (unless it happens again, of course).  

 

That's what I thought at first but then realized that it most likely wasn't a processing error -- i.e. the file arrived at Alamy in its corrupted state. Apparently, half of the image vanished while it sat on my hard drive. The work of digital goblins perhaps?

 

I probably won't resubmit this particular image but would like to try to solve the mystery.

 

 

If it was corrupt when it left you do you not have the image file you uploaded? I select from thumbnails rather than a list of files so that means I can (probably) see the the images and would notice an incomplete one as my batches are small (<25). I keep the files (usually created from raw) until they have passed QC, copy them to an "uploaded" folder and then from time to time I clear out all the files from my uploaded folders. If I need them again I go back to the raw (the adjustments are stored with the image in C1Pro or LR) and reprocess to the size I need.

 

At the weekend I had a news image arrive similarly incomplete when my ftp connection failed. I just had a partial fail and the rest were processed as normal

 

 

Oh yes, I keep everything and have both the original and the JPEG that I uploaded to Alamy. Strangely enough, when I look at the submission in Photo Mechanic (as I always do for one last check), the entire image shows in the thumbnail. It's only when I open the JPEG in Photoshop that half of it disappears.

 

I think it would have been more appropriate for Alamy to have given me a "partial failure" and let the other images through, but that obviously isn't their policy in cases like this. At least I got sprung from the sin bin early.

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I agree it should have been a partial failure. I guess PM keeps its own small preview image hence the "mistake". I upload from Windows Explorer (except FTP when I use PM) so I guess I see the actual image - I don't think there is an embedded thumbnail with jpgs. Fortunately file corruption is pretty rare unless you gacve a failing disk.

 

It would probably be be worth doing a chkdsk (Win) or other scan in case there are bad sectors/ disk problem. It could have been caused by software crash, power glitch or other transient problems of course.

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It would be nice if we could see a thumbnail of the completed upload and have the option to delete if all was not well. That would save the inspector time as well. A simple fix but I expect it was discussed long ago on that deleted forum database. There must be some useful information in that which new people like myself could benefit from reading....

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I've seen images in the Alamy Live News feed that are half missing. The missing half is just a block of grey. Is that what you have ?

 

A quick search I found this, it may help (if your missing part is grey)....

 

http://superuser.com/questions/344252/why-are-the-bottom-half-of-my-images-gray

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Sometimes you can see a thumbnail perfectly but when you open it up it's a different story.

 

My old boyfriend had sent me a photo of him.On the thumbnail I could clearly see that it was him AND his old girlfriend right next to him. But when I clicked it open,it was cropped to just him...

 

So,I usually run a slide show full screen on images before  I submit. Not foolproof of course as I am in the sinbin for 30 days right now for who knows what....

 

L

 

The slide show is a good idea. I will adopt it going forward.

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Just before my upload, I view the folder in Alamy SizeCheck 2. In fact I caught something untoward the other day. I still don't understand what the problem was, but I pulled the offending image and did not upload it. I still don't understand why QC would punish you, John, for this mishap.  :unsure:

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I've seen images in the Alamy Live News feed that are half missing. The missing half is just a block of grey. Is that what you have ?

 

A quick search I found this, it may help (if your missing part is grey)....

 

http://superuser.com/questions/344252/why-are-the-bottom-half-of-my-images-gray

 

I think the example given is a vertical that is being viewed as a horizontal, hence the grey. The bottom half of my image is white.

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Just before my upload, I view the folder in Alamy SizeCheck 2. In fact I caught something untoward the other day. I still don't understand what the problem was, but I pulled the offending image and did not upload it. I still don't understand why QC would punish you, John, for this mishap.  :unsure:

 

Oddly enough, the file size didn't change even though half the image is missing, so SizeCheck didn't flag it.

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Just before my upload, I view the folder in Alamy SizeCheck 2. In fact I caught something untoward the other day. I still don't understand what the problem was, but I pulled the offending image and did not upload it. I still don't understand why QC would punish you, John, for this mishap.  :unsure:

 

Oddly enough, the file size didn't change even though half the image is missing, so SizeCheck didn't flag it.

 

It wouldn't - the uncompressed file size would be the same even if it was totally black.

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I agree it should have been a partial failure. I guess PM keeps its own small preview image hence the "mistake". I upload from Windows Explorer (except FTP when I use PM) so I guess I see the actual image - I don't think there is an embedded thumbnail with jpgs. Fortunately file corruption is pretty rare unless you gacve a failing disk.

 

It would probably be be worth doing a chkdsk (Win) or other scan in case there are bad sectors/ disk problem. It could have been caused by software crash, power glitch or other transient problems of course.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I did a chkdsk scan and my hard drive seems OK. I wonder if a power surge or something similar could have corrupted the file during the upload process.

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Sometimes you can see a thumbnail perfectly but when you open it up it's a different story.

 

My old boyfriend had sent me a photo of him.On the thumbnail I could clearly see that it was him AND his old girlfriend right next to him. But when I clicked it open,it was cropped to just him...

 

So,I usually run a slide showing full screen on images before  I submit. Not foolproof of course as I am in the sinbin for 30 days right now for who knows what....

 

L

 

Move over a bit Linda it's getting a bit crowded in here. :)

 

In my case I do know what the fault was with my upload and I even told MS. It was a few days after the upload I realised I had sent the wrong files which still needed some work. Ms said they were in the fail queue and I would have to wait 28 days. Hoped they might have let me out early as I admitted my mistake. :D

 

Allan

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Sometimes you can see a thumbnail perfectly but when you open it up it's a different story.

 

My old boyfriend had sent me a photo of him.On the thumbnail I could clearly see that it was him AND his old girlfriend right next to him. But when I clicked it open,it was cropped to just him...

 

So,I usually run a slide showing full screen on images before  I submit. Not foolproof of course as I am in the sinbin for 30 days right now for who knows what....

 

L

 

Move over a bit Linda it's getting a bit crowded in here. :)

 

In my case I do know what the fault was with my upload and I even told MS. It was a few days after the upload I realised I had sent the wrong files which still needed some work. Ms said they were in the fail queue and I would have to wait 28 days. Hoped they might have let me out early as I admitted my mistake. :D

 

Allan

 

 

I got my results a week early, so perhaps the queue is a bit shorter these days. Looking back at my QC history, I see that I've had a few partial failures for "image processing errors." Why this one didn't fall into that category I'm not entirely sure, as it might have been corrupted during the uploading process. Anyway, it's nice to be back on the outside again.

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Conspiracy theories abound. Mine is that you are allowed X amount of uploads of rather nice but ordinary images. Then you are put in the slammer for some perceived image fault.

Slows the bloat down nicely, cuts down on many thousands of images being uploaded of images that are already well-covered.

People who have the elite portfolio with released models, high end shoots, niche slots, and lots of sales don't fall in the former category.

I also think someone in a trench coat is hiding in a closet just waiting to attack me when I get out of the sin bin and come home.

Ooooeeeeaaaah. :)

Problem is, I just about half believe in my own warped theory. that's what too many weeks in jail does to one.

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Yes, the After Sin Bin Assassin Group. They're out there, no question. It's why I try never to leave my little apartment.

Ed, if you make it the Greater After Sin Bin Assassin Group, you have . . . GASBAG! Not inappropriate for the forum methinks :-)

 

dd

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I omitted the corrupted image and resubmitted the rest. They all went through with no problems. Still can't figure out where the bottom half of the offending image went. It's a mystery that will probably never be solved. Oh well, the three week break did give me chance to catch up with my laundry. B)

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