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Diogones

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 23, 2009
191
4
Hey all,

I have a 2006 iMac running 10.7.5, and I've noticed an interesting disparity between my Mac and a Windows 7 machine with regards to accessing a camera's storage. I am talking specifically about a Coolpix S4300 with internal storage as well as an SD card.

The Mac can read the SD card just fine, as can the Windows machine. However, whenever I plug the camera into the Mac via the included USB cable, the SD card does not appear at all; neither does the internal memory if I remove the card and re-attach it to USB. It does not mount on the desktop, appear in Finder, or show up in Disk Utility. I can however access the camera's photos via iPhoto or a similar photo app.

In contrast, the Windows machine will see either the internal memory or SD card - whichever is inserted when the camera is connected to the computer - although it doesn't actually mount the card. Rather than assigning it a drive number in My Computer, Windows Explorer will treat the camera like an iPhone; the pictures are visible after drilling down into the device's folder hierarchy, but there are no loading of drivers or options to eject or "Safely Remove Hardware." When I am done accessing the photos, I simply turn off the camera and eject it, and that's all there is to it.

Is this just a fundamental difference in the way the two OSes access internal flash storage, and is the Finder incapable of accessing a camera's internal storage or SD card via a USB connection, unlike Windows, which doesn't need an auxiliary program to access the camera's contents?
 
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