I am trying to copy pictures from a digital cameras SD card. I am using a SanDisk card reader for the transfer. I run Arch Linux with XFCE4.

When I copy the pictures to my hard drive, most copy fine, but many have funny lines across the pictures or strange color blocks...in other words, obvious data errors in the pictures. The pictures display perfectly on the camera. so I doubt there is a problem with the pictures themselves.

The pictures that are copied to my hard drive preview the thumbnails fine. Just when I try to view that the errors show? What causes this and how do I fix it?

I have experienced this before while using ubuntu. Is there a problem with Linux and card readers?

Thanks

It could be something getting lost or corrupt in the transfer. Try eliminating the card reader step by storing the pictures, just a few of the ones showing the errors, in the camera's internal memory then copy them directly from the camera to the hd. If you haven't already, you might have to set the camera's usb mode to MSC or storage.

They could actually be there on the camera (I had a camera whose CCD went bad and gave me those), but maybe the camera display is too small for them to be visible. This might explain why the thumbnails look ok too.

Definitely try transferring the photos directly from the camera if you have a cable.

Copy them twice, after moving the first batch out of the way and run "cmp" to compare the files. If two copies are identical, then it probably copied correctly but was bad in the camera.