[skinja]

This is really weird and could be a challenge to explain but here it goes.

I am having trouble with two different SD cards, two different brands bought at different times, I have two different card readers and running two different computers, one Mac with lightroom & elements 4.0 and one Dell running elements 5.0, I load everything I shoot on both computers for backup.

Its almost like the SD card's have been partitioned, I have shot a bunch of pictures on both cards on multiple different days with my K10D, Ok here is where it starts getting weird if I take the card out and put it in my Mac & card reader it wont read it, but if I lock the card and put it back in, it will find some photo's, if I take out the locked card and install it in my camera, it says the card is locked. Take it back out unlock it put it back in and it will find a different set of pictures.

On the dell it will read all of the pictures in the card in the unlocked position but some are corrupted.

This all started about a week ago, and I have only used these two cards as of late. I will try with some of my other cards to see if I am having the same problem.

Does anyone have any ideal's what may be causing this?

Any programs out there better to wipe the card clean, delete, fix or correct failed sectors then the camera itself? I have always used the camera to clean the card.

Thanks for any help that you may be able to provide.

John

[christinelandon]

Weird, indeed, Skinja. I've not seen anything like what you describe with my K10D, but I only use 2GB SanDisk Ultra IIs, a matched set. I use a GGI SD/HC USB 2.0 card reader with my G4 desktop Mac; haven't tried it yet with my PowerBook, and I don't run Windows. Still, I've got a few questions to help clarify what might be happening, and a suggestion to try.

First, what are the brands and capacities of your SD cards? What brand card readers are you using on the Mac and on the Windows machines? Have you tried switching the card readers between the computers to see if behavior remains the same or changes in a way that might suggest where the problem lies? Can you use your Mac or Windows system software to take a look at the file system format (FAT? FAT32?) being written on your cards by the K10D; if so, is that format readable by both of your computers?

Finally, a suggestion: plug a card into a card reader attached to either Mac or PC and open your disk formatting utility. Select the card (it should appear as a USB drive) and run your "first aid" disk repair routine. Afterward, put the card in your K10D and format the card, then shoot a few pictures. Wait a day, and shoot a few more; this will assure there are at least two folders on the card. Pop the card into the card reader attached to the computer you used to repair the card, and see what happens. Try the card in the other computer/card reader and see what shows up. Repeat this whole procedure with the other computer/card reader/disk utility combination. Any change from what you've been experiencing? If not, go back to your disk utility software and try a couple of cycles of disk erase/reformatting, then reformat again in your K10D. Any change in behavior?

The above experiments should give you some clues about what your setup is doing; perhaps it will indicate that one or more of your SD cards has corrupted circuitry/flash memory. If you can try other SD cards known to be good, you might be able to eliminate or confirm other possible sources of the weird behavior your current cards exhibit. Good luck, and let us know what you find out!

[J.Scott]

I would suggest you buy a new SD card from a reliable local retailer and toss the defective one away. If it proves to be defective you shouldn't have any problems returning it.

Memory is cheap these days - you don't need the frustration!

[Arpe]

Sure they're not SDHC cards and your readers aren't compatible? Maybe try an in-camera format.

[skinja]

I have been using one for over a year and the other since christmas, I always used the in camera format. I formatted both cards on the PC yesterday but I've been busy so I haven't shot any pics yet today.

Thanks for your comments,

John

[flyer]

I have a Mac G4 and a HP. If I put a card in the Mac with a card reader, I can load the pictures in the Mac, but when I put the card back in the K 10, I can't access the pictures anymore, and my HP is not able to read the card either. If I put the card back in the Mac, it will read it. It's like the Mac put a kind of lock on the card, so now I always download on the HP first. Strange.....