Anyone had an SD card die?

**Mallee Boy** · 08-22-2007, 11:43 PM

Originally posted by Peter Zack

Seems like this has happened to a few others and there's no quick fix. the card is now in the bin and has been replaced. No more Toshibas for me. Almost no one anywhere reported issues with the Ultra's. so I guess you get what you pay for.

Thanks to all

Hi Peter,
I have a couple of Toshibas and they going strong. Interestingly when I bought the last one in Hong Kong (July'06) I asked the salesman for a sandisk and he reccommended the Toshiba, saying they had too many problems with sandisk....and this was a big shop selling truck loads of stuff.
I have just bought another 4 2gig Toshibas for a forthcoming trip
Cheers
Grant

weatherwise2 · 08-23-2007, 06:20 PM

The camera shop has stated they had another brand of camera (Canon I think) that a SDH card was not recognized when the firmware was updated. They have only had about a 1/2 dozen bad SDH cards returned in a couple of years.

FotoPete · 08-23-2007, 08:16 PM

yea I have a Patriot branded SD card (some line from SanDisk..their logo's engraved on the back).

It occassionally gives me card errors on my GX-1L and ticks me off. I have to restart the camera everytime....now I know why $20 for 2GB is not necessarily always the best choice.

cdm807 · 09-13-2009, 11:47 AM

Peteranyone

Just had experience like Peter's. 1 gb sandisk digital extreme card. 150 pics at wedding, may be lost. My PC doesn't recognize disk. Any information since??

Curt (very frustrated newbie)

Peter Zack · 09-13-2009, 01:14 PM

Why not send an email to Sandisk and see what they tell you. Possibly they have a fix that could help.

j.mbwun · 09-18-2009, 08:50 AM

I was unable to recover the photos but I found a way to recover the cards.

Sadly to say, after many attempts to read the info or to format the cards in different machines, I took the cards to a friend that has a Canon XSI to see if he can read them. We got the same problem so he offered to format them instead but told him that it won't work because I already tried. He gave it a try and to my surprise the cards were formatted.

I don't know where does the difference rely but the cards are stil operational.

Regards!

Andi Lo · 09-18-2009, 11:13 AM

If you already managed to recover the card and make it readable, try using recovery programs and you might be able to recover your pictures. The pictures are still there even if you format it, formatting just allows you to overwrite what's there. Just don't shoot anymore for now! Good luck.

After you recover it, send it to sandisk for replacement... tell them it was important and you were angry and you might get a better card for your hassle

davidvcd · 09-20-2009, 08:39 AM

I have not had a card die on me.
However this summer i had a 8GB CF card get corrupted by my dying istD. It stopped right in the middle of a kalech ride in egypt and I could not access the card - 2017 photos....

luckily I had another card, and i had already backed up some 1600 on my archos pmp (though it took a long time to transfer directly from the camera - no laptop or card reader...).

When i came back home i managed to recover most of the rest though some files were damaged and others just disappeared... the CF card remains useable .

Lessons learned and reminded -
-have several cards on you,
- switch cards even if you still have plentey of space.
- backup everyday, and maybe backup twice (laptop, portable hdd, or archos 250GB pmp in my case)

SCguy · 09-22-2009, 06:36 PM

Funny that you should mention it...

I had a 4gb SanDisk SD card fail on me last week. Somehow the lock switch broke, and the card snapped in half just from me pushing on it to eject it from my K10D.

RD

Pentax_XTC · 09-23-2009, 08:45 AM

If you need to make sure you card doesn't fail check out Hoodman. They are expensive, but the are made in the USA and they do not have an "acceptable failure rate" for manufacturing. They have a 0% failure rate on all their CF and SDHC cards so far. I have 2 16GB Hoodman SDHC cards and I have never had a problem with them.

My old 4GB Kingstons on the other hand almost lost about 36 photos from a friend's wedding.

I wasn't taking chances after that.

Fredshome · 09-28-2009, 12:35 AM

Originally posted by Arpe

Flash memory is commonly quaoted as being able to be rewritten at least 1000 times, at least that's what I've seen, so they do sort of have a preset number of frames on them!

It's more like 100 000 so the ones that die are either faulty or substandard.
I've had two die (SD), both bought on the field because mine were full. In both cases they were noname brands that died very quickly (same problems as above).

As a rule, I try to stick with SanDisk or other high end makers, using their "ultra" (or equivalent) type of series (without going overboard with the fastest ones). I have a number of those that have seen a lot of use with no trouble whatsoever.

And of course I do empty them whenever I can. But bringing my laptop on a trip isn't always convenient (what kind of a desert is this that doesn't even have a power outlet ?).

and · 09-28-2009, 04:12 AM

Not me (knock on wood) and I now have about 10 cards and they all still work, the oldest being from my istDS

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08-22-2007, 11:43 PM	#16
Mallee Boy Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: South Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,904	Originally posted by Peter Zack Seems like this has happened to a few others and there's no quick fix. the card is now in the bin and has been replaced. No more Toshibas for me. Almost no one anywhere reported issues with the Ultra's. so I guess you get what you pay for. Thanks to all Hi Peter, I have a couple of Toshibas and they going strong. Interestingly when I bought the last one in Hong Kong (July'06) I asked the salesman for a sandisk and he reccommended the Toshiba, saying they had too many problems with sandisk....and this was a big shop selling truck loads of stuff. I have just bought another 4 2gig Toshibas for a forthcoming trip Cheers Grant

08-23-2007, 06:20 PM	#17
weatherwise2 Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Warwick, RI Photos: Gallery Posts: 740	The camera shop has stated they had another brand of camera (Canon I think) that a SDH card was not recognized when the firmware was updated. They have only had about a 1/2 dozen bad SDH cards returned in a couple of years.

08-23-2007, 08:16 PM	#18
FotoPete Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,774	yea I have a Patriot branded SD card (some line from SanDisk..their logo's engraved on the back). It occassionally gives me card errors on my GX-1L and ticks me off. I have to restart the camera everytime....now I know why $20 for 2GB is not necessarily always the best choice.

09-13-2009, 11:47 AM	#19
cdm807 New Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Washington, DC, USA Posts: 9	Peteranyone Just had experience like Peter's. 1 gb sandisk digital extreme card. 150 pics at wedding, may be lost. My PC doesn't recognize disk. Any information since?? Curt (very frustrated newbie)

09-13-2009, 01:14 PM	#20
Peter Zack Pentaxian Moderator Emeritus Join Date: May 2007 Location: Edmonton Alberta, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 10,643 Original Poster	Why not send an email to Sandisk and see what they tell you. Possibly they have a fix that could help.

09-18-2009, 08:50 AM	#21
j.mbwun Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Mexico Posts: 19	I was unable to recover the photos but I found a way to recover the cards. Sadly to say, after many attempts to read the info or to format the cards in different machines, I took the cards to a friend that has a Canon XSI to see if he can read them. We got the same problem so he offered to format them instead but told him that it won't work because I already tried. He gave it a try and to my surprise the cards were formatted. I don't know where does the difference rely but the cards are stil operational. Regards!

09-18-2009, 11:13 AM	#22
Andi Lo Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia Posts: 2,924	If you already managed to recover the card and make it readable, try using recovery programs and you might be able to recover your pictures. The pictures are still there even if you format it, formatting just allows you to overwrite what's there. Just don't shoot anymore for now! Good luck. After you recover it, send it to sandisk for replacement... tell them it was important and you were angry and you might get a better card for your hassle

09-20-2009, 08:39 AM	#23
davidvcd Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: NorthernVA , USA / Grenoble, FRANCE Posts: 148	I have not had a card die on me. However this summer i had a 8GB CF card get corrupted by my dying istD. It stopped right in the middle of a kalech ride in egypt and I could not access the card - 2017 photos.... luckily I had another card, and i had already backed up some 1600 on my archos pmp (though it took a long time to transfer directly from the camera - no laptop or card reader...). When i came back home i managed to recover most of the rest though some files were damaged and others just disappeared... the CF card remains useable . Lessons learned and reminded - -have several cards on you, - switch cards even if you still have plentey of space. - backup everyday, and maybe backup twice (laptop, portable hdd, or archos 250GB pmp in my case)

09-22-2009, 06:36 PM	#24
SCguy Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Blackville, South Carolina Photos: Gallery Posts: 153	Funny that you should mention it... I had a 4gb SanDisk SD card fail on me last week. Somehow the lock switch broke, and the card snapped in half just from me pushing on it to eject it from my K10D. RD

09-23-2009, 08:45 AM	#25
Pentax_XTC Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Duluth, GA Posts: 365	If you need to make sure you card doesn't fail check out Hoodman. They are expensive, but the are made in the USA and they do not have an "acceptable failure rate" for manufacturing. They have a 0% failure rate on all their CF and SDHC cards so far. I have 2 16GB Hoodman SDHC cards and I have never had a problem with them. My old 4GB Kingstons on the other hand almost lost about 36 photos from a friend's wedding. I wasn't taking chances after that.

09-28-2009, 12:35 AM	#26
Fredshome New Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Paris, France Posts: 25	Originally posted by Arpe Flash memory is commonly quaoted as being able to be rewritten at least 1000 times, at least that's what I've seen, so they do sort of have a preset number of frames on them! It's more like 100 000 so the ones that die are either faulty or substandard. I've had two die (SD), both bought on the field because mine were full. In both cases they were noname brands that died very quickly (same problems as above). As a rule, I try to stick with SanDisk or other high end makers, using their "ultra" (or equivalent) type of series (without going overboard with the fastest ones). I have a number of those that have seen a lot of use with no trouble whatsoever. And of course I do empty them whenever I can. But bringing my laptop on a trip isn't always convenient (what kind of a desert is this that doesn't even have a power outlet ?).

09-28-2009, 04:12 AM	#27
and Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,476	Not me (knock on wood) and I now have about 10 cards and they all still work, the oldest being from my istDS