Originally posted by sholtzma
I ran all the tests in Lexar's ImageRescue and the cards seemed just fine. They formatted (in ImageRescue) after that perfectly well. My K-5 reads and writes to both cards just fine (I did a test shot or two on each card). Are there more tests I should run?
Is ImageRescue just a rescue program? Run them through a testing program that stresses the card and "tries" to get it to fail -- it will write and read to it a gazillion times. If it passes that, then my opinion is that the cards are fine and that everything else in the chain is to be suspected. Nevertheless, the risk is yours. So what I would do is:
A) Not operate the card slot in the dark.
B) Get a new card reader -- get a name brand like SanDisk but also read the reviews for people talking about failure (check Amazon and Newegg). In the meantime there is always direct transfer with USB cable from camera.
C) Don't manipulate JPEGs etc and copy stuff back and forth to the cards. Capture pictures, copy to computer, verify the copies, replace card in camera and delete all images or format. Other than firmware updates, that's it.
D) If you are in extreme conditions (or even if you're not), get extreme cards -- they are temperature-proof, shock-proof, x-ray proof, etc. They tend not to fail.
E) If your cards do screw-up again anytime soon (with a different reader), then yes do throw them away with haste.