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01-02-2020, 01:35 PM   #16
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QuoteOriginally posted by BarryE Quote
To me the usb method is more vulnerable. I believe it is attached to a circuit board and flex on that, to me, makes me use the remove SD card method.
I may be wrong ...
Good thought. Is there a Pentax "engineering" authority that could comment?

01-02-2020, 01:58 PM   #17
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I have always just deleted the images, then put the cards back in. I periodically do a full format (in camera) on a card, after many deletion routines. So far, so good!
01-02-2020, 02:09 PM - 1 Like   #18
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Well maybe I'm just lazy but I use the SD card reader in my laptop and CUT the photos from the SD card and PASTE to my harddisk. Sure this is really just doing a copy then delete for each images but my card reader is pretty fast anyway (and least on Linux that is).

Have never reformatted my cards (never seen any issues over the last 5 years) but take the point that it may be worth doing a format occasionally though.
01-02-2020, 02:15 PM   #19
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QuoteOriginally posted by BigDave Quote
I have always just deleted the images, then put the cards back in. I periodically do a full format (in camera) on a card, after many deletion routines. So far, so good!
I'm with you (right down to your name!)

In fact, I usually just keep using a card until it is almost full (copying off files as I go, taking it out of and putting it back into the camera), then I delete the files with a cross-checker deleting program, comparing them to one of my (many!) archive folders. Never had a card problem.

01-02-2020, 02:20 PM   #20
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Correction, as Astro does, I move the images first, THEN delete.
01-02-2020, 02:31 PM   #21
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QuoteOriginally posted by biz-engineer Quote
Frequently deleting or formating SD card will reduce its life time because the new data will always be written again at the same bit cell locations. Waiting until the card is full to format it will increase its life time because the number of R/W operation per cell will be less.
Inefficient file storage...


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01-02-2020, 03:19 PM   #22
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QuoteOriginally posted by Bassat Quote
FORMAT and DELETE do exactly the same thing. Neither erases the actual data. Piriform makes a product called RECUVA that easily recovers photos from FORMATTED disks, as well as files DELETED/ERASED from disks.
Yup exactly what I suggested my friend use to recover her photos. I wasn't aware it would work with a formatted card too, Thanks!

01-02-2020, 03:26 PM - 1 Like   #23
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I always Copy images from SD Card to Computer Hard Drive using Lightroom. At this point I still have the original on card and the copy on hard Drive. After viewing in Lightroom to confirm a succesfull transfer. I then Format the card in camera. I have never had an SD card fail apart from mechanical damage and at the current prices, I am not too concerned over exceeding the read/write limits on the card or anything other form of wear and tear.

Last edited by Bruce Clark; 01-02-2020 at 03:31 PM. Reason: add step
01-02-2020, 03:57 PM   #24
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My approach is format, in camera, and never think about it again.
01-02-2020, 04:02 PM   #25
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QuoteOriginally posted by gatorguy Quote
I seem to remember that just deleting the images doesn't free up all the available space.
I delete the files off my SD cards and get my space back. You may be thinking of the way some software or operating systems handle "erasing" files on CDR (versus CD RW) type media where you're writing to CDs that are mounted without finalizing and closing their sessions, so you can continue to add files to the discs. You can often "erase" files too, but they don't go away, and you don't get the space back.
01-02-2020, 04:02 PM - 2 Likes   #26
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For downloading day -to-day use and shorter shoots:

1. Pull card from camera.
2. Lock card (so the OS doesn't add crap hidden files to the card or affect the directory)
3. Insert into SD card reader
4. Copy the folders/files I need
5. Eject, unlock, and put back in the camera unless it is too close to full

When the card is full:

1. Put card in the bottom of the my stack of SD cards
2. Pull card from the top of the stack
3. Double check that all the folders have been downloaded
4. Put card in the camera and reformat

The second process ensures that I don't reformat a full card until some weeks or months after I've downloaded everything and the images have been backed up in multiple locations.

Note: Understanding Life Expectancy of Flash Storage - National Instruments has the gory details in flash memory life span
a) Flash lasts tens of thousands of WRITE cycles -- unless you religiously take only one photo on the card before downloading and deleting it, the card will almost certainly outlast the shutter of the camera.
b) most cards have wear leveling technology that writes data to the least used blocks -- a card capable of storing 100 images should have a working life of maybe 1 to 10 million images
c) high storage temperatures are bad -- they cause the memory cells to leak charge and forget data
01-02-2020, 04:11 PM - 1 Like   #27
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Format is not the same as delete. When you do a quick format (which is what is done in camera) a fresh copy of the file table is written to the card.

Delete just writes a file deleted marker into the file table for the deleted item. The table slots and associated areas on the "drive" are then freed up for subsequent writes.

A full or complete format (often called wrongly low level) overwrites a new file table and all the data areas of the card/drive/stick. A low level format writes all the timing, cylinder, track and sector boundary markers on the disk and is not necessary for solid state storage.

It's write operations (and plain old age) that "wears" out solid state storage. You are writing more data with a format than by deleting, even unused table areas.

Even though these tests to destruction were done with SSD the same principles apply to SD cards. SD cards have less sophisticated controllers than SSD. Budget cards and SSD have even less sophisticated controllers.

The SSD Endurance Experiment: They're all dead - The Tech Report
01-02-2020, 04:29 PM   #28
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QuoteOriginally posted by Not a Number Quote
Even though these tests [snip]
Good article - thanks
01-02-2020, 04:34 PM   #29
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QuoteOriginally posted by Not a Number Quote
Even though these tests to destruction were done with SSD the same principles apply to SD cards. SD cards have less sophisticated controllers than SSD. Budget cards and SSD have even less sophisticated controllers.

The SSD Endurance Experiment: They're all dead - The Tech Report
Cool article. It nicely covers the bases. Thanks for sharing.


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01-02-2020, 05:11 PM - 1 Like   #30
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QuoteOriginally posted by Bassat Quote
I can't imagine it matters, unless you have photos of a UFO, BigFoot, and Nessy, all on the same card.
Everyone knows you can only capture these on a crappy camera, surely can't happen on a pentax.
Of course the most conclusive ufo pic was captured on Pentax with crappy film but that's a different tech. (Based on a British conspiracy show)😃
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