[K7er]

I had a transcend 16 GB class 6 card stop working with my Pentax K7 after about reasonable usage for 2 months (I formatted it only once). I looked around for reviews and all brand-names seem to have equal report of failures. I'm surmising that it might be due to class 6 being pretty new to the market [infact, SanDisk has no class 6 available; I read it was pulled off]. Should I just switch back to class 4 -- is that still good enough to shoot video?

Perhaps, people can share their experiences with memory cards on K7 -- that would be helpful for everyone...

Thanks again!

[Nass]

Sore topic.

I have two "Transcend 16GB 5*", one stopped working after a week so I returned it for another. Since then, occasional issues, but I suspect they're largely user issues. K-7 + cards do not like:

• being switched on and off quickly
• having the zoom changed during exposure
• changing lenses improperly

All that tends to screw my cards. My usual course of action is then to switch off again, on again till the "bad memory card" message stops and reformat or drive on if possible. Once I took card out and cleaned contacts and back in and that did it.

[Norman]

Sandisk Extreme III 16GB

Go get it.

[reytor]

I have total of four Transcend 16GB Class 6 cards. Two of them have been used in my K-7 and as pendrives in computer(s). Other two have been in a Canon P&S. So far I've had no problems (permanent or ocational), but I tend to be very carefull not to change lenses or take out the card while camera is on. The same when connected to PC, I always first segure that OS (windows & Linux) has given permission to disconnect or the PC is off.

Oh, And I format the card in camera after each download to PC.

[Norman]

I have total of four Transcend 16GB Class 6 cards. Two of them have been used in my K-7 and as pendrives in computer(s). Other two have been in a Canon P&S. So far I've had no problems (permanent or ocational), but I tend to be very carefull not to change lenses or take out the card while camera is on. The same when connected to PC, I always first segure that OS (windows & Linux) has given permission to disconnect or the PC is off.

Oh, And I format the card in camera after each download to PC.

Tried shooting continous HD with the transcend ones?

Also, it's not necessary to format the card after each download. That is stupid and eats up write cycle counts. A memorycard (while having a lot more writes now than in the past) will still eat up write counts if you do any writing (formatting for example).

The seek time of memorycardes is virtually nill, which makes it pointless to format to get a "fresh start" which might be the reason why you would want to format a normal harddrive (no fragmentation issues).

[K7er]

"# having the zoom changed during exposure
# changing lenses improperly"

I have my doubts on whether these really screw up the memory card.

The transcend card worked on 2 laptop card readers, but flat-out refused to work on the K7. Not sure who is to fault...

[reytor]

Tried shooting continous HD with the transcend ones?

Also, it's not necessary to format the card after each download. That is stupid and eats up write cycle counts. A memorycard (while having a lot more writes now than in the past) will still eat up write counts if you do any writing (formatting for example).

The seek time of memorycardes is virtually nill, which makes it pointless to format to get a "fresh start" which might be the reason why you would want to format a normal harddrive (no fragmentation issues).

Yes, I have shoot continuos HD (biggest size and best quality) up to 5+ minutes (terminated by me, not by K-7) per cycle.

I did have problems with an old P&S with memory card if I did not format it. For some reason, filling gaps(?) with a new image corrupted the file system and I did loose a fair amount of photos due to that. This might have been a camera issue, but ever since I have formated the card and have had no troubles what so ever.

[Norman]

Yes, I have shoot continuos HD (biggest size and best quality) up to 5+ minutes (terminated by me, not by K-7) per cycle.

I did have problems with an old P&S with memory card if I did not format it. For some reason, filling gaps(?) with a new image corrupted the file system and I did loose a fair amount of photos due to that. This might have been a camera issue, but ever since I have formated the card and have had no troubles what so ever.

I think your problem may be related to bad sectors. When you do a format it'll mark bad sectors if notice any and use "spares". And might also be as you say, P&S with weird data allocation.

I guess with todays memorycards write count isnt a big problem anymore.
We've gone from 10000 write cycles to 100000 and even 1000000 write cycles.

[K7er]

Any recommendations on what brand I should get? SanDisk is a touch too expensive...

[asdf]

Sandisk Extreme III 16GB

Go get it.

Despite the silly name, I'd recommend the "extreme" sandisks, as well.

[Oggy]

Sorry K7er - another vote for Sandisk Extreme iiis.

They may be a bit more expensive, but how much are your pictures worth?

Personally I'd go for smaller ones so that if you lose or trash one, you lose less pictures. I stick with 4Gb.

[glanglois]

SanDisk. Rather too few cards than too many lost images. I've stuck with Extreme III for K-7, K-x, and Panasonic compact. I watched for the BIG rebates, then jumped.

YMMV, of course.

And no, you don't format a disk to defrag it. That's a different issue with its own software to fix it.

You format a disk to write upon it the magnetic markers that allow the system to know precisely where to file and find the data. If those markers shift, or if the reader and the medium are just a bit out of sync, the data appear lost and files are corrupted.

We use our cameras to format the card as it's the camera that's laying the data down on the storage medium. And cameras tend to be a bit more fussy about the format than most card readers AFAIK.

So format in camera. If the reader hesitates, either get a new reader or use your USB cable to get the data to the computer. Actually, you'd best do both.

[volvomanny]

I went through alot of cards that i had used previously in my k20d without issue which caused no end of grief with the K7 here is a list.)

*AData 16Gb Class 2 (works fine for photos, obviously not fast enough for video)
*AData 16Gb Class 6 (everything appeared to be fine, but every 500 shots i would get 2-6 shots listed as corrupt. Video would randomly stop)
*Slilicon Power 16Gb Class 6 ((everything appeared to be fine, but every 500 shots i would get 2-6 shots listed as corrupt. Video would randomly stop)

the ONLY cards which haven't faulted once is my 2 sandisk extreme III (8Gb). In over 12,000 photos and maybe 3 hours of video perfect every time on the K7

[KansasHorizons.com]

I just sent back my two new Transcend 16 GB Class 6 because they wont run video, I am going tor the 8 GB 30 mb/s sandisk extremes. I have never lost a pic on a transcend before on the K-10D 60k or more pics but not much time on my K-7 however.

[ManWithCamera]

Tried shooting continous HD with the transcend ones?

Also, it's not necessary to format the card after each download. That is stupid and eats up write cycle counts. A memorycard (while having a lot more writes now than in the past) will still eat up write counts if you do any writing (formatting for example).

The seek time of memorycardes is virtually nill, which makes it pointless to format to get a "fresh start" which might be the reason why you would want to format a normal harddrive (no fragmentation issues).

There are fewer writes used when formatting than when deleting. Deleting involves a separate write for every file.