Corrupt memory card, loss of pictures

[miss missy]

Can someone tell me if that had happened to them. I am going digital for the first time on this trip and I am sooo afraid to lose my pics. Can anyone talk me off the fence?

What precausions can I take? I know 2, treat the card well, don't damage, touch, spill ect. And take more than one card with me.

Calm me down, please!

 

[goofy4tink]

I am certainly no expert...can barely figure out the bottom of the line, 1 y/o Kodak Easyshare that I have, but......I have had more memory card issues than I can shake a stick at. But, I have yet to lose a photo. I continually get a 'memory card needs formatting' message on my screen. I have completely dumped the photos onto the computer, and then reformatted. I still get the message every once in awhile. It tends to happen when I'm using the camera a lot...maybe after about 60 or so shots. But, if I just turn it off and let it be for awhile, it's fine. Go figure. I will be getting another memory card to have handy though. So.....like I said, I haven't lost anything yet...operative word being 'yet'.

 

[WillCAD]

Can someone tell me if that had happened to them. I am going digital for the first time on this trip and I am sooo afraid to lose my pics. Can anyone talk me off the fence?

What precausions can I take? I know 2, treat the card well, don't damage, touch, spill ect. And take more than one card with me.

Calm me down, please!

It does happen, but it's not something that happens every day.

I have been digital for about 2 years now, and have never lost a pic.

The precautions you listed are all good. I would only add a few:

1) When you get a new memory card, be sure to format the card in the camera you will use it with before taking any pics.

2) Watch the light on the camera that tells you when it is writing to the memory card, and never turn off the camera till the light goes off.

3) Never take the memory card out of the camera without turning it off first.

 

[Magix]

I did lose a full 1G microdrive of pictures once - 127 shots. But, it's because I dropped the card from about waist height onto a concrete walkway. Learned a very important lesson that day. Be very, very careful when changing cards!

Other than that, I've never had a problem in literally thousands (probably more like tens of thousands) of shots.

 

[MICKEY88]

I did lose a full 1G microdrive of pictures once - 127 shots. But, it's because I dropped the card from about waist height onto a concrete walkway. Learned a very important lesson that day. Be very, very careful when changing cards!

Other than that, I've never had a problem in literally thousands (probably more like tens of thousands) of shots.

another thing to learn from that experience is that microdrives are much more fragile than CF cards..

 

[safetymom]

backup, backup, backup. Always before working on any image save the ones you downloaded from your camera. You should always make 2 copies. Never work on the original.

Be sure to format the card in the camera.

 

[Magix]

Yes, but at the time I bought my cards, microdrives were the only thing available in that large a capacity. That was about a $210 mistake that day. Fortunately, it was a new card and Am Ex covered the loss. Phew!

 

[MICKEY88]

Yes, but at the time I bought my cards, microdrives were the only thing available in that large a capacity. That was about a $210 mistake that day. Fortunately, it was a new card and Am Ex covered the loss. Phew!

wasn't implying you should have known....

I have a 4 gig microdrive that I bought, before finding out that they are more fragile.. also slower than the new cards, but I still use it for some stuff...

 

[Muushka]

Speaking of re-formatting...

I am reading a new Nikon D70 users manual and they suggest re-formatting your CF card each time you load one in, new or not.

Anyone do this each time?

 

[CharlesTD]

Yes it has happened and we lost about 250 pictures. I now have Rescue Pro from sandisk and it has helped as this seems to be an issue with a few memory cards we have had. This is why I shoot film again that way I only lose 36 or 24 pictures rather than half a trip worth. Mushka yes we do this with our D70 but the cards still fail regardless and I have found this far more frequently with CF cards over the microdrives we have.

 

[ndelaware]

Speaking of re-formatting...

I am reading a new Nikon D70 users manual and they suggest re-formatting your CF card each time you load one in, new or not.

Anyone do this each time?

Yes, I format my cards every time I put them back in the camera after uploading my pictures to the computer.

 

[mtblujeans]

I have an HP Digital camera that I bought last year. I had been buying 128 MB SanDisk SD cards so I could take the camera to WDW a year ago. The cards kept failing. I had to return them twice! I took the newly replaced cards to WDW and they locked up with my pics in them. I have had them sitting on my desk for a year, now, as I keep forgetting to purchase the software to try to retreive the pictures out of them! I stopped buying SanDisk and have not had any problems with the other cards I have used. I do reformat them everytime I empty the pics out of them.

 

[MICKEY88]

I have an HP Digital camera that I bought last year. I had been buying 128 MB SanDisk SD cards so I could take the camera to WDW a year ago. The cards kept failing. I had to return them twice! I took the newly replaced cards to WDW and they locked up with my pics in them. I have had them sitting on my desk for a year, now, as I keep forgetting to purchase the software to try to retreive the pictures out of them! I stopped buying SanDisk and have not had any problems with the other cards I have used. I do reformat them everytime I empty the pics out of them.

this isn't the first I've heard of problems with sandisk cards...


I use lexar cards.. I shot over 20 thousand pictures in an 8 month period and haven't had any card problems...

 

[MICKEY88]

Yes it has happened and we lost about 250 pictures. I now have Rescue Pro from sandisk and it has helped as this seems to be an issue with a few memory cards we have had. This is why I shoot film again that way I only lose 36 or 24 pictures rather than half a trip worth. Mushka yes we do this with our D70 but the cards still fail regardless and I have found this far more frequently with CF cards over the microdrives we have.

what brand of cf cards and what brand of micro drives...

 

[Memaw2Wm]

this isn't the first I've heard of problems with sandisk cards...


I use lexar cards.. I shot over 20 thousand pictures in an 8 month period and haven't had any card problems...

Hmmm ... I use Scan Disk CF cards ... the "ultra ones" ... never formatted them, never lost an image, and I've been digital for 3+ years.

 

[MICKEY88]

Hmmm ... I use Scan Disk CF cards ... the "ultra ones" ... never formatted them, never lost an image, and I've been digital for 3+ years.

SANDISK or SCAN DISK ??

 

[CharlesTD]

I would venture to guess it is sandisk not scan disk LOL.

 

[CharlesTD]

I have an HP Digital camera that I bought last year. I had been buying 128 MB SanDisk SD cards so I could take the camera to WDW a year ago. The cards kept failing. I had to return them twice! I took the newly replaced cards to WDW and they locked up with my pics in them. I have had them sitting on my desk for a year, now, as I keep forgetting to purchase the software to try to retreive the pictures out of them! I stopped buying SanDisk and have not had any problems with the other cards I have used. I do reformat them everytime I empty the pics out of them.

We have had the same issue with Sandisk CF cards our 1 gig and our 512 both need to be tossed itn the garbage as neither of them will allow you to tae the images off them without the recovery software. I have a copy of the software if you would like it just fire me a PM.

 

[Memaw2Wm]

SANDISK or SCAN DISK ??

Oops ... SANDISK

 

[LordAthens]

I've been digital for ~5 years now. The first 2 years were a mix of both, I carried both a P&S digital as well as my F100.

I've shot thousands and thousands of frames and have lost one memory card to date. That being said, it was due to me washing the card (a Panasonic SD card for my Z3 that I carried as my P&S at the time) that I lost the images.

Other than that, i've never experienced any data loss.

Other than the 1 Panasonic card, I primarily use Lexar Pro 40x cards, though I've picked up a few of the new 80x cards as well.