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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
When to replace memory cards
Jonathan Durr, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Morton Grove | IL | USA | Posted: 2:25 AM on 06.02.10 |
->> I searched in the forums for information on this but I couldn't find it. I'd imagine it is out there somewhere.. could someone direct me to it?
When should I consider replacing my CF card? I have an 8 GB SanDisk UDMA card that I got in September 2009. With around 100,000 photos saved to it.
The reason why I'm concerned is because the other day I pressed the shutter, the camera didn't do anything for about a second then took a picture. Not sure why it happened, but it happened twice. It got me thinking I should maybe get a new CF card. My D300s has about 101,000 actuations. |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 2:39 AM on 06.02.10 |
->> Jonathan -
I've got a couple of 51Mb cards that I've had since 2002 that recently died within a few weeks of each other. That's roughly 7.5 years. Of course they have also been through the wash a few times... |
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Randy Abrams, Photographer
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Bath | NY | US | Posted: 7:37 AM on 06.02.10 |
| ->> This is a good question, I'll be interested to see what people say. I have three 8-GB cards that I rotate through my D3 and D700. I'm hoping that by rotating them I don't burn one out prematurely. |
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Brad Barr, Photographer
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Port St. Lucie | FL | USA | Posted: 9:46 AM on 06.02.10 |
| ->> I dont think there is any accurate guide for this. Seems we usually upgrade the things due to size constraints far sooner than their useful life expectancy. Rob Galbraith had a great CF card comparison database going, but afaik, it had no details on longevity. Heck I still only have 2gb and 4gb cf cards....but then I always shoot jpegs so I still never approach the limit on filling one up. Considering the low price per gb now....Its probably prudent to replace them more regularly than most of us do. (We used to spend more on film per wedding/event than what it would cost to have cf cards per wedding or sporting event) |
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Randy Sartin, Photographer
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George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 9:49 AM on 06.02.10 |
->> There is no hard rules that I know of. Generally I find that I'm wanting faster cards with bigger capacity as time goes by and just get new cards for those factors, not because of failures.
I have some very old cards like some 160mb ones that I keep as a backup to the backup to the backup and for shuttling small amounts of data around that have to be nearly a decade old. They are also good for when I need to give someone a couple photos or other data and don't care if I ever get the card back.
With newer cameras I don't like to use small cards (funny to think a 1gb card is now small since my first personal computer had only 1gb of total disk drive space) so I just get bigger, faster cards when there are good deals. I also don't get rid of cards just in case so I also have a done of 256mb, 512mb, 1g and 2gb cards in my card wallet that never see use. But I have them just in case I'm near a plane crash and find myself firing off a ton of images.
If you suspect it is the card then most of the larger manufacturers have lifetime warranties and you can send it in for testing and replacement if you need. But they will first ask you to completely reformat the card and try some other basic maintenance steps.
It is a similar question to "when do you put a new hard drive in your computer?" You know it is going to fail but you don't replace the drive every 6 months to prevent it. You use it until you see problems and then hope you have a current backup and replace it. Many times you replace the computer before the hard drive fails.
If you suspect you are having a problem with a card then it is worth replacing it. They are pretty cheap these days and worth having a couple extras on hand.
You can even buy smaller capacity cards and if you see a problem like you describe then put another card in and see if you get the same problem. If the problem does not appear then it is possibly the card, if it occurs again then you know it is not the card and something with the camera. |
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Matt Barton, Photographer
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Lexington | KY | USA | Posted: 10:07 AM on 06.02.10 |
->> If I think a card is dying, I run Disktester to check it out.
http://www.macperformanceguide.com/Software-DiskTester.html
This program is very handy for checking speeds, reliability, reconditioning SSDs, etc and (best of all) it runs on OS X. |
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Jeff Stanton, Photographer
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Indiana | IN | USA | Posted: 10:55 AM on 06.02.10 |
->> I had an issue with an 8GB Lexar UDMA 300X card last Thursday at the boys regional track finals. On the hurdles prelims, I could only fire a shot every five seconds or so. I checked all my settings to make sure I hadn't accidently bumped anything and tried again. Still no luck.
I switched out cards and it worked fine. I just bought the card less than a year ago, so I sent Lexar support and email and explained the problem. They got back to me a couple of hours later and suggested I format the card by inserting it into the card reader on my computer and using the Mac disk utility software. They provided me with several steps on how to go about it.
Once I was finished, I put the card back in the camera and it has worked fine since. I don't know, may be some kind of card burp or something. Had that not worked, Lexar said they would replace the card. |
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Phil Hawkins, Photographer
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Fresno | ca | usa | Posted: 12:26 PM on 06.02.10 |
| ->> Just last night I washed two of my SanDisk 4gb Extreme IIIs and this time they fell out of my pocket and tumbled in the dryer banging against the agitators (to my annoyance) at dryer temps (120 degrees+?) for an HOUR and they just keep on ticking. All images are there, download flawlessly... I'm quite sure the last thing anyone has to worry about is a CF card going bad; at least a SanDisk. In 10 years of digital photography, I've not had any CF card "go bad" and don't know if anyone who has... Thank goodness this is one thing that one can rely on pretty much religiously. One more thing; it's good to have my CF cards nice and clean, looking brand new... |
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Sam Santilli, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Philippi | WV | USA | Posted: 1:13 PM on 06.02.10 |
->> Phil, you are allowed to run a dryer in California for an hour? The knock you hear at your door is the ghost of Enron to say hello.
We reformat the CF cards in the computer a few times a year. With all of the action we shoot, the cards get alot of "junk" built up on them. |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 1:19 PM on 06.02.10 |
->> Sam,
If you do reformat your cards in a computer, it's a good idea to format them again in the camera in which they will be used. There is a difference in formatting between camera models.
--Mark |
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Jonathan Durr, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Morton Grove | IL | USA | Posted: 9:00 PM on 06.02.10 |
| ->> I just formatted it through the computer. I'll see how it goes. |
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Jeff Stanton, Photographer
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Indiana | IN | USA | Posted: 10:40 PM on 06.02.10 |
| ->> Indeed, Mark is correct. Lexar's instructions to me were after reformatting on the computer, to also format in the camera. |
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