How to store SD cards?

[roydonian]

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Can anyone recommend a practical storage box able to hold about 30 SD cards? I have a small triple-card Gepe box and a 12-card Peli storage box, one or both of which travel in my camera bag during short and long trips. These have proved satisfactory, but I need some practical way of storing my remaining stock of cards.  Currently I use plastic boxes that hold nine cards in a foam insert, but the action of opening the box usually causes several of the cards to spring out of the foam cavities and land on the floor.

 

[jdlaing]

5 hours ago, roydonian said:

Can anyone recommend a practical storage box able to hold about 30 SD cards? I have a small triple-card Gepe box and a 12-card Peli storage box, one or both of which travel in my camera bag during short and long trips. These have proved satisfactory, but I need some practical way of storing my remaining stock of cards.  Currently I use plastic boxes that hold nine cards in a foam insert, but the action of opening the box usually causes several of the cards to spring out of the foam cavities and land on the floor.

 

 

Look on Amazon for these. They work very well.

 

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[roydonian]

Thanks for that suggestion, jdlaing. I finally tracked these down on Amazon, but unfortunately this product is shipped from the USA, and Amazon US will only accept an order for a single set of two boxes. Orders for two sets are declined. Unfortunately, I have more than 24 cards to store.

Over the last four decades I've bought storage boxes for 5.25 inch diskettes, boxes for multiple 3.5in diskettes, boxes for multiple ZIP & Jaz drives, and boxes able to store large numbers of CD/DVD disks, so I expected to be able to do the same for SD cards. Searching on the internet has turned up lots of card wallets, boxes able to hold small numbers of SD cards, boxes for Micro SD cards, and boxes designed to accept a combination of CF, SD, or Micro-SD cards. I can't help wondering how my fellow European photographers store significant numbers of SD cards, but your reply has been the only response to my original question.

 

[jdlaing]

14 minutes ago, roydonian said:

Thanks for that suggestion, jdlaing. I finally tracked these down on Amazon, but unfortunately this product is shipped from the USA, and Amazon US will only accept an order for a single set of two boxes. Orders for two sets are declined. Unfortunately, I have more than 24 cards to store.

Over the last four decades I've bought storage boxes for 5.25 inch diskettes, boxes for multiple 3.5in diskettes, boxes for multiple ZIP & Jaz drives, and boxes able to store large numbers of CD/DVD disks, so I expected to be able to do the same for SD cards. Searching on the internet has turned up lots of card wallets, boxes able to hold small numbers of SD cards, boxes for Micro SD cards, and boxes designed to accept a combination of CF, SD, or Micro-SD cards. I can't help wondering how my fellow European photographers store significant numbers of SD cards, but your reply has been the only response to my original question.

 

 

How many cards do you need to store?

[roydonian]

When I bought my M9-P I realised that the future availability of 4Gb cards (the equivalent of four 36 exposure cassettes, and good for about a day's shooting) was questionable, so I bought 24 - enough to cope with a three-week holiday.  It also seemed to me that many of the people who were reporting SD card problems with the M9 were using cards bigger than 4Gb.

So I need to store those 24, plus several 4Gb Lexar and SanDisk cards that I use for odd jobs such as quick lens tests, as well as several 2Gb cards for my Digilux 2. Given that I now use an M-D, I may get a few 32Gb cards and keep these formatted but not in use so that I can take them as a solution should I ever find myself on holiday but having forgotten to reformat my 4Gb cards prior to departure.  So that will make about 30 cards in total.

[jdlaing]

2 hours ago, roydonian said:

When I bought my M9-P I realised that the future availability of 4Gb cards (the equivalent of four 36 exposure cassettes, and good for about a day's shooting) was questionable, so I bought 24 - enough to cope with a three-week holiday.  It also seemed to me that many of the people who were reporting SD card problems with the M9 were using cards bigger than 4Gb.

So I need to store those 24, plus several 4Gb Lexar and SanDisk cards that I use for odd jobs such as quick lens tests, as well as several 2Gb cards for my Digilux 2. Given that I now use an M-D, I may get a few 32Gb cards and keep these formatted but not in use so that I can take them as a solution should I ever find myself on holiday but having forgotten to reformat my 4Gb cards prior to departure.  So that will make about 30 cards in total.

PM sent.

[Exodies]

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That seems slightly eccentric but why not. The reason there aren’t many options for your way of working is that everybody else will use two 64GB cards and offload them to a portable disk every evening. Reformatting in camera ready for tomorrow.

[roydonian]

I've probably been 'slightly eccentric' for most of my life! But my way of working with memory cards owes its origins to my earlier career as an engineer. Having worked in the design team for a satellite launch vehicle,  I learned the engineer's maxim that "If it can go wrong, it will go wrong, and in the worst possible way and at the worst possible moment." Offloading all one's imagery onto a single portable disk seems to me to be tempting the fickle finger of fate by creating a potential single-point failure. Using one card per day limits the data loss in the unlikely but possible event of a card failure. My engineer's conservatism caused me to opt for using one SD card per day, and to choose a lesser-known brand (Samsung) that was less likely to be faked. Although I had card problems in the days when I used a Nikon DSLR, I've had no image losses when using the M8.2, M9-P, and M-D.

Since I use an M-D, "reformatting in camera" is in theory not an option. But what this "bear of very little brain" has now realised is when travelling I will always have the M9-P with me as a backup camera, so would  be able to format cards if necessary.  So this removes the need for my planned purchase of several 32Gb cards that could each hold the results of 8 days of shooting if I'd gone off on holiday without remembering to format my 4Gb cards. If I now accept that in practice my Sandisk and Lexar 4Gb cards are usually lying to hand on my desk (albeit in individual single-card boxes), and that my days as a Digilux 2 toting journalist are probably over, then the 24-disk solution suggested by jdlaing will be enough to house my current stock of 4Gb cards.

 

[TomB_tx]

I've never reformatted an SD for any of my cameras. Just use LR to import files, then use Windows to delete image files on the. Never had an SD card problem. I wonder if most of the people who report issues use Apple Mac systems.

[jdlaing]

Keep an eye on your mail.

[jaapv]

On 2/20/2020 at 4:09 PM, roydonian said:

I've probably been 'slightly eccentric' for most of my life! But my way of working with memory cards owes its origins to my earlier career as an engineer. Having worked in the design team for a satellite launch vehicle,  I learned the engineer's maxim that "If it can go wrong, it will go wrong, and in the worst possible way and at the worst possible moment." Offloading all one's imagery onto a single portable disk seems to me to be tempting the fickle finger of fate by creating a potential single-point failure. Using one card per day limits the data loss in the unlikely but possible event of a card failure. My engineer's conservatism caused me to opt for using one SD card per day, and to choose a lesser-known brand (Samsung) that was less likely to be faked. Although I had card problems in the days when I used a Nikon DSLR, I've had no image losses when using the M8.2, M9-P, and M-D.

Since I use an M-D, "reformatting in camera" is in theory not an option. But what this "bear of very little brain" has now realised is when travelling I will always have the M9-P with me as a backup camera, so would  be able to format cards if necessary.  So this removes the need for my planned purchase of several 32Gb cards that could each hold the results of 8 days of shooting if I'd gone off on holiday without remembering to format my 4Gb cards. If I now accept that in practice my Sandisk and Lexar 4Gb cards are usually lying to hand on my desk (albeit in individual single-card boxes), and that my days as a Digilux 2 toting journalist are probably over, then the 24-disk solution suggested by jdlaing will be enough to house my current stock of 4Gb cards.

 

 

Reformatting a card in another camera type is a potential source of error. I have had crashed cards/cameras for doing this between M8 and DMR and M9 and X1. I have not had the problem since, because I will never do so again. The most secure way of reformatting cards is using SdFormatter in your computer - this is the official manufacturer's app- or , if possible, in the camera you are going  to use them in. 

[adan]

I might note the Elephant 26-card case for SDs:

https://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-Dust-Proof-Professional-Protective-ELSD-26BB/dp/B06WW4ZXGV/ref=asc_df_B06WW4ZXGV/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312760964359&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9569168164783722376&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9028781&hvtargid=pla-595599990873&psc=1

I guess it depends on whether you are looking for long-term (archived) storage, or in-use storage. Seems like something for long-term could be whomped up from coin (business-card-sized) envelopes and 100-color-slide storage boxes (back in the day, stiff plastic or metal; today, fiber-board).

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/916046-REG/print_file_295_0100_sb1122_metal_edge_slide_box.html/?ap=y&ap=y&smp=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3qnh48r45wIVUPDACh3lZQcNEAQYASABEgLhFvD_BwE

Thinking outside the box  (hah!) - the pages sold for holding color slides, especially the heavier-gauge, stiffer, types. Or for stamp collections.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/42997-REG/Print_File_PF2X220HB25_Archival_Storage_Page_for.html/?ap=y&ap=y&smp=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgtLd1Mv45wIViLzACh31Ig0wEAQYASABEgIWHPD_BwE

 

[tobey bilek]

On 2/19/2020 at 1:46 PM, roydonian said:

Thanks for that suggestion, jdlaing. I finally tracked these down on Amazon, but unfortunately this product is shipped from the USA, and Amazon US will only accept an order for a single set of two boxes. Orders for two sets are declined. Unfortunately, I have more than 24 cards to store.

Over the last four decades I've bought storage boxes for 5.25 inch diskettes, boxes for multiple 3.5in diskettes, boxes for multiple ZIP & Jaz drives, and boxes able to store large numbers of CD/DVD disks, so I expected to be able to do the same for SD cards. Searching on the internet has turned up lots of card wallets, boxes able to hold small numbers of SD cards, boxes for Micro SD cards, and boxes designed to accept a combination of CF, SD, or Micro-SD cards. I can't help wondering how my fellow European photographers store significant numbers of SD cards, but your reply has been the only response to my original question.

 

 

Place two order weeks apart.  Have a friend order some.