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Do SD cards wear out?


ashapiro

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I have been shooting with an M8 since shortly after it came out and I have been using the same two 2-gig cards that I keep formatting. I noticed today that at least five shots were not recorded. One gap was four shots long. Is this a problem with the camera or with the SD card?

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I have been shooting with an M8 since shortly after it came out and I have been using the same two 2-gig cards that I keep formatting. I noticed today that at least five shots were not recorded. One gap was four shots long. Is this a problem with the camera or with the SD card?

 

I've had an SD card wear out, but the symptom was weird camera behavior and corrupted files, not "silently" missing shots.

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Electrical current passing through the SD card's contacts can cause 'frying' over time, which could deposit a thin film onto the contacts and may need removing. Take a clean pencil rubber (eraser), rub it on the SD card's contacts and blow or wipe away any bits with a microfibre cloth.

 

If you also want to clean the contacts inside the camera, cut a piece of latex from a thin latex glove to fit the width of the SD card but more than twice its length. Fold the latex over end with the contacts of an SD card so that you can grip both ends of the latex round the SD card and gently insert the SD card and latex into the slot a few times. Only insert it far enough to touch the contacts inside the camera but not far enough that the card latch engages.

 

HTH,

Pete.

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Flash memory does 'wear out'. but it takes tens of thousands of 'rewrites' to do it. A rewrite would be a complete filling and reformatting of the card. You will not live long enough to do that.

 

A more likely cause is directory corruption caused by updating the card on a computer and not reformatting every time in the camera.

 

Regards ... Harold

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These cards can wear out physically as well as electronically. But as mentioned, it would take a long, long time. The one thing (besides obvious physical trauma) that might trash your card instantly is static. Never touch the contacts and keep them in a case when not in your camera/reader. In ten years, I've yet to experience a single issue with either CF or SD cards... (knocks on wood) I even have a 1GB IBM MicroDrive that's still going strong!

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As with any memory of this type, repeated writes do limit the lifetime of the chip. USB key drives are a perfect example, often I give one 6 months before it becomes a volatile piece of kit that cannot be trusted for critical information.

 

the good thing is that they are cheap, so rather keep a load of new ones around than rely on one big fat one

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