Memory Card Fail

[Kwazy]

Has anyone ever had a memory card of any kind fail catastrophically?
I've only had a micro-SD card fail once, and was still able to read all the data off of it, just couldn't write to it anymore; so really it wasn't all that bad.

I'm just trying to identify the likelihood of losing data on a card completely, and if it's worth writing to two cards simultaneously if I'm shooting something I can't ever repeat.

 

[tpatana]

I've never had a failure but for very important items I record on two cards. Usually RAW on CF Express and Jpeg on SD.

 

[Grahamk]

I’ve not had a failure since starting digital with the 20D.

 

[koenkooi]

Has anyone ever had a memory card of any kind fail catastrophically?
I've only had a micro-SD card fail once, and was still able to read all the data off of it, just couldn't write to it anymore; so really it wasn't all that bad.

I'm just trying to identify the likelihood of losing data on a card completely, and if it's worth writing to two cards simultaneously if I'm shooting something I can't ever repeat.

At a previous job we had products that used SD and micro-SD as their main storage for their operating system and data. We quickly discovered that sudden power loss would kill the cards after a handful of times. After that we noticed that the card would detect what kind of filesystem was being used and optimize for it. Anything besides VFAT would kill the card after a few months, the firmware on the card wouldn't spread out the erasure cycles.

And these were cards we bought straight from Kingston in bulk! Sandisk cards were a lot more reliable, but those also didn't like sudden power loss.

With SD cards I've personally had over a hundred fail, but only once had I one fail that I used for photos. Almost all of the non-catastrophic failures for photo cards are about the casing: the tiny ribs between the contacts break easily. I've switch to Sony Tough for SD cards a few years ago and have had zero issues.

I also like that I don't have to bend back CF pins in my 7D anymore

 

[copperswede#2]

Has anyone ever had a memory card of any kind fail catastrophically?
I've only had a micro-SD card fail once, and was still able to read all the data off of it, just couldn't write to it anymore; so really it wasn't all that bad.

I'm just trying to identify the likelihood of losing data on a card completely, and if it's worth writing to two cards simultaneously if I'm shooting something I can't ever repeat.

I had a card that the camera could not read , the camera is an m5. However had a card reader that could download the photos to my computer. The card is an SanDisk 32GB 60mb/s SD card.

 

[Kwazy]

Interesting responses here. Keep them coming!
So far it looks like nobody's actually lost any photos due to a card failing.

 

[MikeZ]

I've never had a failure since switching to digital some 15 years ago.

 

[Copterdoc]

Has anyone ever had a memory card of any kind fail catastrophically?
I've only had a micro-SD card fail once, and was still able to read all the data off of it, just couldn't write to it anymore; so really it wasn't all that bad.

I'm just trying to identify the likelihood of losing data on a card completely, and if it's worth writing to two cards simultaneously if I'm shooting something I can't ever repeat.

I think that the issue is one of cost. If you are getting paid for these photos or you value them highly, then shooting two cards is worth the expense. If not, then do as I suspect the vast majority of shooters do and shoot to a reliable brand media and accept the risk. If you are a paid shooter, then there may very well be a liability issue that would necessitate the additional expense. JMHO

 

[MikeZ]

I have to agree with the above comments, especially based upon my own experience of never having a card fail (I hope that I haven't jinxed myself). But I think it might behoove us all to replace these cards on some periodic basis as a preventative measure, or perhaps run some disk maintenance software on our existing cards to determine their health. SanDisk used to provide a link along with the packaged memory card to just such an app on their web site. Hard disk/RAM/USB memory sticks and our beloved memory cards do have a measured or extrapolated life and we need to prepare ourselves for that terminus to avoid a catastrophic failure. Sadly, what that life span is I don't know.

 

[copperswede#2]

I had a card that the camera could not read , the camera is an m5. However had a card reader that could download the photos to my computer. The card is an SanDisk 32GB 60mb/s SD card.

Forgot to mention the card was brand new!

 

[Bryan Conner]

I have had only one memory card failure, and it was just last year with a Lexar uhs-ii card. The failure was that the plastic body split open. The card still worked but I was afraid to continue inserting it into my camera. The little thin strips of plastic between the contacts might have damaged something in the body. Didn't want to risk trying to super glue it etc.

But as far as a read/write issue, the only issue I ever had was in the late 1990's/early 2000's when a Hitachi Micro-drive started making strange noises and getting hotter than normal to the touch and read/write speeds slowed down...but it was as slow as cold molasses on a flat plate anyway, but I didn't know that at the time.

 

[RandyHanner]

I have not had any issues with cards at all. This is from using Canon 7D, 7D mk ii, R5,R6, 1DX mkiii and R5. I have shot approximately 300,000 images between these cameras in the last 3 years.

 

[dmanthree]

The only issue I had was with a card that wasn't fully compatible with a specific camera. But I've never had a card failure.

 

[mimigamez]

I’ve had two fail. One happened after I did a format to begin a session with a clear card. It wouldn’t write to it after the format. The other shows no data on the camera but says it is full. I have it in a ziplock bag waiting for me to check on it. Maybe today

 

[Dwardski]

I've only ever had one card fail, and that was a "high-capcity" (for the time!) 2Gb CF card. It wasn't a solid-state drive; rather, it was a tiny hard drive in a CF case. It lasted about a month before dying. It was replaced under warranty, but the replacement failed after a few months. I eventually got my money back and used it to buy several lower-capacity solid-state cards. Never had a failure of one of those, touch wood...

 

[SO8]

My ex wife is a pro shooter but between us we have only had one card fail - a Sandisk since going digital with Canon 10D's then 1D II and 1DsII onwards through 5D's to R5. Most of the images were recovered.

It was a decent spec card at the time but a while back.

She uses Delkin or Integral cards now. I just have 2 64 GB Integral and a Sony CFexpress. Since the Sandisk failed I have avoided them. I have had issues with the make in other minor stuff like dash cams and cba to use them any more.