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Durability sd card

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reiles
 
Posts: 3

Durability sd card

Post Wed Oct 28, 2009 4:33 pm


What is the durabilty of a sd (extreme III) card under normal use. I am using a 8 gb card for years now without problems and did a lot of deleting and formatting. Can it be used endlessly? Or would it be better to renew it before problems could arise. Which problems? And, is it preferred to delete images or to format the disk after it is full. How many times can a sd card be formatted without losing quality? How could it be seen that quality is losing?
Thanks :D
Last edited by reiles on Thu Oct 29, 2009 3:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.

dougj
 
Posts: 2276

Re: Durability sd card

Post Wed Oct 28, 2009 11:37 pm


SanDisk provides a lifetime warranty for the Extreme III under normal use conditions. The memory controller in cards use wear leveling techniques to eliminate constant read/write operations in the same sectors, the result is a life expectancy in the million(s) of hours of use and is not caused by wearing out memory locations. Cards will still fail for a variety of reasons, but wear is pretty much out of the equation. I think the warranty pretty much sums up what we can expect.

The file system used in cameras *may* be different from the file system used in your camera, SanDisk recommends formating a memory card in the camera to ensure compatibility with the camera, this is more important with older cameras. Opinions vary on this point, but I've routinely formatted cards in cameras for years to minimize the potential for problems. Deleting photos from a card is OK, but I suggest you download your photos to your computer frequently and don't wait until the card fills up, and then format it in the camera.

The SanDisk website has some good information and their community forums have some Q&A that might be helpful.

One final point, if looking for new storage media, there are a lot of imitations on the market. The major manufacturers, like SanDisk, are the targets for cheap, junk copies. The eBay forums have information on imitations, one thread claims that up to 95% of the major brand cards on eBay are imitations. Although we may not buy these via eBay, it tells us something about the extent of the problem and the imitations show up in many other places.

reiles
 
Posts: 3

Re: Durability sd card

Post Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:38 am


dougj wrote:SanDisk provides a lifetime warranty for the Extreme III under normal use conditions. The memory controller in cards use wear leveling techniques to eliminate constant read/write operations in the same sectors, the result is a life expectancy in the million(s) of hours of use and is not caused by wearing out memory locations. Cards will still fail for a variety of reasons, but wear is pretty much out of the equation. I think the warranty pretty much sums up what we can expect.

The file system used in cameras *may* be different from the file system used in your camera, SanDisk recommends formating a memory card in the camera to ensure compatibility with the camera, this is more important with older cameras. Opinions vary on this point, but I've routinely formatted cards in cameras for years to minimize the potential for problems. Deleting photos from a card is OK, but I suggest you download your photos to your computer frequently and don't wait until the card fills up, and then format it in the camera.

The SanDisk website has some good information and their community forums have some Q&A that might be helpful.

One final point, if looking for new storage media, there are a lot of imitations on the market. The major manufacturers, like SanDisk, are the targets for cheap, junk copies. The eBay forums have information on imitations, one thread claims that up to 95% of the major brand cards on eBay are imitations. Although we may not buy these via eBay, it tells us something about the extent of the problem and the imitations show up in many other places.


Very clear, thank you!

halesr
 
Posts: 664

Re: Durability sd card

Post Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:15 pm


There are suggestions that improve the life of you cards. I have been following some from Sante Fe workshop and other than the one I dropped in the creek have had no problems.

Editing and Deleting Images
When you are in the field, it is tempting to delete or edit images to free up space on your memory card. However, it is often difficult to tell what the true quality of an image is by simply reviewing it on your camera’s tiny LCD screen. So deleting images from the card in the field to make room may not be the best solution unless it is an aesthetic choice.


Check out tips from Jerry Courvoisier. Look for the care of memory cards. I have been using these tip for 3 years and have had not memory card problems.

http://www.jerrycourvoisier.com/category/workflow/

HTH--Rene


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