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How long do memory cards last?
#1

I'm wondering how long memory cards last, and whether pro photographers (or ones that shoot a lot) have problems with corruption, defective cards, and the like. Like all electronics, I'm sure they all break down after a while, but when?

If you're a wedding photographer, losing a 2G card of wedding photos would be nothing short of disastrous.

Is this a concern for you? What steps do you take to minimise loss and protect your data?

e.g. regularly using a number of small cards so you don't lose all your work in one hit (as Irma suggested)
transferring photos to a photo storage device regularly throughout the day (what if that fails?)
tossing out cards after a specified period of time and buying new ones

I'd be interested to see how much of a concern this is to everyone, and what strategies they use...
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#2

My first card I bought for my first Digital camera back in 1998 was a 32mb sandisk. If I remember correctly it was guaranteed for 1 million read/write actions.

That card is still going strong nearly 9 years later.
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#3

As the prices drop consistently, I buy new ones that are bigger every Christmas.
My old ones become backups and get used less.

The main strategies for keeping them healthy is being careful:
Don't drop them.
Keep them in a rubber-lined case designed for them--water and shock-resistant.
Ground yourself if you have to touch one on a day with low humidity/high static electicity.
Never delete anything in the field or on the computer--only delete after uploading, and only by formatting in-camera. The file structure can be corrupted by deleting photos in-camera, although this is less of a problem than it used to be.
Keep them cool and dry.

I've had one static electricity-related failure, and since then I did my research and learned the above tips.
No problems anymore. They should last longer than my camera--no moving parts!
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#4

Good tips, Keith, thanks!

In the pro bodies, they should come out with a feature to write to 2 cards at once (mirroring) so that if one dies, the data is still on the other one... Big Grin
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#5

ST, doesn't the cannon 1D do that? I heard you could set it that way.

I was surprised to read a prediction a while ago that SD cards would be the most popular / most used in the futur,
compared to CF cards they seem so flimsy. You can accidentaly bend and thus damage them, whereas a CF card pretty much survives a car running over it....
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#6

Check out this site to recover your files from a memory card.
http://www.datarescue.com
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