Mysterious SD Card Problem

Hi,

I have a mysterious (to me) problem with an SD card, SanDisk UltraII
Plus, used in my Canon SD 800 IS. In 10 years of SanDisk cards, I never
had a problem before. Anyhow, I have 49 images on the card. Inasmuch as
some of them are important, I copied them onto my PC hard drive, and
then burned a CD-R backup, and printed index thumb prints. That all went
smoothly. Then, when I put the SD card back into the camera, I got a "no
image" message on the LCD screen. I tried several times, removing and
re-inserting the card, with the same results. The card was not locked. I
tried the card in another camera, a Canon SD 550, and also got a "no
image" message. The strange thing is, when I now re-inserted the card
into my HP printer, all the images came up on its screen. I then tried
other used cards in the SD 800 camera, and they all worked well.Even
when the cameras said no image with the bad card, the total number of
remaining images was that of 49 images on the card and the rest blank,
so the images are there somewhere on the card.

Understandably, I will not use the bad card any more, not trusting it. I
just wonder why it works in my printer, but not in my cameras. Thank
goodness, that the problem occurred just after I backed it up.

Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks.

Morton

On Thu, 17 May 2007 20:50:24 -0400, Morton wrote:


Understandably, I will not use the bad card any more, not trusting it. I
just wonder why it works in my printer, but not in my cameras. Thank
goodness, that the problem occurred just after I backed it up.

reformat it in the camera. if that doesn't cure it then chuck it.

In the future, make sure you always "stop" it before removing it from a
computer where you've done any writing or deleting. If the camera has an
indication when the card is still active, always wait for the card to be
inactive before removing it.

AZ Nomad wrote:
On Thu, 17 May 2007 20:50:24 -0400, Morton wrote:


Understandably, I will not use the bad card any more, not trusting it. I
just wonder why it works in my printer, but not in my cameras. Thank
goodness, that the problem occurred just after I backed it up.

reformat it in the camera. if that doesn't cure it then chuck it.

In the future, make sure you always "stop" it before removing it from a
computer where you've done any writing or deleting. If the camera has an
indication when the card is still active, always wait for the card to be
inactive before removing it.

Hi Nomad,

Thanks for the advice. I always wait until either the blinking light is
continuous, or until the power is off on the device, before removing the
card from any device. I know that reformatting will delete all the
images on the card, which is OK inasmuch as I have the double backup.
The problem is one of trust. I do not trust the card for future use,
especially on trips or at important occasions. I'll never know whether
or not it is going to work.

Again, thanks for your reply.

Morton

On Thu, 17 May 2007 21:18:55 -0400, Morton wrote:


AZ Nomad wrote:
On Thu, 17 May 2007 20:50:24 -0400, Morton wrote:


Understandably, I will not use the bad card any more, not trusting it. I
just wonder why it works in my printer, but not in my cameras. Thank
goodness, that the problem occurred just after I backed it up.

reformat it in the camera. if that doesn't cure it then chuck it.

In the future, make sure you always "stop" it before removing it from a
computer where you've done any writing or deleting. If the camera has an
indication when the card is still active, always wait for the card to be
inactive before removing it.

Hi Nomad,

Thanks for the advice. I always wait until either the blinking light is
continuous, or until the power is off on the device, before removing the
card from any device. I know that reformatting will delete all the
images on the card, which is OK inasmuch as I have the double backup.
The problem is one of trust. I do not trust the card for future use,
especially on trips or at important occasions. I'll never know whether
or not it is going to work.

If it doesn't screw up in the next 20-50 photos, it probably won't screw up
again. Maybe replace it anyway.

AZ Nomad wrote:
On Thu, 17 May 2007 21:18:55 -0400, Morton wrote:


AZ Nomad wrote:
On Thu, 17 May 2007 20:50:24 -0400, Morton wrote:


Understandably, I will not use the bad card any more, not trusting it. I
just wonder why it works in my printer, but not in my cameras. Thank
goodness, that the problem occurred just after I backed it up.
reformat it in the camera. if that doesn't cure it then chuck it.

In the future, make sure you always "stop" it before removing it from a
computer where you've done any writing or deleting. If the camera has an
indication when the card is still active, always wait for the card to be
inactive before removing it.

Hi Nomad,

Thanks for the advice. I always wait until either the blinking light is
continuous, or until the power is off on the device, before removing the
card from any device. I know that reformatting will delete all the
images on the card, which is OK inasmuch as I have the double backup.
The problem is one of trust. I do not trust the card for future use,
especially on trips or at important occasions. I'll never know whether
or not it is going to work.

If it doesn't screw up in the next 20-50 photos, it probably won't screw up
again. Maybe replace it anyway.

Yes, it is not worth the worry and insecurity, especially now that a 1GB
card is only about $20.- each. When they cost close to $100.-, then it
was a big problem. Remember, the most sensitive nerve in the body is the
wallet nerve.

Thanks again.

Morton

Morton wrote:
AZ Nomad wrote:
On Thu, 17 May 2007 20:50:24 -0400, Morton wrote:


Understandably, I will not use the bad card any more, not trusting
it. I just wonder why it works in my printer, but not in my cameras.
Thank goodness, that the problem occurred just after I backed it up.

reformat it in the camera. if that doesn't cure it then chuck it.

In the future, make sure you always "stop" it before removing it from a
computer where you've done any writing or deleting. If the camera has an
indication when the card is still active, always wait for the card to be
inactive before removing it.

Hi Nomad,

Thanks for the advice. I always wait until either the blinking light is
continuous, or until the power is off on the device, before removing the
card from any device. I know that reformatting will delete all the
images on the card, which is OK inasmuch as I have the double backup.
The problem is one of trust. I do not trust the card for future use,
especially on trips or at important occasions. I'll never know whether
or not it is going to work.

Again, thanks for your reply.

Morton

For Windows users there's a handy little utility on the Microsoft
website called sync.exe (ex-SysInternals). This flushes all data from
the system's cache. Always use the 'Safely Remove Hardware' option too
to avoid any problems.

In terms of the card, I'd format it in camera then use it for some
non-important/test shots, to see what happens. I suspect that it will be
OK, but to whether it can be trusted in future is obviously down to you.


Clem

Morton wrote:
Hi,

I have a mysterious (to me) problem with an SD card, SanDisk UltraII
Plus, used in my Canon SD 800 IS. In 10 years of SanDisk cards, I never
had a problem before. Anyhow, I have 49 images on the card. Inasmuch as
some of them are important, I copied them onto my PC hard drive, and
then burned a CD-R backup, and printed index thumb prints. That all went
smoothly. Then, when I put the SD card back into the camera, I got a "no
image" message on the LCD screen. I tried several times, removing and
re-inserting the card, with the same results. The card was not locked. I
tried the card in another camera, a Canon SD 550, and also got a "no
image" message. The strange thing is, when I now re-inserted the card
into my HP printer, all the images came up on its screen. I then tried
other used cards in the SD 800 camera, and they all worked well.Even
when the cameras said no image with the bad card, the total number of
remaining images was that of 49 images on the card and the rest blank,
so the images are there somewhere on the card.

Understandably, I will not use the bad card any more, not trusting it. I
just wonder why it works in my printer, but not in my cameras. Thank
goodness, that the problem occurred just after I backed it up.

Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks.

Morton

It's possible some other needed file on the card was deleted or
currupted. This may bother the camera but not other software which
simply looks for images. If I'm guessing correctly a format should fix
it. Do that, use it a while then try to retrace whatever you did outside
the camera and see if problem repeats.
Dave Cohen

Dave Cohen wrote:
Morton wrote:
Hi,

I have a mysterious (to me) problem with an SD card, SanDisk UltraII
Plus, used in my Canon SD 800 IS. In 10 years of SanDisk cards, I
never had a problem before. Anyhow, I have 49 images on the card.
Inasmuch as some of them are important, I copied them onto my PC hard
drive, and then burned a CD-R backup, and printed index thumb prints.
That all went smoothly. Then, when I put the SD card back into the
camera, I got a "no image" message on the LCD screen. I tried several
times, removing and re-inserting the card, with the same results. The
card was not locked. I tried the card in another camera, a Canon SD
550, and also got a "no image" message. The strange thing is, when I
now re-inserted the card into my HP printer, all the images came up on
its screen. I then tried other used cards in the SD 800 camera, and
they all worked well.Even when the cameras said no image with the bad
card, the total number of remaining images was that of 49 images on
the card and the rest blank, so the images are there somewhere on the
card.

Understandably, I will not use the bad card any more, not trusting it.
I just wonder why it works in my printer, but not in my cameras. Thank
goodness, that the problem occurred just after I backed it up.

Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks.

Morton

It's possible some other needed file on the card was deleted or
currupted. This may bother the camera but not other software which
simply looks for images. If I'm guessing correctly a format should fix
it. Do that, use it a while then try to retrace whatever you did outside
the camera and see if problem repeats.
Dave Cohen

Hi,

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions. I do always follow the "safely
remove" precautions, and I do wait for the blinking activity light to
become steady before removing the SD card from a device. Again, I simply
do not trust that particular card any more.

Morton