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Is card life indefinite?
Dec 2, 2012 20:20:31 #
Reading a recent post about whether it's safe to delete images "on the run" led me to wonder about the life of memory cards. Do they last indefinitely, or will they, like people, inevitably die one day? Since cards are now relatively inexpensive, and with prices consistently heading south, is there an argument for simply replacing cards on a regular basis. I have been using the same four (Sandisk) cards for about three years. I don't delete in-camera, but I do delete after downloading and backing-up, and I don't reformat. Touch wood, I've never had a problem, but would replacing cards regularly be a kind of insurance?
Dec 2, 2012 21:43:45 #
Dale Fiorillo
Loc: Seattle
All flash memory has a finite number of cycles. I am sure the members have their favorite way to monitor a failing card. Somewhere I read of shooting a long video, then replaying on a big monitor to look for artifacts. Same reason for not de-fragging a ssd.
Dec 2, 2012 22:34:22 #
Everything has a life expectancy. When it comes to SD cards and the like, it is measured in number of writes (aka write cycles).
The logical reason for formatting rather than deleting shots singly is that when you format a card you delete lots of files in one write operation.
Deleting 100 shots singly is 99 more write operations than 1 format.
Some may wonder: How am I writing if I am erasing?
The answer in short: You are writing to the table of contents that the space is available on the device.
I still wouldn't worry about it too much, these days you get a lot more write cycles than you used to. About 100,000 or so and the electronics inside the SD card is designed to even out the wear and tear.
The logical reason for formatting rather than deleting shots singly is that when you format a card you delete lots of files in one write operation.
Deleting 100 shots singly is 99 more write operations than 1 format.
Some may wonder: How am I writing if I am erasing?
The answer in short: You are writing to the table of contents that the space is available on the device.
I still wouldn't worry about it too much, these days you get a lot more write cycles than you used to. About 100,000 or so and the electronics inside the SD card is designed to even out the wear and tear.
Dec 3, 2012 00:22:45 #
Dec 3, 2012 00:42:36 #
jimward wrote:
Reading a recent post about whether it's safe to d... (show quote)
Indefinite but not infinite. I had a 16GB one die on me a couple of months ago. It's my first.
It isn't a good idea to replace them hoping to avoid failures. The nature of failures is that most occur early in life. You'll likely increase your chances of failure.
Then wear out occurs late in life. As soon as one starts acting up I'd get rid of it.
Dec 3, 2012 09:07:07 #
I fully agree with MtnMan.
As already said, life cycle is up to about 100,000 cycles, and you will take a long time to reach this in photography. So, if it works without glitches, don't worry. If you have reached 20,000 or so shots on one card, then maybe it is worth replacing it. However, if you take this many pictures, you probably have a few cards.
Similar memory is used in computer SSD drives (Solid State Disc) and also in memory sticks which can be used under Windows in the computer USB port as extra memory. Both uses will have far more read/write cycles than a camera.
As already said, life cycle is up to about 100,000 cycles, and you will take a long time to reach this in photography. So, if it works without glitches, don't worry. If you have reached 20,000 or so shots on one card, then maybe it is worth replacing it. However, if you take this many pictures, you probably have a few cards.
Similar memory is used in computer SSD drives (Solid State Disc) and also in memory sticks which can be used under Windows in the computer USB port as extra memory. Both uses will have far more read/write cycles than a camera.
Dec 5, 2012 18:57:17 #
Hello Jim
I will say this if youre buying any CF or SDHC buy a good brand name something like SanDisk, Delkin cards and so on because it does matter class 10 if it will work in your camera or if CF cards look for UDMA 6 or 7 rating.
I will say this if youre buying any CF or SDHC buy a good brand name something like SanDisk, Delkin cards and so on because it does matter class 10 if it will work in your camera or if CF cards look for UDMA 6 or 7 rating.
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Dec 5, 2012 19:33:11 #
Thanks, RichardSM. Yep, I use Sandisk and, touch wood, have never had a problem. (That should fix it!). As a matter of interest I favour the smaller disks - 4Gb and 8GB - because I do a fair bit of location work on mines in the Australian outback, and I'm always nervous about putting two days hard work on one large disk in case of disk failure.
Maybe I'm getting a bit neurotic about this whole disk quality thing.....
Maybe I'm getting a bit neurotic about this whole disk quality thing.....
Dec 5, 2012 20:26:18 #
Dec 6, 2012 10:50:27 #
jimward wrote:
Thanks, RichardSM. Yep, I use Sandisk and, touch wood, have never had a problem. (That should fix it!). As a matter of interest I favour the smaller disks - 4Gb and 8GB - because I do a fair bit of location work on mines in the Australian outback, and I'm always nervous about putting two days hard work on one large disk in case of disk failure.
Maybe I'm getting a bit neurotic about this whole disk quality thing.....
Maybe I'm getting a bit neurotic about this whole disk quality thing.....
Jim yes its a wise choice using 4-8GB cards. I do have one 16GB SDHC that I have been trying out in the 7D Canon I purchased from B&H its an CF to SD adapter card so far it does work fine I have not seen any slow down it sure does save me some money as we all know CF cards expensive.
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