cmcaroffino Loc: Sebring, FL

I am curious when or if you change the SD storage card. Do you change to a new card after a period of time say a year or 2, after a specific number of shots on the card example 100,000, or do you use a card till it fails. I have never had a card fail but I am not a high volume shooter but I read that some photographers only use a card for a period of time then exchange for a new one. Just wondering what your thoughts are.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I'll go first with my thoughts..... I'll use mine until there is the slightest indication of trouble. They have an incredibly low failure rate!

Tomcat5133 Loc: Gladwyne PA

I have about 25 cards. Switched to Transcend due to Philip Bloom's recommendation.
Never had a card fail. So of these cards are 3 4 years old. I dont do hundreds of shots
so that could be an issue. Very careful to initialize card when put in camera. Never use
cards with partial use accross different cameras. Use these cards for stills and video.
The only time I had a problem my Nikon D800 rejected cards.
They fixed problem. My Sony's now no problem.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Been using some for ten years...
No failures, faults, or hiccups yet.
(I don't replace my headlights or other things before they quit,
but I carry spares.)

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

I have about 30 sd cards (not including micro cards and Compact Flash cards) that are varying sizes.. I started with 16k cards and went up as camera technology improved to 128gb cards. I have only had 2 card failures and they were the very early 16k cards. I use my small cards to save camera setups on (My Nikon Cameras will allow you to backup all of your settings to an SD card so I do this and keep one in the house and a second in my camera bag). My D7100 has two 128 gb cards in it and I carry 4 extras... my wife's D7000 has two 64 gb cards in hers with two backups. These cards are two years old and have yet to fail. All are the fastest that the manual says that the cameras can use. This allows for fast repeat times and helps keep the camera buffer from filling.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

I have used them for 6+ years in my Canon DSLR's, G9 & now in my Sony RX10 IV. Never had an issue. I reformat in the camera when I want to reset the card. They probably are not, but it seems they are almost indestructible. I have accidently had them washed, left in my pockets for weeks and other careless incidents, but without any deterioration to the operation of the cards.
Mark

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

I failed to mention that the Compact (Compac?) Flash cards that I had for my Nikon D70s were nothing but trouble.. bent pins in the camera, failing cards, etc. But these were cards from the Nikon D70s era and a lot has changed in card capacity and dependability. As I said in my other post... my SD cards have all functioned well... I've only had one small card that failed and it wouldn't format so there was no lost data.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Memory card life is measured by the number of times that a location has been written to, not calendar days or years. I have several cards that still function fine after several years. You will hear several recommendations here around differing usage plans and handling plans that have given good results to a number of different folks. My suggestion is to remember that these are internally very compact and complex designs that do best with careful handling and treatment. Keep in mind that a 128 GB memory card, when full, is holding just over one trillion bits of your information. A 256 GB card holds just over 2 trillion bits of your images and videos. Imagine the idea of that much data being stored in something the size of an SD card. Failure of one bit can cost an image or video file, and if it is in just right spot, it can possibly (but perhaps not likely) cost the function of the entire card.

It is fortunate, as pointed out above, that memory devices are very reliable, so we don't have to go through life with anxiety over possible failure, but it is good to be aware that failure is possible, and it is important to have a usage plan that minimizes the effects of wear, because these cards are born to enter a life during which they are continuously wearing out.

Here are some guidelines that have been proven to help:

1. Don't continually write to a small portion of a large memory card...don't continually fill it partway and Move the files to your computer. This results in an inflated number of write cycles to a small number of memory locations, including those that contain the directory and file structure information.

2. Periodically Copy images from your memory card to the receiving location on your computer, but allow those images to remain on the card until it gets somewhere near 80 or 90 percent full. This spreads storage across the physical locations in the device and prevents write cycles from accumulating in one area. If you find that doing this causes you to be holding the initial images on the card for long periods of time, consider buying and using a few smaller cards instead.

3. Reformat the memory card in the camera after that final download.

4. Periodically (probably every 6 or 8 downloads) do a long-form format of the memory card in your computer. The long format includes physically writing to every location on tn the card, then reading that location back and verifying that the write was good. If a location has become bad, the system will map around it and instruct that it not be used, which avoids a later problem with a corrupted file being unreadable or making the memory unusable. Be sure to format the card in the camera before using it. And yes, the long format involves a write cycle, but it is a constructive one.

5. As an alternative to number 4, you can also do a memory diagnostic in your computer periodically. This will accomplish much the same purpose as doing a long format. I don't like this alternative as much now as in the past, because the disk diagnostic function doesn't seem to be as transparent to me as it was in earlier versions of Windows. Don't overdo, though, because the diagnostic also involves a write cycle.

I realize that this all sounds like a big headache, but if you think about it, our memory cards are our lifeblood. As such, it is reasonable to treat them with care and stay as aware as possible of their condition. Don't obsess, just be mindful.

cmcaroffino Loc: Sebring, FL

Good information I had never heard before. I like your idea of using smaller cards since I don't usually take a lot of pictures before downloading to my computer and formatting the card. Think I will use smaller cards for my daily use and save the larger cards for when I will be taking a lot of pictures like vacation or events.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

If I see any write errors when shooting I replace immediately. I also reformat in camera just to confirm everything is rickty-tick with the memory.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I don't use them enough to worry about that, I just use them...
(Less to worry about. )
Maybe that's why 8s and 16s work out well for me.

rydabyk Loc: Florida Panhandle

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I have been using the same 64gb SD card and 64gb CF card in my Canon 7D Mark II since I bought the camera in the spring of 2015, and have no intention of replacing either until they start to act up. Since I shoot raw exclusively each card serves as a redundant backup for the other. The chance of both of them failing at the same time and losing shots is very small.

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

These are flash memory cards ... their useful lifetime is dictated by the number of write cycles (which is in the 1000s of write/erase/format cycles) not number of years...however data integrity is dependent on time....that is a file stored on the card may not experience a bit error for years but they are not intended for long term storage but neither are hard drives...tape has the best long term archival integrity (LTO).

The cards should be formatted IN THE CAMERA only after every workflow cycle ie., after the images are offloaded onto working storage and backup, just before the next shoot.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts