lesson learnt on memory card <<advice needed, if any>>

[codling]

Ridata Pro150x 4GB purchased during the early '07 IT fair failed on me while i was in HK.
all my snaps from the Peak and Hollywood road & Central all gone in a flash. 1 week of snaps!! good thing i brought my seagate 4gb photodrive.

was shooting mainly in jpeg throughout HK but while i was away in Macau, decided to switch to jpeg & RAW. after a couple of snaps, main LCD display on my 5D was shown "--E--" and when switched on and off, 5D prompted me to format card. tried to use my notebook to check, prompted for format as well.
didnt see such error before, usually was either blank screen for the first shot and/or Err when that happens.

anyone had this happen before?
currently trying zero assumption recovery software but doesnt seem to be working.

morale of the story: for total reliability and peace of mind, get a more established brand of cards. dont skimp. its painful when such things happen.
and i guess back up, back up and back up when possible.
looks like i m gonna RMA this one (gonna keep this aside and not use it at all) and get either a extremeIII or lexar

[eow]

Originally Posted by codling Ridata Pro150x 4GB purchased during the early '07 IT fair failed on me while i was in HK. all my snaps from the Peak and Hollywood road & Central all gone in a flash. 1 week of snaps!! good thing i brought my seagate 4gb photodrive. was shooting mainly in jpeg throughout HK but while i was away in Macau, decided to switch to jpeg & RAW. after a couple of snaps, main LCD display on my 5D was shown "--E--" and when switched on and off, 5D prompted me to format card. tried to use my notebook to check, prompted for format as well. didnt see such error before, usually was either blank screen for the first shot and/or Err when that happens. anyone had this happen before? currently trying zero assumption recovery software but doesnt seem to be working. morale of the story: for total reliability and peace of mind, get a more established brand of cards. dont skimp. its painful when such things happen. and i guess back up, back up and back up when possible. looks like i m gonna RMA this one (gonna keep this aside and not use it at all) and get either a extremeIII or lexar

go for extreme 3 or even kingston
they are more reliable than the others brand so far as an end user i had nil failure from these two
as far as my experiences goes
i had my transcend failed on me thrice and once from ridata.....

[codling]

kingston? i had the impression theirs not that great as well.
ya, Ridata is a problem. transcend i thought was ok?
which series of the kingston line up?

[eow]

Originally Posted by codling kingston? i had the impression theirs not that great as well. ya, Ridata is a problem. transcend i thought was ok? which series of the kingston line up?

the original version that came with my km 6d as freebie...
while it not that great.....it never failed on me yet.
and oddly it is faster than the 50x speed version.

my transcend is the 8gb version just avoid them.....

[Clem_C]

The same thing happened once on my Sony A100 with Kingston Elite Pro card. But I think it was the camera’s software problem rather than the card‘s. I was fiddling with the camera setting while it was trying to write to the CF card and the camera hang.

That’s why I only use multiple 1GB cards nowadays. It’s better not to put all your eggs in a basket. Changing CF card isn’t that troublesome anyway.

There are professional data recovering services, but I don’t think it will be cheep…

[codling]

Originally Posted by Clem_C The same thing happened once on my Sony A100 with Kingston Elite Pro card. But I think it was the camera’s software problem rather than the card‘s. I was fiddling with the camera setting while it was trying to write to the CF card and the camera hang. That’s why I only use multiple 1GB cards nowadays. It’s better not to put all your eggs in a basket. Changing CF card isn’t that troublesome anyway. There are professional data recovering services, but I don’t think it will be cheep…

the funny thing is, i didnt fiddle while the cam was writing to the card.
i switched to RAW + JPEG and shot a few frames, more than 10 at least.
then while shooting a scene, i stopped briefly to recompose, and it happened.
just like that.

i wanted to get a 2 x 2gb card but i deem to ex for extremeIII. regret-regret!!
so thats how i got the Ridata one. and i thought it was ok cos a couple of CSers were using it. sigh. lexar or sandisk now.

recovery software i m trying at the moment is zero assumption recovery. gonna try 2 others: R studio and PC Inspector's file recovery.

[Galdor]

I share your feeling bro. I week's of images all gone in a flash.

I had been using 1GB & 2GB cards only and so far my Kingston, Lexar and Transcend hasn't failed me. (Touchwood). Perhaps I should just stick to them instead of upgrading to bigger cards. Just gotten another 2GB Transcend card.

[Michael]

my kingston and sandisk are working great, but the transcend does not really like my D70.... would not buy it anymore...

[codling]

Originally Posted by Galdor I had been using 1GB & 2GB cards only and so far my Kingston, Lexar and Transcend hasn't failed me. (Touchwood). Perhaps I should just stick to them instead of upgrading to bigger cards. Just gotten another 2GB Transcend card.

i think after what bro eow has mentioned on transcend, i m staying away from not so good ones.
a premium price for reliability is worth it.
and yes, dont think its necessary at this stage to get a bigger card; seriously considering to get those 1gb ones or 2 gb.
got a friend who used the older Lexar 512mb (about awhile back), also kena errors on his canonD60.
guess its heng sway kind.

Originally Posted by Galdor I share your feeling bro. I week's of images all gone in a flash.

that why they call "flash" card...heh heh ...........

damn sian. recovery software keep getting errors, unable to complete the task.
XP cant even detect the drive. i'm using a PCMCIA adaptor. you think there would be any diff if i use a card reader? i dont have one with me now. and i didnt try using the 5D to connect to the notebook for fear it might make things worse.

[tchoonyong]

i believe kingston and sandisk are consider the good types nver failed but sandisk is much faster than kingston when using for slr.anywae nothing is perfect. try getting those make in japan,it is better than taiwan.

[Trash]

Such thing happened from time to time, regardless of brands (that's why revocery softwares are packaged with Extreme and Lexar Pro cards). Have you recovered the images?

I have successfully recovered most of my pictures (when my card crashed previously) using the software supplied with the Lexar cards.

[codling]

still trying to recover.

so the sandisk extremeIII comes with the recovery app as well?
would the app be only for Sandisk or Lexar brands? will they work with other brand mem cards?
was thinking to get the extremeIII or lexar and use the app bundled to try to recover my pics before i RMA the bugger.

[Galdor]

['quote]damn sian. recovery software keep getting errors, unable to complete the task.
XP cant even detect the drive. i'm using a PCMCIA adaptor. you think there would be any diff if i use a card reader? i dont have one with me now. and i didnt try using the 5D to connect to the notebook for fear it might make things worse.[/quote]

Not sure if it'll work on a card reader. No harm trying if you can borrow one.

[Janne]

sandisk or lexar
kingston forget it

[Trigger Happy]

sorry to hear bro, not that i have any CF recovery experience to contribute to your plight, but looking forward, do consider Sandisk or Kingston as some have mentioned. i use the old "orange 1024" Kingstons 1Gb ones plus the re-badged ones with a picture of a white flower on green background. these may be "slow" and not high-speed but the 1Gb and 2Gb versions have never given me problems on the 5d or 7d.

one more thing -- always format your card with your camera before use. deletion is fine, but once in a while (or when card is new), do a format. that'll lessen your chances of corruption if used normally.

[sulhan]

Hiee...
My Advice, is not to put all eggs into one basket. Try use smaller denomination of cards.
If you are on a travel trip, at least get to use 2 ~3 cards for one day - spread morning, afternoon, night. Data recovery softwares may help recover some corrupted cards, but not permanently damaged cards due to things like ESD, shorts etc.

Note, the failure you have experienced may be common of any electronic components. How reliable the brand is, due to the different condition, use model and hosting device, failures can happen anytime anywhere. True enough paying a premium for something helps give some level of security. But then again....when the item is fated to fail...it will fail.

[Trigger Happy]

Originally Posted by Janne sandisk or lexar kingston forget it

just avoid the Kingston Elite Pro range -- those may be fast, but in the 7d and 5d, it crawls like a two-legged dog. there's a page in dyxum on various CF card speeds for the 7d and 5D.

[codling]

Originally Posted by Trigger Happy one more thing -- always format your card with your camera before use. deletion is fine, but once in a while (or when card is new), do a format. that'll lessen your chances of corruption if used normally.

ya, thanks anyway.
the thing is i did all that! but still kena this problem.

i have the 1gb kingston (orange color) that came with the 5D but it has since been a backup card when i got my seagate photodrive and then now Ridata.

[codling]

Originally Posted by sulhan Hiee... My Advice, is not to put all eggs into one basket. Try use smaller denomination of cards. If you are on a travel trip, at least get to use 2 ~3 cards for one day - spread morning, afternoon, night. Data recovery softwares may help recover some corrupted cards, but not permanently damaged cards due to things like ESD, shorts etc. Note, the failure you have experienced may be common of any electronic components. How reliable the brand is, due to the different condition, use model and hosting device, failures can happen anytime anywhere. True enough paying a premium for something helps give some level of security. But then again....when the item is fated to fail...it will fail.

you said it right! ya, have to get smaller gb cards.
fate! gawd....

[Trigger Happy]

Originally Posted by codling ya, thanks anyway. the thing is i did all that! but still kena this problem. i have the 1gb kingston (orange color) that came with the 5D but it has since been a backup card when i got my seagate photodrive and then now Ridata.

you should consider going back to "basics". i've resisted the lure of the 4gb and photodrives because of the risk factor. plus changing cards is really fast and there's always time to do so. only thing i tried was the elite pro, kena the poor performance and now those are my backup cards.