Should I format my SD card after every trip and other SD card related questions.

[dragon49]

6 hours ago, Charlie Spencer said:

I guess I don't see the value in taking the card out instead of transferring directly from camera to computer.

Speed - Card reader transfer is faster.

[Johnd]

Depends for me.

My laptop has a built-in card reader so I use that when traveling. And have another USB card reader for my PC for local. I transfer everything to a file named for the place I was and the date. The I can lesierly edit and delete the bad one's from the file on the PC/ laptop and move the good ones to a back up drive.

I always format it in the camera afterwards.

Iv always assumed that the camera would format it to what the camera needed it to be to store the photos rather than a format from a PC. Or deleting everything from the card with no format.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Charlie Spencer]

9 hours ago, dragon49 said:

Speed - Card reader transfer is faster.

How much is that is offset by the time spent taking the card out and (hopefully) putting it back in?

I guess for me it all boils down to the possibility probability of forgetting to put the card back in the camera.  For me, no amount of time saved on the transfer is worth that.

[RobinHood]

40 minutes ago, Charlie Spencer said:

I guess for me it all boils down to the possibility probability of forgetting to put the card back in the camera.

I only did it once and now carry a spare card in my wallet.

I use a card reader and always format the card when I put it back in the camera (especially recommended if you use the card in different cameras). I leave the camera card slot cover open when the card is removed.

[lonestranger]

Is there a need to delete the files if you're going to format the card, or would deleting the files be redundant when formatting?

[Charlie Spencer]

5 minutes ago, lonestranger said:

Is there a need to delete the files if you're going to format the card, or would deleting the files be redundant when formatting?

Yep, redundant.  No need to delete if you're going to format.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Charlie Spencer

[Jodi Nielson]

I'm an analog girl in a digital world lol  After losing photos when my laptop flipped a chip, I now transfer photos but keep all my memory cards as back up.  15 bucks a few times a year is much less painful than losing the photos completely.

[Charlie Spencer]

2 hours ago, Jodi Nielson said:

I'm an analog girl in a digital world lol  After losing photos when my laptop flipped a chip, I now transfer photos but keep all my memory cards as back up.  15 bucks a few times a year is much less painful than losing the photos completely.

Microsoft offers a terabyte of storage for $25 a year.

[Johnd]

a 3 TB storage drive is about 80 bucks

 

 

[dragon49]

I've had no problems with the SD card the last three trips after formatting the card, so this is the way to go.  Nothing wrong with my old card reader, but for under $20.00, I ordered a faster USB 3.0 reader.

[Johnd]

7 minutes ago, dragon49 said:

I've had no problems with the SD card the last three trips after formatting the card, so this is the way to go.  Nothing wrong with my old card reader, but for under $20.00, I ordered a faster USB 3.0 reader.

deleting, transferring, moving, copying, files over and over again from or to a flash drive/card can cause some problems with them, mostly corrupting the data stored on it. formatting  can usually fix the issue. which is why i do it every time.

 

 

 

  

[lonestranger]

On 3/26/2022 at 8:46 AM, lonestranger said:

I have never had an issue with a memory card in any of my cameras and will probably keep following the same procedure even though I probably just jinxed myself by saying that.

 

 

Sure enough, a lesson learned the hard way. ☹️  I got my new lens yesterday to go with the new camera I got last week. I had already formatted my newest memory card in the camera while waiting for the lens to arrive. Note that I said newest card and not a new card. So the lens arrives, I attach it to the camera and take a few test shots of the cat and dog and assorted indoor targets. All of a sudden I see the dreaded warning that the camera can't read the memory card. I'm like, NO, this can't be happening. I take a few pictures and view them on the camera and wonder what's going on, is the card not really working or is the camera warning an error in the new camera. I get the warning message again and then I turned the camera off and swap my newest card for the next newest card, now we're good to go. Whew, that was a close one. As it turns out, the little tab for the read/write security option was so loose that it will no longer stay in position. I should point out that I never use this tab but I have had it shift position when sliding the card in and out on occasion, I never considered the possibility that it might start shifting on its own one day. Guess I will be changing my ways after all and learning how to transfer files over wifi, and buying some NEW SD cards to leave IN the camera.

[Charlie Spencer]

1 hour ago, lonestranger said:

Guess I will be changing my ways after all and learning how to transfer files over wifi, and buying some NEW SD cards to leave IN the camera.

I've thought about using wireless but I wonder about the effect on battery life.  I'm too lazy to wade through the menus to turn it on when I need it, and too forgetful to turn it back off afterward.  I'll stick to the USB cable.

[lonestranger]

57 minutes ago, Charlie Spencer said:

I've thought about using wireless but I wonder about the effect on battery life.  I'm too lazy to wade through the menus to turn it on when I need it, and too forgetful to turn it back off afterward.  I'll stick to the USB cable.

Thanks @Charlie Spencer, I hadn't considered battery life and how the effects of leaving wifi turned on might affect it. Battery life on the new camera drains quickly already so I'll have to take that into consideration too. Looks like formatting the memory card and charging the battery might become near daily events. That's IF I can figure out how my new toy works so that I can actually have fun playing with it. Right now, the significant differences between this camera and my previous cameras means I am spending more time learning how to do things, than I am taking photos. ?

[dragon49]

8 hours ago, Charlie Spencer said:

I've thought about using wireless but I wonder about the effect on battery life.  I'm too lazy to wade through the menus to turn it on when I need it, and too forgetful to turn it back off afterward.  I'll stick to the USB cable.

I haven't tested, but I assure you that wireless will impact battery life.  My camera's setting was on by default, so I changed it to airplane mode.

[Johnd]

iv only ever had the one 64GB card.

it's worked fine for like 6 years now.

not even sure mine has wifi ability. never really saw the point of it really, to me its more useless then having the fridge have wifi.

Don't need it really. the places  i usually go dont  even have decent cell service.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2022 by Johnd

[xpoetmarcr]

On 3/26/2022 at 4:05 PM, Charlie Spencer said:

Oh, and in an emergency, there are (very expensive*) services that can recover erased photos.  When you format, nothing can be recovered.

* Plan on an up-front $1000+ service charge to give you an estimate of what can be recovered.  Actual recover will run a lot more.

There are computer apps that can recover deleted files if the files have been deleted but the card/drive hasn't been reformatted. 

After EVERY shoot I import the photos to the computer and then format my CF/SD card IN CAMERA, never on the computer.  I also don't delete any images in camera, I only delete images from the computer after import.  That way the camera image count will track with the image file number.

 

[Johnd]

10 hours ago, xpoetmarcr said:

There are computer apps that can recover deleted files if the files have been deleted but the card/drive hasn't been reformatted. 

After EVERY shoot I import the photos to the computer and then format my CF/SD card IN CAMERA, never on the computer.  I also don't delete any images in camera, I only delete images from the computer after import.  That way the camera image count will track with the image file number.

 

iv had to do that the problem is they will retrieve the files but every thing is  renamed and put in a generic file. so if you have multiple trips and what not you have to resort them all back to the days and time you took them

 

 

[Charlie Spencer]

34 minutes ago, Johnd said:

iv had to do that the problem is they will retrieve the files but every thing is  renamed and put in a generic file. so if you have multiple trips and what not you have to resort them all back to the days and time you took them

As you noted earlier, external hard drives with terabytes of storage are relatively inexpensive.  I  *strongly* recommend using an external drive, or an online / cloud storage service, or both.  I wouldn't rely strictly on cards for storage, in or out of the camera; they're too easily lost, damaged, formatted, corrupted, or mistaken for other cards.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Charlie Spencer

[lonesome55dove]

I have not read all of the comments so if this has already been mentioned I. apologize.

When I bought my first digital camera a photographer told me to think of the xd/sd card as a blackboard slate. You start out with a clean slate, you write on it, then erase, write again, erase and so on. Every time you erase the slate a hazy white film is left behind, so after awhile the slate becomes less readable. The same thing happens with the card. So, I take pictures for a period of time, usually a month, during this time I do not delete any photos from the card. When I'm ready to load to the PC I do it either from the camera via USB cable or the PC's card reader I don't think it matters either way. After all photos are on the PC I go thru them and delete the unwanted ones, when I'm satisfied with everything I format the card from the camera's settings not the PC. I have been using the same card since 2011 with no problems. 

[Aaron]

On 3/26/2022 at 7:05 AM, lonestranger said:

I hate to admit that I too have had to deal with the dreaded @Aaron Syndrome because of my file transfer method. 

I’m gone for a week just to come back to see I have a syndrome named after me ?

 

Typically I make sure to put the SD card directly back in the camera after I put it in the computer. I don’t think I’ve ever transferred photos any other way.

Like some others, I buy a new SD card if one gets too full. I rarely delete photos off cards no matter how bad they are…. Been trying to fix that lately, but you never know if you might need that blurry photo of a branch. 

[meghann]

On 3/27/2022 at 12:53 PM, Charlie Spencer said:

Microsoft offers a terabyte of storage for $25 a year.

Until the internet goes down someday. . . . .?

On 3/27/2022 at 7:52 PM, Johnd said:

a 3 TB storage drive is about 80 bucks

 

 

Yeah, I tried an external and it went bad and is now a fancy paperweight. It wasn't even that old.

I have an online storage account, but I'm keeping my photos on my cards, too.

[xpoetmarcr]

19 hours ago, lonesome55dove said:

I have not read all of the comments so if this has already been mentioned I. apologize.

When I bought my first digital camera a photographer told me to think of the xd/sd card as a blackboard slate. You start out with a clean slate, you write on it, then erase, write again, erase and so on. Every time you erase the slate a hazy white film is left behind, so after awhile the slate becomes less readable. The same thing happens with the card. So, I take pictures for a period of time, usually a month, during this time I do not delete any photos from the card. When I'm ready to load to the PC I do it either from the camera via USB cable or the PC's card reader I don't think it matters either way. After all photos are on the PC I go thru them and delete the unwanted ones, when I'm satisfied with everything I format the card from the camera's settings not the PC. I have been using the same card since 2011 with no problems. 

I also have been using the same cards for years without a card failure and without loss of files, and I reformat the cards in camera after every shoot once the images are on the computer.  Memory cards can fail but I don't think it's very common for them to do that.  

Edited April 1, 2022 by xpoetmarcr

[dred]

11 hours ago, meghann said:

Until the internet goes down someday. . . . .?

Yeah, I tried an external and it went bad and is now a fancy paperweight. It wasn't even that old.

I have an online storage account, but I'm keeping my photos on my cards, too.

I've had so many hard drive failures that I never have my pics on less than 2 at a time. Right now I have a 2 4tb backups and a 16gb that I can work from. Also I usually store the good edits online as well. 

[lonesome55dove]

6 hours ago, xpoetmarcr said:

I also have been using the same cards for years without a card failure and without loss of files, and I reformat the cards in camera after every shoot once the images are on the computer.  Memory cards can fail but I don't think it's very common for them to do that.  

I have never lost a file, misplaced, yes, due to typos but I've always been able to find them again.