Bad Memory Card

[Wilma]

I lost about 20 images on a 2g card. I know the card was old but is there any software out there that can check the sectors of a card so that we know when to pitch them before we get disappointed? I could see the images in my camera but could not down load them or retrieve them with recovery programs. They were RAW files and the sizes given by the card reader was 0 for each of the missing files. Suggestions of software to check for bad memery cards.

 

[Big Mike]

Check with the brand's web site (Sandisk, Kingston etc.)

 

[KmH]

Before those 20 images wwere made, where was the card last formatted? In that camera or on a computer?

Most of today's flash memory cards are guaranteed for about 100,000 cycles (P/E or program-erase cycles).

Many times the problem boils dow to how cards have been cared for, like not storing cards in their little plastic containers, not ensuring your body has no static charge on it before handleing a memory card directly, or even not having some good dessicant in the camera bag.

If you have not overwritten those 20 images, it is entirely possible the image data is still there on the card, and the problem is with the card controller, not the memory sectors themselves.

In that event a data recovery application may be able to retrieve the image data.