Compact Flash cards in the washer.

Oldfireguy · Mar 20, 2006

Lets say a guy was out taking photos today, stuck a flash card in his shirt pocket because he forgot his watertight, superduper case, came home, changed shirts, and his wife washed the shirt and the card.

Will the card survive?

n2photos · Mar 20, 2006

Wow I can only imagine what you are going thru.

I don't know the answer but I searched blingo (like google) ... compact flash cards and water
guess what....you are not alone. Try that here was a reply someone posted to a guy who knocked his card off the counter in to the dogs bowl...

The only thing you did wrong was you didn’t rinse it. Strange as it sounds, short term exposure to water won’t hurt electronics, at least as long as it isn’t powered. What does the damage is the dirt left behind after the water dries out. Rinsing with distilled water and very thorough drying can actually save wet electronics that would have shorted out. Your dog must have had fairly clean water in his bowl.
There is still a possibility that there is some residue in the card. I wouldn’t use that one for anything you can’t afford to lose.

So you may search that and see what all you come up with.

Hope your cards are ok.

n2photos · Mar 20, 2006

Hey just seen this post too....

I accidentally ran a 1GB Lexar Secure Flash drive through a wash and spin cycle in my washer and after allowing it an overnight airing atop a hot air vent in my house it worked perfectly. Still using it too! Of course, I have added a Lexar 1GB Sport just recently, they're great tools in my business as an IT specialist.

Hope that helps!!! Good luck!!

digital flower · Mar 20, 2006

Check out what these pictures went through.
Click here

n2photos · Mar 20, 2006

WOW That is a very intresting read digital flower pics.

Anyone who didn't stop and read that....go back and read it!!!

Antarctican · Mar 20, 2006

I got immersed in the Arctic Ocean while kayaking, with a point-n-shoot digital camera tucked under my lifevest. A camera store was able to recover the images from the card, but because the camera got fried, I don't really know if the card 'worked' after that.

DocFrankenstein · Mar 20, 2006

I've washed two of my cards. they both work.

Rob · Mar 21, 2006

A magazine in the UK did an article on data destruction - i.e. people like me who want to REALLY get rid of sensitive data from systems before disposal. They concluded that pretty much the only way to destroy CF cards is to melt them. Almost anything else resulted in them working fine - dropping off a tall building, hitting with sledgehammer, soaking in water etc... they're impressively resilient.

Rob

ksmattfish · Mar 21, 2006

They found a bunch of digi-cams washed up on the beaches after the huge tsunami, and they were able to get the photos off many of the cards. I saw a test where a guy nailed his compact flash card to a tree (nail through the card), and left it in the rain, and it still worked. Of course check out any wedding photography forum, and you can read plenty of horror stories of cards failing with no apparent cause.

Oldfireguy · Mar 21, 2006

Thanks for all the replies.

It does appear to be working and smells nice and clean.

Antarctican · Mar 21, 2006

fredcwdoc said:
It does appear to be working and smells nice and clean.

Glad to hear it. As is your wife, I'm sure!!

Alpha · Mar 21, 2006

Rob said:
A magazine in the UK did an article on data destruction - i.e. people like me who want to REALLY get rid of sensitive data from systems before disposal. They concluded that pretty much the only way to destroy CF cards is to melt them. Almost anything else resulted in them working fine - dropping off a tall building, hitting with sledgehammer, soaking in water etc... they're impressively resilient.

Rob

They aren't impressively resilient to electromagnets. In fact I still wonder how MRI's can function without destroying themselves.

captblue1 · Mar 21, 2006

magnets don't do anything to flash media. hard drives and floppy's use magnets to write data that is why magnet mess up there data.

Rob · Mar 22, 2006

MaxBloom said:
They aren't impressively resilient to electromagnets. In fact I still wonder how MRI's can function without destroying themselves.

Indeed, but I don't wash my trousers in a 10T helmholtz coil.

Rob

Jimee · Mar 22, 2006

captblue1 said:
magnets don't do anything to flash media. hard drives and floppy's use magnets to write data that is why magnet mess up there data.

And today it takes an incredibly strong magnet to erase a hard drive, partially due to the speed at which the magnetic field weakens. You could place a hard drive on one of those electromagnets used to pick up cars/other crap in junk yards and odds are it'd be fine.