CF Card done for?

[Autarchist]

I have a Transcend 8GB CompactFlash card that I used in my older Canon Rebel.

The last time I was using that card, I was reviewing shots on my camera and noticed many of them showing up as "Corrupted Data", or "Unidentified Image". Caught me off guard as nothing like that has ever happened, and I've taken thousands upon thousands of photos. Fortunately, I had already copied most of the images to my laptop before they started showing up that way. However, I haven't used the card since, as I switched to using the SanDisk I have (faster, but much smaller capacity and fills up quick shooting raw).

Is the card just old/worn out? Could it have been an issue caused by the camera? The operator?

[winnre]

Try a low level format.

[dtjester]

It may or may not be toast, but my opinion is: why risk it? if it's already having trouble, you never know next time it will corrupt images that you might never get back. Get yourself another SanDisk card.

For what it's worth, I only shoot with relatively low capacity cards to minimize the risk of losing all of my images.

[winnre]

Some say to use lots of low capacity cards.
Some say to use a few high capacity cards.

I use lots of high capacity cards. ;-)

The argument to go low capacity is moot because I still have two HUGE cards I paid $350 for back in the day, they each hold 64MB, what i was told was a number way too high and I am risking everything but not going with 16MB.

Stick with Sandisk or Lexar.

[Rivers]

It's a good practice to do a FORMAT of the card (in the camera's menu) when you've safely copied the contents elsewhere. Granted, most cards will only handle 100,000 reformattings so you might wear it out in a century or two... Erasing the contents simply tosses the directory so new files can be written to those sectors, but those sectors still contain data from the previous images. Formatting removes that issue.

[the86d]

Try a regular format. If that fails, I call toast, and a format does not remove old files, and does not wipe the data.

Most real tech-savy can still pull images, docs, and other files even after a format with 3 different filesystems.

Cheap flash cards of any type (CF/USB stick/SD card++) do not last that many writes at all. Found that out the hard way multiple times. If it is toast, go with SanDisk, as I never killed one of those yet.

[the86d]

Try a low level format.

How do YOU low-level a card?

[winnre]

How do YOU low-level a card?

Use a tool. Here is just one available.

http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

[the86d]

Use a tool. Here is just one available.

http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-...l-Format-Tool/

Good thing you don't have to worry about interleave with flash Mem!

How is wear-leveling effected by this?

Do they work long after or for the same minimal time if it is a cheap flash device?

[winnre]

Cards are cheap enough now I just replace them. Kind of like if you hand me a jug of milk and say, "Smell this and see if it is bad." Well it is bad, my olfactory senses will never let me think otherwise. Replace!

[lazyworm]

your photos/data is worth more than the card. If you can't honestly say you trust the card, throw it in the trash.

[KaHuNaZ]

Im not sure if cameras still do this, but if I open the card through explorer and rotate the images while still on the card, they will show as corrupt through my camera.

[I_Love_My_.38]

Format then test

[JDay]

Some say to use lots of low capacity cards.
Some say to use a few high capacity cards.

I use lots of high capacity cards. ;-)

The argument to go low capacity is moot because I still have two HUGE cards I paid $350 for back in the day, they each hold 64MB, what i was told was a number way too high and I am risking everything but not going with 16MB.

Stick with Sandisk or Lexar.

64MB cards? You cannot even fit one RAW image onto those.

[I_Love_My_.38]

64MB cards? You cannot even fit one RAW image onto those.

I really think he meant GB