Ok how long can a memory card last

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danfifepsu31

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of a memory card, what if I leave the pictures on a memory card for years? What will happen, will it make me loose the pictures forever?
 
The charge in NAND cells decays over time. The card will be perfectly fine, but the data will slowly corrupt over a period of several years, eventually needing to be reformatted. How long this takes depends on the size, brand, and general quality.

Flash is not a long-term storage option.
 


A memory card (SD card) can fail unexpectedly. As soon as you take your pictures transfer the pictures to your computer hard disk. Personally, I would not use any SD card as a permanent storage device.
 

danfifepsu31

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ok but for this memory card where I havent taken the pics off. I have had the card for 2 years. and put pics on from 9 months ago to 1.5 years ago. are they in danger yet? and another card 2 years.


how can a card fail unexpectedly and if it does how do I get my data back?
 
That's kind of like asking someone to plan unplanned outages...

Generally, the act of powering up the card re-energises the flash, though I'm not sure.

You generally can't get the data back off failed flash, though it's more likely to slowly corrupt than to actually fail outright. In which case it's only likely to be a few pictures that you have trouble with.

Storing data on small stuff like an SD card is usually a bad idea. What do you do if you drop the card down a drain or it gets wet or something.

The normal story goes here: BACK UP EVERYTHING IMPORTANT.
 

danfifepsu31

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when you said I generally cant get the data badk from a failed flash drive what do i Do of the data, send it to a data recovery center or use computer data recovery software?

I cant get my data off the memory card is the problem but the camera shows them and best buy said how I canrt get the data off. why is it that geek squad is nothing but guesses or they say scary stuff.
 
Do not start multiple threads for the same topic, in your other post you said you can see the pictures in the camera but can't on a computer. You need to reply to the questions I had there before you can move to other things. In general, big box stores support is not the best, they often only know a certain amount and anything past that they tend to give out wrong guesses or work on fixing the wrong thing which can lead to data loss.
 

danfifepsu31

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your smart sir! but I bet best buy couldnt even help me if I caught on fire. can data loss happen if the memory card goes on used?

 


This has already been answered! Data loss can occur at any time! That's why it is important to transfer the data (pictures) from the SD card on to a hard disk soon after taking pictures. After that, backup the hard disk on to an external hard disk!
 

danfifepsu31

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Feb 22, 2014
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hmmmmm. I have a memory card where I put the pics on my computer onto a cd and left the pics on the card and 3 years later the card works like new.

how can data loss occur

I have never had a memory card fail on me, though I have taken 100,000s of pics.
 

danfifepsu31

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sorry abou tthis but all I get is nothing but guesses esp from BEST buy, RAdio Shack etc.

wht can corrupt a card?
 

danfifepsu31

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what age???

and how many times of writing over? I have a memory card that I have written over a few times and downloaded stuff and I formated that card in the camera. what wil that do?
 
what age???

and how many times of writing over? I have a memory card that I have written over a few times and downloaded stuff and I formated that card in the camera. what wil that do?

SD cards and flash drives have a lower quality of memory when compared to SSDs, and can fail unexpectedly.

Another real problem with SD cards is the fact that there are many fake cards in the market. These fake SD cards look very much like the real genuine SD cards and even manufacturers have a hard time telling the difference. These fake cards fail prematurely, and some of them will not work at all. This adds to the problem that some users are faced with.

This is why it is hard to predict the life span.
 

danfifepsu31

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Feb 22, 2014
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which ones less than a year. i have the 8 gb one that I cant get anything off, I Filled it last Summer, I started using it in summer 2012. how far is it from losing everything?

if it gets too old how do I Retrive the data if it doesnt work? I tried the card TODAY and it WORKS!!!!
 
Some super-cheap crap off ebay, by memory. It would still mount and everything, but there was enough corruption that it wouldn't boot.

SD cards aren't intended for long-term storage. The idea is that you take the pictures, then you pull the pictures off onto a hard drive and use the card again.

It's really hard to guess anything to do with this, because there's a huge amount of randomness and unknowable variables.
 

danfifepsu31

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Feb 22, 2014
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what of 5 years later and again if the card doesnt work and there is data on it, how do you get the data? A data recovery program and or send it out somewhere but pay a high price?

 
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