Are SD cards less reliable when aging?

robert blu

robert blu

quiet photographer
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Maybe a naif question for the experts but I'm asking myself and would like to know what the expertises think about if an SD card which has been used many times after a few years (2-3) is loosing somehow its properties.

I do not speak about speed in writing or transferring but more interested in reliability.

In other words should I replace my cards after 2/3 years of use?

Thanks for answer

robert
 
Yes, now that I'm getting older, I can't remember where I put them!

Oh, you meant the SD cards are getting older;)
 
Hi Robert, I have not personally had any SD cards go bad on me, as far as storing and retrieving info. I do have one SD card--just one--that got a little roughed up from frequently being pulled out of the camera--a Fuji X10--to be stuck into my iMac and then back into the camera. But even that one still works fine!

It's a good question. I've wondered about it, too. Maybe if others have seen problems, they can list them here. Maybe we could have a survey of brand vs. reliability.

I did have a USB thumb drive fall apart as I was pulling it out of the port. The casing came apart and I had a tiny printed circuit card in my fingers! I carefully re-inserted it, and it still works!

I suspect that mechanical reliability would be a greater issue than electrical reliability.
 
I have a couple of SD cards still in use for over a decade. Absolutely no problems with reliability.

In fact, with all the different digital cameras and other devices I've had that took Memory Stick, CF, and SD cards, and all the different generations of SD to SDHC to SDXC capacities, I've had exactly one card that had a problem—and it was found defective within twenty minutes of coming out of the purchase wrapper.

If you pull them in and out of a device frequently, the plastic and contacts can show wear. None of mine have ever worn enough to have any problems, however.

G
 
splitimageview said:
No. It’s a ‘go’ or ‘no go’ situation in terms of the flash memory circuit. If you get read or write or format errors it’s time to retire that card.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a Yes to me.
In any case I've had one SD card fail catastrophically, taking a lot of pictures with it.
 
I had two SDHC card housings fails after 3-5 years because the plastic became brittle. While these were not cheap counterfeit cards, they were not main-stream brands. One was a Delkin; the other was a Hoodman and they were purchased at local non-chain camera shops. They were not abused (sent through the wash inside a pocket, left in high-heat environments, etc).

The cards became stuck in the camera. Fortunately I was able to fish all the pieces out of the slot.

I suppose the card contacts could become oxidized over a long period of time and cause unreliable electrical connections.

Otherwise NAND flash memory chips are robust. The chip electronics should withstand up to 100,000 full erase cycles.

For paid work, I used a conservative (paranoid?) 3 years replacement strategy. Card replacement is just a business expense similar to owning back-up bodies, lenses and flashes.

Another issue is the software used to manage the data storage. Some people always format the cards in-camera to avoid directory corruption. Some people claim that modern cameras don't have this problem. I always reformat my cards in-camera. In never use a computer to erase the card.
 
Thanks you all for the answers. It was a doubt which came to my mind.

I only had one problem with a card (from a well known electronic manufacturer) and it was a mechanical thing: the small switch on the card I had closed when importing files in the computer broke and I didn't manage to open it again.

I always format the cards in camera. And for each camera, mine or my wife's there are specific cards, they are not mixed.

robert
PS: I'm aging as well and...probably I'm becoming less reliable :)
 
robert blu said:
In other words should I replace my cards after 2 - 3 years of use?
Click to expand...
Basically—yes. But not after just two or three years ... except maybe when you actually filled the very same card entirely (i. e. 32 GB of actual data on a 32 GB card) once a day for at least 300 days per year.

In 'normal' heavy use, the card may get filled, say, once per week. In light use, less than once per month. Under these conditions, a memory card should work reliably for ten years, minimum. Anyway—after a certain number of read-write cycles, the card will start to lose data. Very sparingly at first, then quickly increasing. As soon as you notice data loss, it's high time to replace that card ... and all other cards of similar age (and strain).

I tend to replace my memory cards because I want, or need, bigger and faster cards. In 15 years of digital photography, I never replaced a card (yet) because it started to go haywire. The only memory card that failed on me was a brand-new one; it failed right out of the blister pack.

(Full disclosure: I am a hobbyist, so I don't shoot every day.)
 
retinax said:
Sounds like a Yes to me.
In any case I've had one SD card fail catastrophically, taking a lot of pictures with it.
Click to expand...


It's actually a 'no' they don't 'lose reliability' due specifically to age; it's based on write cycles.

They do fail, however and when they do, the 1 becomes a 0. :)
 
I use SanDisk now but I also have some bargain Transcend and Kingston SD cards from about 10 years ago that are still usable. I stopped using those cards because of their low capacity and speed, not due to any failures. Actually, I don't recall ever having had an SD or CF card fail.
 
How much does an SD card cost now? per photo its pennies if that. So I just use once, label the card and file after downloading the pictures on to the computer. As for failures, one in my dash cam failed where its set to loop record and I had done 20k miles and one no name old card. Ones like Sandisk or similar will be fine I hope though there is always a chance of a bad batch, Seagate had that with one line of drives and it tarnished their name for a long time.
 
I keep a 35gb in my wallet, its been through the was a dozen times, dryer a few less times, but hey! it still works.

Only had one card fail on me and it was a Sandisk Ultra and it failed within a week of being new.
 
Are SD cards less reliable when aging?

No complete failures here, though i usually use sd cards once and keep them as an extra backup once full. But I do have a Sony card that refuses to let my PC delete files or format it, tried various utilities (and yes i tried moving the switch). Luckily an old Nikon camera can use it fine.
 
If they’re like most people, they get more reliable as they age.

Seriously, tho, I have been told that once an event/session/gig/trip has taken place, copy the files from the card(s) on to a computer hard drive, then format the cards in camera. Formatting aligns, electronically, the card as things can get scatterd all over. Kinda like defrag the hard drive on a computer.

Even when using the card from one camera to another, format the card in the camera before using it. Otherwise it can get confused with the result of corrupt files.
 
Agree with Bill. I've never filled a card, I download the photos and reformat often. Around home, I'll reformat after only a few frames have been shot and downloaded. I cannot recall where I read the recommendation but formatting was said to keep the card working properly. So far it has worked for me.
 
Some info to help:

https://www.easeus.com/format-recovery/format-usb-drive-without-losing-data.html

As I recall, Mr. Gates and company, wrote DOS code so as the erase function is really telling the computer that the drive space is available. I believe delete is the same as erase. But the files are still there until written over. Format gets rid of everything. It does organize the disk or card or whatever storage device is used. That’s why when erase or delete function is used and files get corrupted sometimes they can be saved.

At any rate, download the files and then format the card. And if you move the card from one camera to another format it in the card you’re going to use it in the camera.

Someone else with more knowledge than me can chime in and set me straight!
 
Most products have a mean time between failure rating (MTBF). The 2003 specification for SanDisk SD cards was >1,000,000 hours, which is over a hundred years. I am sure that has increased in the intervening 15 years. You'll never reach the MTBF of an SD card used in a camera, so periodic replacement is unnecessary. I have been using SD cards in my computer and cameras since they were introduced and have never had a failure, though I have certainly misplaced my share over the years. When I have replaced a card, it has been to gain greater capacity or faster read/write speed. I have no idea where those old 64MB, 128MB, and 256MB cards are. They just got naturally replaced over time.
 
splitimageview said:
It's actually a 'no' they don't 'lose reliability' due specifically to age; it's based on write cycles.

They do fail, however and when they do, the 1 becomes a 0. :)
Click to expand...

Dogman said:
Agree with Bill. I've never filled a card, I download the photos and reformat often. Around home, I'll reformat after only a few frames have been shot and downloaded. I cannot recall where I read the recommendation but formatting was said to keep the card working properly. So far it has worked for me.
Click to expand...

Yes, of course I wrote "age" but I mean write-read-in camera format-write... cycles !

It never happened me too to fill completely a card, and in camera formatting is a my usual good practice.

robert
 
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