Archive 2016 · Memory card failures

BSPhotog
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Memory card failures

I have probably 2 dozen or so Lexar Professional SD and CF cards, along with a few SanDisk cards as well. I had a SanDisk card a few years back fail and that kind of turned me off of them. Recently, I RMA'd 5 different Lexar Professional cards for various reasons (2 SD cards were delaminating, 2 SD cards were giving random truncated files, and one almost brand new CF card got a card error from the camera and then was no longer usable in any computer or camera). Anyway, I had them all sitting around so finally sent them in to Lexar because they have a generous warranty period. I got 5 brand new cards back, some of them faster than the originals withing about 2 weeks.

I can't decide if I am upset that I had so many of their cards fail or if I am happy with them for standing behind their product.

Anyone have similar experiences?

Oct 20, 2016 at 10:16 AM

MRomine
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Memory card failures

BSPhotog wrote:
Anyone have similar experiences?

Back in the early 2000s something like 02-06 they had a notorious reputation among wedding photographers for problems. I had a couple 512mb CF (yeah that's mb and not gb) cards back then and although I never had problems with them I stopped buying Lexar cards because of all the bad reports. I can not tell you of how many horror stories/reports there were back in the day on the DWF board.

Oct 20, 2016 at 10:22 AM

amonline
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Memory card failures

I had multiple Sandisk and Lexar card failures between 2000 and 2006. I swapped to Kingston in the fall of 2006 and never had another card issue. Just FWIW.

Oct 20, 2016 at 01:35 PM

BSPhotog
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Memory card failures

amonline wrote:
I had multiple Sandisk and Lexar card failures between 2000 and 2006. I swapped to Kingston in the fall of 2006 and never had another card issue. Just FWIW.

It kind of sounds like all of the manufacturers stepped up their game around 2006-2010. The SD cards that I had problems with were a few years old and all of the same 400x variety. The CF card that failed was only a few weeks old and was a Lexar Pro 800x 32GB.

I guess this is why I shoot to 2 cards.

Oct 20, 2016 at 09:01 PM

LeeSimms
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Memory card failures

Knock on wood. Only one card failure since 2005 (a very used SanDisk) and it was easy to recover.

Oct 21, 2016 at 09:36 AM

DmitriM
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Memory card failures

2 transcend cards failed in 2013. I do have reasonable grounds to believe it was Canon 5DIII that was responsible for it since it also experienced weird writing patterns and other issues. After Canon admitted the cameras were faulty then these idiots decided to take their claim back and claimed nothing was wrong with it. Then I told them I will not take the cameras back until they fix it and so they did. No failures or other issues since then (been 3 years now).

I also had 2 Lexar cards fail back around 2006 or so. The 512mb or 1gb ones. A lot of people at that time had issues and switched from Lexar. I still don't trust them...

This is why I don't understand Sony or other camera manufacturers who are making these professional cameras and only putting 1 card slot in them. That alienates 10,000s of photographers who would never even think about shooting with such cameras. These manufacturers are loosing millions of $ in revenue every year because of their ignorance and inability to see what professional photographers need.

And sure all of them would have sold so much much more mirrorless cameras if only those had dual card slots!

Oct 22, 2016 at 01:49 AM

Ziffl3
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Memory card failures

I have been using Sandisk for 9 years.... one issue but returned cards for a replacement.
Found it while in taiwan for my day job.

Kingston is an OEM for other major players .... they are good.

Mid to late 2000's there was a technology node bump... so maybe this played in faulty sectors not being caught in final test but rather in the customers use.

-Mark

Oct 22, 2016 at 02:48 AM

t4haughton
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Memory card failures

I've been using Sandisk cards since about 2002-2003 when I stopped trusting my 1GB micro drives (remember those!). I've shot about 1.4 million frames since then on both Canon and Nikon bodies and literally had one frame that was corrupted. Luckily, it was on a D3 and my second card had the RAW file and all was good.

I feel like Lexar has the second best name in the business. I actually use the Lexar Hub Card Reader system (no idea why Sandisk can't make a real card reader). I've been tempted to buy Lexar cards and last I looked they were close to half the price the Extreme Pro Sandisk cards. But I have had such good luck with Sandisk cards I can't justify it. Zero chance I would use anything by Transcend or Kingston or some other off-brand. And I wouldn't be hiring anyone who was either.

Oct 22, 2016 at 02:54 AM

InSanE
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Memory card failures

I bet that one in 1.4 mil frame that was corrupted was really important one.

Regarding Sandisk sd cards I use Extreme (not pro) since forever without a single issue.

Oct 22, 2016 at 03:06 AM


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