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I have a SanDisk SD Card 64gb UHS 3, 3 years old.

From someday, it became unusable on a Panasonic Lx100 — but it works right on my other camera (a Pentax K-70). On the LX10, I get an error: "Error writing on sd card".

I've tested it on Windows and max write speed is 2 mbyte/s, so performance is degraded (it should go to at least at 30-40 mbyte/s).

Is there something I can do to solve this situation ?

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    \$\begingroup\$ SD cards, even high capacity ones, are a commodity nowadays. Why do you wish to save your failing SD card? \$\endgroup\$
    – MonkeyZeus
    Nov 4, 2019 at 20:39
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    \$\begingroup\$ @MonkeyZeus Commodity in western countries. Comparatively 6x more expensive in India than in the EU, for instance, if you compare the salary of a software developer in the EU and in India. \$\endgroup\$
    – xenoid
    Nov 4, 2019 at 23:38
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    \$\begingroup\$ tbh, cost shouldn't be a factor in this. Once these things start to fail, they fail fast & irreversibly, often irretrievably too. Never store your only copy of any data on one & always bin them at the first sign of failure. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tetsujin
    Nov 7, 2019 at 9:01

4 Answers 4

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Yes, there's something you can do. Stop using the card and replace it. Even reputable, high-quality cards have failures. And every such device has a limited lifespan. Don't risk it. You may do something which will cover up the problem, only for it to reoccur and cause you to lose images.

SanDisk offers a long warranty in most countries — depending on the card and country, seven to thirty years if not lifetime. So, since yours is only three years old, you should be able to send it in for replacement.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Also, always migrate your photos to more reliable media at the earliest opportunity. Leaving your last 10 years of precious photos on flash media of pretty much any type is just asking for problems at some point. \$\endgroup\$
    – twalberg
    Nov 4, 2019 at 18:19
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Is there something I can do to solve this situation ?

Get another card.

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    \$\begingroup\$ +1 SD cards are expendables nowadays. For fewer money one can get higher capacity and higher speeds. \$\endgroup\$
    – Crowley
    Nov 4, 2019 at 22:02
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Good (not super) quality 64GB cards are around 10 to 14 "generic bucks" (US Dollars, Euros, UKP). "Good quality" defined as "built as designed by a reputable brand, no reason to expect b grade product or counterfeits". This actually puts the usefulness of reusing them at all in question - instead of using them once, periodically downloading and until they are full, then physically archiving them as additional backup.

They take around 1500-2000 images even when shooting raw (unless we are talking very high res cameras), even more when doing JPEG only or JPEG mostly. The time investment in 2000 frames (or hours of video), no matter whether it is professional or enthusiast work, probably exceeds 12 bucks significantly. On some cameras, the cost from shutter wear could exceed 12 bucks for 2000 frames.

Also, take (mental or written) notes what card brand/model works reliably (or) not with which of your cameras ... mechanical and electrical tolerances can do a lot for or against you here....

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    \$\begingroup\$ 1) Are there figures of their long-term durability as dormant storage? And 2) polluttion. Your heirs will dump them :) Mine will just inherit a couple of hard disks. \$\endgroup\$
    – xenoid
    Nov 4, 2019 at 23:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ Why would there be a great difference compared to SSDs, if you do not exhaust the memory cards with heavy write cycling? Also, the volume of one 10 TB 3.5" harddrive will absorb a lot of microSD cards :) \$\endgroup\$ Nov 5, 2019 at 9:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ The durability of unplugged SSDs doesn't look that good. Looks like we will need a SSD cellar next to the wine one. \$\endgroup\$
    – xenoid
    Nov 5, 2019 at 10:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ Please clarify the currency used in this post. \$\endgroup\$ Nov 5, 2019 at 11:24
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    \$\begingroup\$ @SztupY Note that this is a photography site, so answers should be in that context. For video, there is Video Production \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Nov 6, 2019 at 6:04
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Backup your data now. What capacity out of the 64GB has already been written? Maybe you bought a fake one and the real capacity has been reached, so you get sudden failure. These fakes often appear larger, (e.g. 32GB instead of 64GB, or even 8GB instead of 64GB), then once the small capacity is filled, they lie to the user and overwrite the EXISTING DATA to appear like they still have capacity. Destroying your existing files (and showing a slow write speed as they have to do it in this slow, unorthadox way). This is not conclusive, so back up data and scan the card in a PC, preferably a dual-boot Windows-linux one with exFAT support, if exFAT is the filesystem used on the card. Then perhaps try formatting the card and testing it with proper tools. Test the card: using automated tools, write to the whole card, read back the results as uncorrupted), sdcard.

Test with: https://fightflashfraud.wordpress.com/download-h2testw-free-and-test-flash-memory/

https://cubiclenate.com/blatherings/fightflashfraud/

Note: even genuine flash can fail in time and has a write-cycle limitation. Always backup data (in at least two other locations, plus your working copy on the card) ASAP. Everything is expensive on an Indian salary, so if you can afford a camera, afford a decent, non-fake, TESTED card. With technology, I find that as long as the minimum speed is reached, reliability, not speed, is king!

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