Flash drives, microSD/SD cards that fail

[reneg8or]

Amongst my son and I, we have a selection of portable memory devices. Some have been working reliable for years, such as Transcend, Kingston and Freecom. We did experience sudden failures on severa Sandisk microSD and flash devices as well as Verbatim SD that just died. I cannot define a pattern. My E63 has a Sandisk 4GB microSD that works fine for ages and then goes corrupt several times a day. Then it will start working after a series of formats and be OK for a few weeks or even months.


Any wisdom from anyone?

 

[InTheCube]

The SD card in your E63 might not be the problem. It could be the phone itself causing the corruption. Also, if it goes corrupt more than twice, I would chuck it away. Would not want to risk my data (photos, videos, documents, etc) getting lost forever. Have you tried different SD cards in your E63 phone, and if so, do they also get corrupted? If they do, then the problem is most likely the phone. If they don't, then the SD card itself is faulty, and should be chucked away.

I've found that the best brand for Flash drives and RAM is Kingston. Sandisk make piss quality flash drives, though their SD cards are among the best. I cannot really comment on other brands as I do not use them.

 

[reneg8or]

The SD card in your E63 might not be the problem. It could be the phone itself causing the corruption. Also, if it goes corrupt more than twice, I would chuck it away. Would not want to risk my data (photos, videos, documents, etc) getting lost forever. Have you tried different SD cards in your E63 phone, and if so, do they also get corrupted? If they do, then the problem is most likely the phone. If they don't, then the SD card itself is faulty, and should be chucked away.

I've found that the best brand for Flash drives and RAM is Kingston. Sandisk make piss quality flash drives, though their SD cards are among the best. I cannot really comment on other brands as I do not use them.

The plot thickens. Various Sandisk microSD's have gone corrupt in my E63, my wife's C3 and my son's E5. Sometimes, the same card was used in all three phones but went corrupt in only two of them. The C3 with S40 OS did not corrupt all cards.

I do not trust the Nokia's either. Any brand new phone that can autodelete 5 email accounts up to 8 times a day, is no good.

We now only keep the cards in the phone to keep it from whining for having one inserted. No data goes there!


Maybe a combined Nokia and @sandisk issue - just a bad pick of the crop?

 

[oldhat]

Not that uncommon. My mates & I have had similar compatibility issues with various phones & brands of sd cards...

 

[sajunky]

Human sweat can cause contact problems. Clean contacts of the card with pencil eraser regularly.

 

[reneg8or]

Human sweat can cause contact problems. Clean contacts of the card with pencil eraser regularly.

thanks for the tip but these cards live well away from that sort of harm

 

[sajunky]

thanks for the tip but these cards live well away from that sort of harm

Think so? <I use Shield, I don't produce sweat...>
Thanks for a tip, I won't use it anyway.

 

[bwana]

I'm forever putting my CF and SD cards, including wifi enabled EYE-Fi cards through the washing machine. Never had a failure with one yet though.

 

[xera]

I had a bad USB flash drive years ago, KingMax. It self destructed itself in the USB port somehow, never worked again.

 

[bromster]

I had a similar thing with my LG P970 Optimus Black.

-Had a Patriot 16gb. Never had a moment's trouble.

-Lost it. Bought a Sandisk cheapie from Matrix.

-Had the same problems you describe, despite being careful to do proper USB disconnections, Unmounting etc. I used it intermittently for months until I eventually stopped copying stuff onto it because it kept corrupting. I also could never find any pattern to its behaviour.

-Bought a Lexar class 6 16gb. No problems in the year that I have had it.

I suspect as stated above, it may just be a voltage or current incompatibility between phone and sd card.

 

[reneg8or]

I had a similar thing with my LG P970 Optimus Black.

-Had a Patriot 16gb. Never had a moment's trouble.

-Lost it. Bought a Sandisk cheapie from Matrix.

-Had the same problems you describe, despite being careful to do proper USB disconnections, Unmounting etc. I used it intermittently for months until I eventually stopped copying stuff onto it because it kept corrupting. I also could never find any pattern to its behaviour.

-Bought a Lexar class 6 16gb. No problems in the year that I have had it.

I suspect as stated above, it may just be a voltage or current incompatibility between phone and sd card.

My devices are never carried on my body but separately in a briefcase. It never gets nowhere human perspiration, ever. I also don't launder my like Bwana below (LOL!) and I've never tried tumble drying or ironing one. Always safe removal. I guess some are just made better than others.

The one in my phone isn't going corrupt any longer, maybe because it is just sitting there like a government official. Present but not doing any work.

 

[bwana]

My devices are never carried on my body but separately in a briefcase. It never gets nowhere human perspiration, ever. I also don't launder my like Bwana below (LOL!) and I've never tried tumble drying or ironing one. Always safe removal. I guess some are just made better than others.

The one in my phone isn't going corrupt any longer, maybe because it is just sitting there like a government official. Present but not doing any work.

Done that too.