CF Card Failure?

The general "rule" you see on these forums is to not put all your eggs in one basket and buy several CF cards rather than one large capacity card (ie 4 X 4g rather than 1 X 16g). I've got lots of low-capacity cards, some as small as 512mb from the days of lower-res cameras. I've never had a CF card fail. I always format them in my camera and not in the computer. Neither have I heard about anybody in our local camera club having CF cards fail.

I've also been told that the cheap (in price) "No Name" brands are just a reliable as the Sandisk and other "good" cards. I have a "Foto Source" 4 GB card that's been going steady for the past year or more.

CF Card Failure can't be a very common event. Has anybody had this happen to them? If so, what were the circumstances when it happened? What brand was the card?

Keith

Ridata 8GB 233X Lightening Series

I RAM'd it and they sent me a new one. It happened almost right away. 1% File corruption was what I was seeing, and then eventually the camera got caught in a loop where it could not write to the card. The Ridata website now includes a note about these cards needing a firmware update if they are failing on Canon and Nikon cameras. Ridata treated me very well... as they should have.

I haven't actually used the new card. Once bitten twice shy. I use a 16GB Kingston and carry the Ridata 8GB, a Transend 2GB, and a PQI 2GB. I don't need an ultra fast card, and I'm not sure I'd buy one if I did. I might just shoot jpeg instead. ;-)

ye this has happened to me just now, im still looking for a solution

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I have stuck with SanDisk for years and never have had a problem. I am now using their small Ultra II in both 2&4 Gb. in my Canon G10.

I also have used many of their larger CF cards many 128meg from years ago also a 1Gb.

Now that I have the new Canon 50D I have their Extreme III in a 4Gb and have a Extreme VI in 4Gb on order. I like sticking with things that have worked well for me in the past, and SanDisk has done this. Sticking with 4Gb size just seems like a good idea.

Schwany said:

Ridata 8GB 233X Lightening Series

I RAM'd it and they sent me a new one. It happened almost right away.
1% File corruption was what I was seeing, and then eventually the
camera got caught in a loop where it could not write to the card.
The Ridata website now includes a note about these cards needing a
firmware update if they are failing on Canon and Nikon cameras.
Ridata treated me very well... as they should have.

I haven't actually used the new card. Once bitten twice shy. I use a
16GB Kingston and carry the Ridata 8GB, a Transend 2GB, and a PQI
2GB. I don't need an ultra fast card, and I'm not sure I'd buy one if
I did. I might just shoot jpeg instead. ;-)

Click to expand...

I had the exact same problem with the same card. I had never had a CF card corruption/failure before. The corruption occurred on the first use. I used it a few more times with corruption every time. This was last July. I returned the card immediately and they sent me a new one. I have used the new one extensively now and have not had a single error. I visited the Ridata site and they do mention new firmware but there doesn't seem to be a download link. Did you upgrade your card to the new firmware? Do you know how to tell what firmware version is currently on the card?

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Clint

Clint,

I returned it via RMA, and they sent me a new one. EOS (end of story) I didn't read or upgrade the firmware myself. I believe one either has the problem or they don't. If you are not having a problem, then you have the right firmware. Apparently this doesn't happen on all camera platforms. I brought this up indirectly in the Sony SLR forum and everyone was in love with their Ridata cards. Go figure.

I think the note on the product page indicates that the card needs to be sent in for the firmware upgrade. If not, they should edit the note, because that is what has to be done. There probably is/are CF card recovery software out there that can retrieve the firmware information from the CF card. However, those fields could be vendor specific and difficult to decipher. I seriously doubt there is a public tool that would let you upgrade the firmware. But I've been wrong before.

Anywho, thanks for the heads up on the Ridata card working well after you got the new one. I'll use mine more often and see how it performs.

clint7 said:

Schwany said:

Ridata 8GB 233X Lightening Series

I RAM'd it and they sent me a new one. It happened almost right away.
1% File corruption was what I was seeing, and then eventually the
camera got caught in a loop where it could not write to the card.
The Ridata website now includes a note about these cards needing a
firmware update if they are failing on Canon and Nikon cameras.
Ridata treated me very well... as they should have.

I haven't actually used the new card. Once bitten twice shy. I use a
16GB Kingston and carry the Ridata 8GB, a Transend 2GB, and a PQI
2GB. I don't need an ultra fast card, and I'm not sure I'd buy one if
I did. I might just shoot jpeg instead. ;-)

Click to expand...

I had the exact same problem with the same card. I had never had a CF
card corruption/failure before. The corruption occurred on the first
use. I used it a few more times with corruption every time. This was
last July. I returned the card immediately and they sent me a new
one. I have used the new one extensively now and have not had a
single error. I visited the Ridata site and they do mention new
firmware but there doesn't seem to be a download link. Did you
upgrade your card to the new firmware? Do you know how to tell what
firmware version is currently on the card?

--
Clint

Click to expand...

Schwany,

Thanks for the info. Mine is working fine now so I assume it will continue to do so. I was hesitant to use it because the first one was so untrustworthy. But this one seems fine.
--
Clint

KROW said:

CF Card Failure can't be a very common event. Has anybody had this
happen to them? If so, what were the circumstances when it happened?
What brand was the card?

Click to expand...

A few years back, when a 1gig card was as big as they came and cost $350 here in Canada, a Sandisk one went corrupt on me. I didn't lose anything important, and it was entirely my fault. The mp3 player said not to use files larger than 60mb, I put a 70mb file on it and it tried to play it in the player. It killed the mp3 player and "locked" the CF card up. I couldn't see it when plugged into the reader.

I still had the receipt from 2 years earlier, so my retailer replaced in instantly, scratched out the hand written "5 year warranty" and wrote "3 year warranty remaining" and the date.

Other than that, I've never had any of my other dozens of cards go bad... from ancient (and still functional, but useless) 16mb ones, all the way up to my current EIII 4 and 8 gig cards. I bought one off-brand cards a few years ago, and it still functions perfectly in the last P&S we bought, which has been donated to the kids.

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I wanna be an amateur when I grow up.