Damaged SD Cards

[Runnin_Chupacabra]

Hey All! I went out to check my trail cams today, kept/deleted everything off the SD card and now the cam says (it's on video mode) "000/004." My assumption is the SD card has gone bad as trying other cards have an exponential amount available video space. Has anyone had any experience with this or perhaps something I may have unknowingly done to damage the card?

 

[schmalts]

I know taking card in or out when a camera is on can mess them up. Been there, done that. Try to do a format in a PC and see if you can fix it. I also have jump drives become write protected and are FUBAR as well, but not a camera problem, a vehicle radio thing.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

I once reformatted my SD card and it never happens again. Just right click on it and you should have the option to format it. Make sure all data you want is saved somewhere else. Because reformatting wipes memory of the chip.

 

[Runnin_Chupacabra]

You guys are geniuses! Worked like a charm!

 

[Losing_Sanity]

Swap out the SD card with a different one to ensure its not the camera. Some SD cards are better than others. Make sure you have a good quality one. Take a pencil eraser and clean up the contacts. Corrosion and tarnish can be hard to see and can cause problems. Format the card to ensure no corrupt sectors. It's best to format with the camera if you can, but using your PC will work as well. Some times it's just better to get a new SD card and avoid the headache...

 

[Williboss]

Yeah, I destroyed a few SD cards because I had some virus on my desktop computer and when I wanted to copy the material, it affected the SD card. At least I think so because I don't see any other reason why they went bad. I installed a windows registry cleaner to fix it but I don't know if it helped because I didn't want to try it again. I want to figure out what's the problem before because I need that material. If you guys have any idea, please let me know what am I doing wrong. Thanks in advance.

 

[Killas]

The same experience here.

 

[joelynnpamplin]

Hi. I think there was no mechanical damage. Windows often does not see or offers to format the memory card. They are still on it physically, even if they were deleted. However, the machine marks the sectors as unused. I ran into the same problem two months ago. I had to ask for help from data recovery services near me. But you can firstly scan your hard drive using third-party software. It usually don’t pay attention to whether the sectors are marked or not. I hope everything will be okay.