i got a panasonic digial camera running a toshiba 256MB SD card (SD-M256)

all of a sudden, the card failed to read and show an error message "card error". the system force us to format the card on start up of the camera. but an error message "format error" show up when we choose to format the card. (with the card still inside the camera)

i tried connecting the camera to the computer, but the computer can't access the card.

i tried the camera with another SD card and it works just fine.

so, can't access and can't format the SD card. i searched briefly on the web and nobody seems to be have a solution for it?!

the SD card fairly new, with less than 1/2 yr of useage.

what gives? anybody experienced the same thing? got a fix?

 

On SD is the gold exposed like on a Smart Media? If so then moving it in and out of the camera scratched it and made unreadable. If you can plug directly into a computer without the camera you may be able to salvage some of the files. I have Smart Media (Stupid Media actually) that you should not move in and out of readers as it is easily scratched. No more cameras that use it for me.

 

the card is gone. i work at CC and this happens with alot of our display ones. its those gold metal points. they seem to not work if they are scratched. just gonna have to buy a new one. sorry

 

the bad sd card, does it work in anything else no/yes

NO, the bad sd card needs reformatting, look or post onto brighthand.com to find a routine that will formath these little things. just like a hard drive there are a few different formats so inquire which format too. the card itself may be bad, see if the manufacturer of the camera or sd card will do good.

YES, it does work in another computer, copy the directory structure from the good sd card onto the bad card

 

this sucks

even if i can reformat the card, but who knows it will fail again?

it will be really bad if it fails in the middle of a vacation and lost all the photo

i had some old smartmedia cards for my old camera and they lasted quite a while (and useage). one card acted funny sometimes when you first put it in, but another try or some usually solve the problem and it never lost the data.

i am using CF is my Canon and it never lost a beat

this new SD card thing sucks

 

SD cards often have write protection. Is there a tiny switch on the card? If so, slide it to the other side and that will fix it.

 

its not the write-protect switch, i've tried

the problem is the camera can't seems to recognize the card

hence the "card error" and "format error"

 

There are some utilities that will do "raw reads" of the card, bypassing the file system and recover the files on it. I do know they exist for OS X and probably Linux.

The card will still be toast though. You might be able to recover some or most of your photos.

Here's a place to look for help:

http://www.ultimateslr.com/memory-card-recovery.php

 

You're card is probably done then. I've had the same problem. There are two options according to Sandisk level two support: 1) write protection 2) card is dead. Mine was the latter.

 

thanks guy

guess its toasted

i am looking for replacement, which brand is more reliable?