How long will an SD Card last
- Thread starter tea2085
- Start date
Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
[h=3]What is the service life of an SD memory card?[/h]This depends on how your product in manufactured. SD standards-based memory cards, like most semiconductor cards, store information in flash memory. The current technology along with normal usage typically gives the card a lifespan of 10 years or more, allowing consumers to upgrade their devices for many years and reduce consumer electronic waste.
https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/faq/#servicelife
https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/faq/#servicelife
I still use CF (Compact Flash) 16MB San Disk cards! Truth be told, computers (and by extension, digital cameras) do not erase anything. When you delete, erase or even reformat a card, the images are still there. So doing any of those actions really doesn't affect the quality of the images. It doesn't go through the entire card and reset every memory location back to 0. All the 1's and 0's that make up the images remain in place. You will just need recovery software to retrieve the images if you want them.
All memory devices use a bit of the memory for 'housekeeping'. This means the memory is used to 'keep notes' as it were. When you delete an image, the 'notes' are changed so the computer or camera can now re-use that memory. As long as you don't take another image, all the deleted images are still there. Once you start taking more images, the memory locations where the deleted images are get changed.
This is why, if you have images on a card that you need to recover due to card error or file corruption, or if you accidently delete an image or reformat the card, you want to set the card aside and not use it until you recover the image.
All memory devices use a bit of the memory for 'housekeeping'. This means the memory is used to 'keep notes' as it were. When you delete an image, the 'notes' are changed so the computer or camera can now re-use that memory. As long as you don't take another image, all the deleted images are still there. Once you start taking more images, the memory locations where the deleted images are get changed.
This is why, if you have images on a card that you need to recover due to card error or file corruption, or if you accidently delete an image or reformat the card, you want to set the card aside and not use it until you recover the image.
rocketman122
Senior Member
Btw most cards have lifetime warranty on them. And yes you can open an rma years later and get a replacement. So dont toss away bad cards.
i always the memory cards slots as backup. Never overflow.
i always the memory cards slots as backup. Never overflow.
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Diver finds tourist's camera in the ocean, returns the photos years after it was lost at sea | 6abc.com
Camera lost at sea returned with the help of social networking | Technology News Blog - Yahoo News
Photos Recovered from Camera That Spent Four Years in the Ocean
This is why I put my name, address, email and telephone in a .txt file on every memory card.
Camera lost at sea returned with the help of social networking | Technology News Blog - Yahoo News
Photos Recovered from Camera That Spent Four Years in the Ocean
This is why I put my name, address, email and telephone in a .txt file on every memory card.
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