This memory card cannot be used

[Davosteve]

Hello everyone, today while I was taking a picture of a mosquito my camera came up with the error:
"This memory card cannot be used.
Card may be damaged.
Insert another card."
After that I tried it with other cards and it worked without any problem, when I put it in my PC it didn't let me delete anything or format it, nor did it work in the camera menu
Despite that, I can see the photos in Lightroom without problems. I tried to remove the write-only mode but it was not active. I also cleaned it and the camera port
I think it might be obvious but is it the camera or the memory?

 

[Woodyg3]

Sounds like bad card. Can you import the pictures into Lightroom from this card? If so I would make sure you have the pictures safely on your computer, then if you wanted to you could format the card and see if it works. Honestly, though, if I encounter a problem like that, I usually just throw the card away.

 

[hark]

Try toggling the switch on the side of the card a few times then try again. Be sure the switch is in the up position (further away from the contacts on the card). Otherwise, the card might be damaged.

 

[BF Hammer]

Card is bad. I have not had an SD card fail in a camera yet, but I have had failures being used as main storage in a netbook PC. I also have maybe 10 microSD cards fail in phones and tablets over the years with the same basic problem. Suddenly you cannot write files but files can be read. The card cannot be reformatted either so it becomes useless.

If you Google around for a fix, everybody's suggestion won't work. My feeling is that there is a software write protection switch on the cards that becomes corrupted. Once write protected, it is impossible to overwrite that software switch to fix. Avoid Samsung cards because of this. Been having best long-term use with SanDisk cards as late.

 

[hark]

.... Been having best long-term use with SanDisk cards as late.

Me too. Had an issue with one Lexar card which is when I switched to SanDisk. When the contacts start to look worn, I replace it with a new card as a precaution. The contacts do start to show signs of wear from repeatedly inserting and removing it.

In general, it's better for the camera to remove the card and put it in a card reader on the PC/Mac. That way it saves wear and tear on the camera by not transferring the files via a cable to the PC/Mac.

 

[Davosteve]

Try toggling the switch on the side of the card a few times then try again. Be sure the switch is in the up position (further away from the contacts on the card). Otherwise, the card might be damaged.

I just tried it, seems to be damaged

 

[hark]

I just tried it, seems to be damaged

That's a shame. Hope you find a way to obtain editable images from the photos you took.

 

[Davosteve]

Card is bad. I have not had an SD card fail in a camera yet, but I have had failures being used as main storage in a netbook PC. I also have maybe 10 microSD cards fail in phones and tablets over the years with the same basic problem. Suddenly you cannot write files but files can be read. The card cannot be reformatted either so it becomes useless.

If you Google around for a fix, everybody's suggestion won't work. My feeling is that there is a software write protection switch on the cards that becomes corrupted. Once write protected, it is impossible to overwrite that software switch to fix. Avoid Samsung cards because of this. Been having best long-term use with SanDisk cards as late.

This is a 32GB SanDisk Ultra, so I guess I was unlucky
thanks for the tips, I'll replace my samsung sd cards

 

[Davosteve]

That's a shame. Hope you find a way to obtain editable images from the photos you took.

Thanks for the help everyone, at least I was able to process the photos

 

[Marilynne]

Welcome!

Please feel free to introduce yourself here - new member

 

[BF Hammer]

Good that there was no data loss, just minor hardware.

So if you thought it was poor coding that was the cause of stuff like this, that is not entirely the thing to blame. Random bits in memory can flip from radiation exposure and also cosmic rays of all things. This video I watched some weeks ago really opened my eyes to this.