SD card problem (relevant to other models too?) - lost holiday photos!

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insensible shrimp

Senior Member
I have just got back from a week's holiday. Each day I have downloaded the images from the 16GB Verbatim SD card to a laptop in case the D5100 got lost and to view them. Yesterday when I did this there were no photos showing for 18/8/12, although I had been looking at them on the camera earlier - probably 100-200 images at a guess.. All the images for this day are missing. I know I didn't delete them. I have used Recuva software to confirm that there are no deleted files on the card.
The card itself is fairly new. The camera is just over a year old. The spring which holds the card in place failed a few months back (annoyance!) and I did not judge it worth the repair cost which seemed disproportionate. Occasionally I get an error message on the back of the camera if I do not push the card in hard enough, but normally it works fine.
I am at a loss to think why I have lost pictures for just one date. I did search for a photo taken on the 13/8 and take the rear screen back to the "date view", but even if I had inadvertently deleted shots from 18/8 they would presumably show up using Recuva. If the card had been corrupted and lost all images I could understand it. I have not used it to take any more photos in case I overwrite data which is there but somehow hidden, but I am not sure where to go next with this. It isn't a complete disaster - it was an "out and back" canal holiday, nothing exotic, so I had taken very simliar photos a few days back, but it is very frustrating and I am worried it could happen again if I don't know what has caused it. I would like to know if anyone has had a similar problem or any advice, please.
 
J

jdeg

^ broke something
Staff member
How were you transferring the files to the laptop? Is it possible the card was pulled from the laptop pre-maturely causing the card file system to be corrupt?
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
(quote)The camera is just over a year old. The spring which holds the card in place failed a few months back (annoyance!) and I did not judge it worth the repair cost.....(unquote)

ummm....do you think this might be your problem? And this camera is only just over a year old? This tells me the camera is still under warranty, so they should fix the spring problem for free!
If the SD card does not sit properly when installed in the camera, you're naturally going to have problems taking pictures with it. My advice?....send it back to get fixed!
 
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eurotrash

Senior Member
I agree. The cost shouldn't be an issue since it seems like it's still under warranty.

This is also absolutely the cause of your issues. Only other thing I can think of is not ejecting your card before pulling it out of the card reader, which gives me issues sometimes when I do it.
 
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insensible shrimp

Senior Member
ok thanks. I didn't do anything unusual in inserting or removing the card from the laptop. I've looked at the locking switch but no joy.
My only experience of sending cameras away for warranty repairs has involved lengthy waits for their return, and as my local repairer, who I have faith in, is doubtful that it would be covered by warranty, I was trying to avoid this. The part which has failed is part of the main circuit board. I can see that this is likely to be related, but not why just the one day's photos are affected. Does anyone have experience of getting images back from damaged cards, maybe using someone who advertises this? Or are my images likely to have gone from the card? I suppose I'll have to get it repaired, I can't risk losing more vital shots, but I was hoping someone might have had a similar experience. Cheers!
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
If I may make a suggestion about SD cards: unless you're shooting video with your DSLR, there is not really any reason to use a large capacity card. If you limit your cards to 4GB, you lessen the risk of losing pictures. Would you rather lose a whole 16GB card, or a r4GB card? I think the answer would be obvious, yes? :)
 
C

Carolina Photo Guy

Senior Member
insensible shrimp said:
I have just got back from a week's holiday. Each day I have downloaded the images from the 16GB Verbatim SD card to a laptop in case the D5100 got lost and to view them. Yesterday when I did this there were no photos showing for 18/8/12, although I had been looking at them on the camera earlier - probably 100-200 images at a guess.. All the images for this day are missing. I know I didn't delete them. I have used Recuva software to confirm that there are no deleted files on the card.
The card itself is fairly new. The camera is just over a year old. The spring which holds the card in place failed a few months back (annoyance!) and I did not judge it worth the repair cost which seemed disproportionate. Occasionally I get an error message on the back of the camera if I do not push the card in hard enough, but normally it works fine.
I am at a loss to think why I have lost pictures for just one date. I did search for a photo taken on the 13/8 and take the rear screen back to the "date view", but even if I had inadvertently deleted shots from 18/8 they would presumably show up using Recuva. If the card had been corrupted and lost all images I could understand it. I have not used it to take any more photos in case I overwrite data which is there but somehow hidden, but I am not sure where to go next with this. It isn't a complete disaster - it was an "out and back" canal holiday, nothing exotic, so I had taken very simliar photos a few days back, but it is very frustrating and I am worried it could happen again if I don't know what has caused it. I would like to know if anyone has had a similar problem or any advice, please.
Click to expand...


You have not indicated your location but I suspect that you are somewhere in Europe. How did you pay for your camera? If you used an American Express card, then your camera is not out of warranty. Amex doubles the manufacturers warranty on ANYTHING that you purchase.

Just a thought. Check it out.

Hope this helps.

BTW: Having a broken spring rattling around next to a bunch of electronic components is not a good idea.
 
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§am

Senior Member
If it's less then a year old then warranty should cover it.
Poor contact with the card will result in not only loss of pics, but possible whole card corruption, or as already mentioned damage to the camera itself.
 
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eurotrash

Senior Member
I agree with jack. I use 2 8 gig Sandisk Extreme 45mb/s cards. 16 gig cheapie Micro Center ones for video (which isn't often) Don't put all your eggs in one basket!

You should format your card EVERY single time you go out and shoot (assuming you've unloaded your pics from the previous shoot) This way, you won't likely run into corruption issues. SD cards, I've learned, are prone to corruption from removing them prematurely (that's what she said), more so than I would have thought and far more so than any other storage medium I've come across. In all my years in IT, I can say that with honesty.

That said, I still think your main issue isn't with your card..
 
S

Sandpatch

Senior Member
My D5100 is my very first digital camera (I was a die-hard 35mm/Kodachrome fan in my prior life) and when I researched digital cameras, the D7000 had a feature I thought was very neat -- two SDHC card slots, which could be programmed to duplicate each shot taken. That got me to thinking. Does anyone make an affordable ($20 to $30) stand-alone independent device which accomplishes this -- a simple SDHC card duplicator?

I've had no failures with my SDHC Card, but the fear is there, I lost my share of 35mm rolls in processing and in the mail over the years and would be very saddened to suffer a similar loss with the new technology. Thanks.
 
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§am

Senior Member
Most card copiers are usually large scale professional devices for multiple duplication.
I don't think you can get a 'pocket' version so to speak.

However, have a look at the Eye-Fi cards which may achieve what you want, or just us the old fashioned copy/cut & paste to your storage media more often.
 
Patrick M

Patrick M

Senior Member
You could always use the camera's USB cable to link it to the laptop, so you can leave the SD card in situ.

Eye-Fi takes a lot of the pain away.


Patrick
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
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DennyI

New member
I have had similar experiences. I would get an error message reading that the file was not readable. I thought it was a SD problem so I traded out and have had the same experience with the new card. Usually the beginning of the shoot is fine but after awhile the problem develops. I dont think it is the seating of the card. I have had it happen while using a tripod and no reason for the card to become dislodged. I would love an explanation to the problem
 
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