My Compact Flash Card is Damaged - replace with?

[BLeonard]

I got a memory card error message from old faithful 128MB Kingston Compact Flash Card that has been in my Canon Camera forever. I tried Disk Utility on it and it gave me a long scrolling list of repairs and was unable to complete a repair.

So I guess I'm looking for a replacement. And I looked here at OWC first.

What's the difference between these besides one costing $78 and the other only $34?

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/SanDisk/SDCFB512768/
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/SanDisk/SDCFB512A10/

And is there anything else I should try on my original card? I think it may have been messed up when I inserted it into one of those multi port card readers and it didn't go in straight the first time.

[papercup]

Sheesh, both of those prices are very high. Search around for bigger/cheaper cards.


512 cards can be found free after rebate, 1 gig cards for 10 bucks if you search around.

What camera? Speed rating comes into play with large megapixel cameras, but if you are getting by with a 512mb, I think any card will be an upgrade.


If you are looking for a brand name, I like Kingston. Most CF cards are pretty reliable.

For comparison, this CF card is 25 bucks shipped when its on sale (frequently) http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=202743374&adid=17662

[BLeonard]

That link is for a 2GB card and is currently almost $50.

[papercup]

[quote BLeonard]That link is for a 2GB card and is currently almost $50.
Yes, I know. When its on sale. Timing is everything. And your post pointed to a 78.00 card with one-quarter the storage.

[Jem]

There IS a utility for rescuing data from Flash Media cards...

http://www.prosofteng.com/products/pictu...e_info.php

There might be others.

If you can stand to lose the photos on your damaged card, I'd say just buy a NEW one and toss the old.

Just make sure your camera is capable of viewing the size you plan to buy. Some cameras have a max MB capacity set for the card type you use. For instance a 512MB might work where a 2GB card might not. CompactFlash devices tend to be more forgiving than other media types in my experience, but check first.

Also... if you have a 3 MP camera, you might be better off with TWO 512MB cards so you can swap them out and/or have a backup if one goes bad. With a single 1GB card all your eggs are in one basket.

With a higher resolution camera the same principle applies, but the maximum size of the card will increase... so that you can have at least 100 to 200 full resolution images per card.

Good luck!