Has my memory card broken?

[Crotal Bell]

Last night I plugged my memory card into my card reader, I popped it in the slot in the side of my laptop as usual. When I opened my files and chose Lumix, instead of entering the options to choose the pictures as usual, it said something like

“disc needs formatting in drive E before it can be used”. I took it out and put it back in a couple of times but to no avail . When I followed the instructions obviously it warned me that formatting would “wipe the disc” and then it told me it could not access drive E anyway

Luckily I was using the G9 with two slots so I tried the JPEG card. It opened this in the usual manner and allowed me to transfer the pictures to my laptop.

Presumably this is what happens when a card becomes corrupted, and I would be best to throw it away? Your guidance will be appreciated folks, thanks in advance.

 

[skullfunkerry]

You could always try formatting it and seeing if it starts working again. Personally though I wouldn't trust it.
I have my camera set to save raw & jpeg to both cards, so if one goes wrong I still have everything on the other.

 

[gramps]

Have you recently updated your OS?
After recently updating my macOs I lost thumbnails in Finder, a Google search eventually turned up a solution.
However sometimes what you describe happens if a card is not ejected properly, e.g. before the equipment has finished writing to it.
It might be worth re-formatting and trying it as a 2nd card for a while to see how it performs, if it has been corrupted rather than just a file corrupted it will show up soon enough.

 

[the black fox]

Just had this with my friends card ,seems like ejecting it to quickly caused the problem , card trashed … or it could also be a problem with a dodgy card reader we couldn’t pin down the actual cause yesterday but those two seemed to be the main culprits

 

[Brentor]

Does the card still work in the camera?

 

[angelpaaul]

If it works in the camera, can you transfer to your computer via cable?

 

[Boots]

I was always told to format the card in the camera.

 

[Crotal Bell]

Have you recently updated your OS?
After recently updating my macOs I lost thumbnails in Finder, a Google search eventually turned up a solution.
However sometimes what you describe happens if a card is not ejected properly, e.g. before the equipment has finished writing to it.
It might be worth re-formatting and trying it as a 2nd card for a while to see how it performs, if it has been corrupted rather than just a file corrupted it will show up soon enough.

No nothing like that buddy.

 

[Crotal Bell]

Just had this with my friends card ,seems like ejecting it to quickly caused the problem , card trashed … or it could also be a problem with a dodgy card reader we couldn’t pin down the actual cause yesterday but those two seemed to be the main culprits

Does the card still work in the camera?

If it works in the camera, can you transfer to your computer via cable?

I was always told to format the card in the camera.

Just tried it in the camera. It said on the back screen "memory card error do you want to format this card?"
So I did and it's taken pictures, will see later if they transfer.
I didn't take it out the camera for ages after I came home, but I suppose I could have switched off the camera too soon after taking a burst when I was out?
I'll see what happens tonight, if it works I may use it as a spare in future.

 

[the black fox]

Ah that might be my mates problem to ,good call

 

[Crotal Bell]

Ah that might be my mates problem to ,good call

After formatting in camera it worked fine in tonights test.

 

[Brentor]

I’ve never had this, but good to know.

 

[realspeed]

watch ouit for card separation if it is getting old. I had one fall apart in the camera card slot . insurance didn't cover because they could not understand what had happedned, camera needed a new mother board in the end cost a packet

 

[Crotal Bell]

watch ouit for card separation if it is getting old. I had one fall apart in the camera card slot . insurance didn't cover because they could not understand what had happedned, camera needed a new mother board in the end cost a packet

Thanks for the tip, none of the cards are past around tree years but I don't know what's considered old for a card.
I do take the cameras out quite a bit so they get plenty of use.