Please Help: 'This Memory Card cannot be Used'?!

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PMK

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Hey guys,

I am at a loss.

I have been updating my picture files on my computer this evening. I have been transferring pictures from my memory card in my D40 to my external hardrive.

I wanted to delete all the images I had on my memory card, so I did manually - through the computer, not via the camera.

Once I did this I safely removed the hardware, checked all had been deleted on the camera and took a picture. I put the camera down and turned it off. 5 mins later I decided I wanted to take some pictures. However, when I turned it on the green button on the back of the D40 began flashing and a message popped up saying 'This Memory Card cannot be used. Card may be damaged. Insert another card'

I have no idea what has happened!? Thing is I dont have another memory card (foolishly) and I need it for a job tomorrow morning!

Is there anything I can do to get it working? Has anyone experienced a similar thing? Any ideas what I might have done to cause this? I don't want it happening again.

Cheers in advance
 
Put it back in the camera and format it in the camera.
 
When I have the camera on with the memory card in it I can't do anything with the camera!

What do you mean format it via my PC? There is nothing on the card. Sorry if I sound confused, it's cos I am...
 
just right click on the memory card folder and select properties, there should then be an option to format the card.
 
Any other ideas guys?

I have endlessly googled the error message and the feedback is all over the show, some say it could be a problem with the connections within the memory card slot? Others say a compatibilty issue, but I have used this camera and memory card for nearly a year!

Any advice/help/ideas would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
 
Clean contacts
Do you have any other cards, this should help confirm card or camera fault.
Do you have a card reader to enable you to format card via computer. Check printer for slot or £1 in pound shop.
Try card in a compact camera or mates camera/ computer if poss.
 
You should be still able to format the card in the PC - re-insert it into the card-reader and right click on the icon that appears in 'My Computer', then select format>quick format.
After that the camera should recognise it again, if so, reformat the card again in the camera.
If not, buy a new card and take it as a lesson learnt.

For future reference you should never delete the images via the PC or card-reader - instead re-format the card in the camera to delete the images and 'refresh' the card prior to the next job.
 
I had a similiar issue with a CF card albeit in a Canon. The solution, as bizarre as it seemed, was to simply remove the battery pack & CF card & then replace....
 
Thanks for the advice guys, however, I am still having no luck. I used a friends computer and card reader last night and it said there was a fault with the hardware. I will be buying a new one, any suggestions for 4-16 GB? Best value for money?

Indeed a lesson learnt - I have no idea why I deleted all the images via the PC it's the first (and last!) time I do that. FYI; I personally do not have a card reader - this was all done through firewire USB lead from camera to computer.

Arkady, apologies if I sound like a noob, but what do you mean by 'refresh' once you have formatted the memory card?
 
I had this problem with a micro SD card on my 450D.

I used an adaptor for an 8Gb card and it worked fine with me taking the adaptor out and plugging it into a USB card reader to download the files onto my computer.

The one day I get a similar message.

The card still works when plugged into my computer but not in the camera.

I relaced it with a proper sized 16Gb SD card and it works fine.

But I now use a USB lead to download files to my computer and keep the card in the camera.
 
PMK said:
Thanks for the advice guys, however, I am still having no luck. I used a friends computer and card reader last night and it said there was a fault with the hardware. I will be buying a new one, any suggestions for 4-16 GB? Best value for money?
Click to expand...

Just buy a decent brand and buy from a known UK supplier. Most cards on ebay are forgeries ! ie cheapo unbranded cards with a sticker on saying a decent brand.
 
Yeah, I don't use ebay anyways. I'll probs go with a Sandisk Ultra III 16Gb.

Lets just hope it is the memory card and not the camera, cannot be doing with the hassle of it all! I've already lost a mornings work...make that 2 memory cards I'll be purchasing...
 
PMK said:
I've already lost a mornings work...make that 2 memory cards I'll be purchasing...
Click to expand...

You could easily have picked up a card from a high street store, 24 hour supermarket or any number of places (they're even in garages these days) so you didn't have to lose this mornings work, even if it meant driving miles to get a card and paying over the odds.

2 cards is pretty much a bare minimum if you're using it for work!
 
PMK said:
Arkady, apologies if I sound like a noob, but what do you mean by 'refresh' once you have formatted the memory card?
Click to expand...

Not 'once you have reformatted the card' - the act of formatting in-camera does this.

Re-formatting the car in-camera renews it to pristine condition with no dodgy bits of files remaining to corrupt it.

'Refresh' isn't really the correct technical term, but serves as an approximate - it does more or less do that. You could also say it restores it to its original (factory) state, except that's not strictly true either as the card comes as a 'blank canvas' until it gets it first formatting in-camera.

Which you should do with all new cards before using them, BTW.
 
Arkady said:
Not 'once you have reformatted the card' - the act of formatting in-camera does this.

Re-formatting the car in-camera renews it to pristine condition with no dodgy bits of files remaining to corrupt it.

'Refresh' isn't really the correct technical term, but serves as an approximate - it does more or less do that. You could also say it restores it to its original (factory) state, except that's not strictly true either as the card comes as a 'blank canvas' until it gets it first formatting in-camera.

Which you should do with all new cards before using them, BTW.
Click to expand...

Ok cool, thanks for clearing that up. As I said before, on previous occasions I have always formatted the memory within the camera once I have made copies. But this time I just did it through the PC - no logic to it - just Ctrl A; delete all. I do feel a little silly, though.
 
PMK said:
.... But this time I just did it through the PC - no logic to it - just Ctrl A; delete all. I do feel a little silly, though.
Click to expand...

Using Ctrl A & delete is not actually formatting the card, it is just deleting data. This is how I always delete images from my CF.

Every so often I'll do a format of the card (in camera) although not every time I remove images.
 
Arkady said:
Re-formatting the car in-camera renews it to pristine condition with no dodgy bits of files remaining to corrupt it.
Click to expand...

Hmm, this isn't my experience. By "pristine condition" I assume you mean as it was when first purchased (i.e. absolutely nothing on the card). I always reformat my cards in-camera once I've uploaded the files to the computer. My main card is a SanDisk 8Gb which as been formatted this way several hundred times but, as I found out last night, I can still recover "deleted" files from it using recovery software.

From my experience I believe that the format carried out by the camera is a simple wiping of the FAT (file allocation table) which is the same as a quick format in Windows.
 
PMK said:
Once I did this I safely removed the hardware, checked all had been deleted on the camera and took a picture. I put the camera down and turned it off. 5 mins later I decided I wanted to take some pictures. However, when I turned it on the green button on the back of the D40 began flashing and a message popped up saying 'This Memory Card cannot be used. Card may be damaged. Insert another card'
Click to expand...

I had exactly the same problem with my D40 and a SanDisk 4Gb card once. Nothing I did with the card would revitalise it - ended up throwing it in the bin :'(

One lesson I took away fom the whole experience is that relying on a single card leaves you vulnerable :thinking:

Since then I have only ever purchased 2Gb cards on the basis that if another one does fail then I won't have lost as many pictures as I might have done with a bigger card. My only card larger than 2Gb is an 8Gb SanDisk that came with my D80.

Sorry I can't be more positive :)
 
Arkady said:
Re-formatting the car in-camera renews it to pristine condition with no dodgy bits of files remaining to corrupt it.
Click to expand...

Bristolian said:
Hmm, this isn't my experience. ...

...From my experience I believe that the format carried out by the camera is a simple wiping of the FAT (file allocation table) which is the same as a quick format in Windows.
Click to expand...

The ONLY way to guarantee a correctly formatted, known good card is to format it on a PC.

It's even best to format brand new cards on a PC before use.
 
acs said:
The ONLY way to guarantee a correctly formatted, known good card is to format it on a PC.

It's even best to format brand new cards on a PC before use.
Click to expand...

wow every thread i,ve ever read says DON,T use your pc to format cards :shrug:
 
F3TT said:
Using Ctrl A & delete is not actually formatting the card, it is just deleting data.
Click to expand...

...and can highlight any strange issues with badly formatted cards.
 
dinorock said:
wow every thread i,ve ever read says DON,T use your pc to format cards :shrug:
Click to expand...

By definition, any device that states it uses a FAT filesystem MUST be able to correctly read and write a card formatted on a (DOS/ Windows) PC.
 
well iv,e used my camera to do it for the last 2 1/2 years with no problems so i think i,ll stick to that :thumbs:
 
acs said:
The ONLY way to guarantee a correctly formatted, known good card is to format it on a PC.

It's even best to format brand new cards on a PC before use.
Click to expand...

Negative, Ghost-Rider - Nikon and Sandisk both say not to do this, but to format and reformat in the camera only...
 
Well, with a corrupt disk you won't get anywhere.

...as another poster has confirmed.
 
Arkady said:
Negative, Ghost-Rider - Nikon and Sandisk both say not to do this, but to format and reformat in the camera only...
Click to expand...

It's a bit more than that surely. The camera writes a file/folder structure on there as well?

I use camera to format, pc card reader to read
 
Byker28i said:
It's a bit more than that surely. The camera writes a file/folder structure on there as well?

I use camera to format, pc card reader to read
Click to expand...

Correct - the card is an empty vessel (so to speak) until the camera has created it's own unique file structure on it. I was simplifying matters somewhat to avoid confusing things further.
Formatting with a PC erases that file structure and means you'd have to re-format with the camera again to be certain there were no problems when taking photos.
Deleting images using your PC could also introduce random bits of code that would interfere with that process - you all know what Windows is like for leaving unwanted bits and bytes lying around (Mac-users probably can all laugh at us at this point...).

It's an easy enough operation to use the 'Format' function on your camera to delete previous (unwanted) images and set the card up, nice and fresh for the next job.
Anything that might cause problems is something to be avoided at all costs - as you'd only find out when it was too late to do anything about it.
 
Arkady said:
Formatting with a PC erases that file structure and means you'd have to re-format with the camera again to be certain there were no problems when taking photos.
Click to expand...

No harm in doing that, but no need, you don't need to use the 'format' procedure to create the directory structure. Try it.

Arkady said:
Deleting images using your PC could also introduce random bits of code that would interfere with that process - you all know what Windows is like for leaving unwanted bits and bytes lying around (Mac-users probably can all laugh at us at this point...).
Click to expand...

The filesystem was specified by Microsoft, their implementation is correct and is designed to handle many of the broken implementations.

Windows does not "leave bits lying around".

Arkady said:
It's an easy enough operation to use the 'Format' function on your camera to delete previous (unwanted) images and set the card up, nice and fresh for the next job.
Click to expand...

Doesn't work with a corrupt filesystem as it isn't a true 'format'.

Arkady said:
Anything that might cause problems is something to be avoided at all costs.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
 
acs said:
a) No harm in doing that, but no need, you don't need to use the 'format' procedure to create the directory structure. Try it.

b) Windows does not "leave bits lying around".

c) Doesn't work with a corrupt filesystem as it isn't a true 'format'...

d) Agreed...
Click to expand...

a) I have done (by accident) - better to do it before use, or so I've been told by the Lexar Media chappie I spoke to (I said 'Sandisk earlier - I apologise - it was a bloke from Lexar Media who came to give us a talk on how they make stuff)...
You may well be right, but I'll take the advice of an industry professional over a bloke on a Forum most days, no matter how well-informed they may be - and I accept you may be better qualified than he, but I've no way of knowing that for sure.

b) So what are all these unused .dll bits lying around?

c) Which is why I suggested to try and reformat using Windows, then re-format in-camera and if that didn't work, buy a new card...

d) Good - we're all in agreement then...:D
 
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