Nikon D7000 corrupts memory card when I delete all pics

[Red Squirrel]

Whenever I use the option to delete all pictures from the SD card, it just corrupts it, I get an error that it's an invalid card. The only way to delete pictures seems to delete 1 at a time or format the card. I imagine formatting the card will wear it out faster so don't like having to do that.

Also at random, it will turn into a read only file system, so I can't delete files through the computer, in fact I can't even open them before I copy to another folder. I'm scared this problem will eventually turn into an issue where I actually lose pictures.

What would cause this and how do I stop it? The cards are Kingston 16GB. Not sure of exact model, any number on it I put in google either returns lot of different cards or none at all. I'm scared this potentially leads to full corruption of the card or something.

 

[radhak]

Did you try with a different SD card? I think memory cards go bad faster than camera going bad.

At the same time, if it does it to other cards too, it should be a minor fix.

Also, when I had my D90, I used to format my card every time; never thought it will wear out the card or anything. And never had a problem for the years I did it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

These are fairly new cards, if I had to guess they may have taken 10k pictures, if that. Probably more like 5k really. I don't have other cards to test with but I can probably buy a few more, never hurts to have spares.

 

[CuriousMike]

Do you have any cards that aren't these Kingstons?

Ideally, you could determine the cards are faulty and just shit-can them.

I am a huge proponent of the PNY elites - 90% as fast as the fastest Sandisks and they are reliable.
http://www.amazon.com/PNY-Elite-Per...qid=1428723872&sr=8-1&keywords=pny+elite+16gb

 

[radhak]

If you have more than one card, and they all have the same problem, even if they are the same make, then the Camera is likely to blame. Can't think of a manufacturing defect causing this so consistently.

Doesn't hurt to try with a different card, of course. Cheaper and quicker.

But till you fix it, please continue formatting the card before each use, after you copy over the prior pictures. Saves you the other hassles.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Well this is odd, I was trying to replicate the problem again as I found another card (A Transcend 16GB) and I can no longer replicate it. Not sure if its because there were less pictures to delete. I typically go to the point where I have a couple hundred pictures then clear them. I noticed the Transcend card has a C with a 10 in it and the others have a C with a 4 in it, is that the class, and higher is better right?

Also something just crossed my mind, since flash has finite writes, what happens when the end is reached? Do you lose all the pictures? I guess if going on a trip it would probably pay to buy a new card specifically for that trip. If I'm just taking random pictures around town or around the house it's not really a huge deal to lose them but if actually going on a trip with friends or something then you can't just go back to retake them.

 

[CuriousMike]

Just buy a new camera to be safe.

 

[radhak]

Well this is odd, I was trying to replicate the problem again as I found another card (A Transcend 16GB) and I can no longer replicate it. Not sure if its because there were less pictures to delete. I typically go to the point where I have a couple hundred pictures then clear them. I noticed the Transcend card has a C with a 10 in it and the others have a C with a 4 in it, is that the class, and higher is better right?

Also something just crossed my mind, since flash has finite writes, what happens when the end is reached? Do you lose all the pictures? I guess if going on a trip it would probably pay to buy a new card specifically for that trip. If I'm just taking random pictures around town or around the house it's not really a huge deal to lose them but if actually going on a trip with friends or something then you can't just go back to retake them.

C4 is older technology, C10 is newer. So it is possible that you have the C4 cards since long, which implies they should simply be replaced. Which was my original suspicion.

As for the number of writes for a card, I have never tracked all that. The first time a card gives me trouble, it gets relegated to 'unimportant pictures', not to be used for important trips et al, and a newer card is warranted. I would think now that you see your camera is not at fault, just buy new cards.

Just buy a new camera to be safe.

 

[CuriousMike]

Memory cards are cheap... it seems like every other order I have with Amazon I buy another as backup.

Between my two cameras, I must have 8 SD cards.

$9 is just too goddamned cheap to fuck around with 'questionable' cards.
I've had one or two questionable cards and they are put to a pair of pliers, burned, driven over and finally recycled.

 

[Berliner]

Don't delete pictures "all at once", just format the card, it's MUCH less straining on the card.

 

[CuriousMike]

Don't delete pictures "all at once", just format the card, it's MUCH less straining on the card.

Wow. I never thought of that - I always control-x on all the photos and move them to my pc.
I'm not sure if that causes the physical delete, or if the OS is smart enough to recognize that as just marking the FAT as "moved, but don't physically delete."

 

[Red Squirrel]

Don't delete pictures "all at once", just format the card, it's MUCH less straining on the card.

Really? I would have thought it would be the opposite. Also the cards I have are maybe a year old or so, so they're fairly new, the other card I have came with the camera (bought it from a coworker who does photography on the side and he threw in the card with the deal too, it's probably shot many weddings).

I guess I'll just buy a few more anyway to be safe. 16GB is a decent amount of space I can probably repurpose those ones as archival/backup of static data. Something I should do more often actually.

 

[CuriousMike]

Backup/archive is a large question that everyone has their own theory on.

I use GooglePhotos for my emergency cloud solution, since it allows unlimited photos at a maximum resolution of 2048px on longest side.

For true "backup", I have a couple of USB harddrives that I alternate backing up on. Those things can be cheap on sale ( $50-$60 each ).

 

[Berliner]

I'm not sure if that causes the physical delete, or if the OS is smart enough to recognize that as just marking the FAT as "moved, but don't physically delete."

There is no physical delete in either case, but you are marking 100s of files as "deleted" (100s of writes) while a format (in camera, of course) just marks the whole filesystem as empty (very few writes).

No camera I know of formats the card in a way that overwrites the actual content, that would take ages.

I just copy everything and format the card the next time I put it into the camera.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Hmm so I guess I'll just continue to format the card then. I guess it makes sense, just deletes the FAT I guess, in a single write, while deleting one pic at a time (probably what happens even if I delete "all") needs to keep writing each file as deleted.

But yeah think what I will start to do is whenever I am going on any trip or outing where I can't afford to lose the pics I'll just buy two new flash cards and shoot on those, and maybe bring the other ones as spares anyway but at the end of the whole trip I can then repurpose the old ones as something else, such as an archive of the trip's pictures. Just copy them raw files to the old cards, mark them as read only and throw them somewhere safe. Of course the raw files would also be on my server if I choose I want to keep them.

As a side note, is flash more reliable than hard drives as far as archiving goes? It seems to me that it would be as there's no moving parts and if it's set as read only there wont be any writes to it. I have lot of old data I just keep archived on spinning disks and is part of my regular backup routines, but I'm thinking I could put it on flash cards too. As mentioned they're so cheap it does not hurt to buy new ones more often to keep the camera ones fresh and then just repurpose the old ones.

Also it seems I should have checked the compatibility list first:

https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17061/~/approved-memory-cards---d7000

While the kingston's do work fine other than that odd issue I have when I delete tons of pics at once, I guess I should try to stick to brands in the compatibility list. I'll probably go with some Sandisk's or something.

Looking at this:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9182286&CatId=7759

Though this is also recommended on another site:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9186408&CatId=7759

What's the difference between those two other than slightly higher speed?

 

[JohnnyRebel]

Whenever I use the option to delete all pictures from the SD card, it just corrupts it, I get an error that it's an invalid card. The only way to delete pictures seems to delete 1 at a time or format the card. I imagine formatting the card will wear it out faster so don't like having to do that.

Also at random, it will turn into a read only file system, so I can't delete files through the computer, in fact I can't even open them before I copy to another folder. I'm scared this problem will eventually turn into an issue where I actually lose pictures.

What would cause this and how do I stop it? The cards are Kingston 16GB. Not sure of exact model, any number on it I put in google either returns lot of different cards or none at all. I'm scared this potentially leads to full corruption of the card or something.

Never tried "delete all" on the D7K. I always format the SD cards before I start shooting, and have ever since my Nikon 995 days. Never had any issues with any of my SD cards. FWIW.

 

[corkyg]

Berliner and JohnnyRebel are correct. Format is the way to go.

 

[carlton_fritz]

Adorama just sent me an e-mail a couple days ago saying the Lexar Pro cards are up to 60% off. I picked up a Lexar 1000x 32G 2 pack SDHC for $42. Just checked, still on sale.