The Care And Feeding of Flash Cards

Your digital camera isn't just a camera; it's also a sophisticated computer. But unlike most computers it has only two jobs to do: capture light and record it onto your flash memory card.

 Flash memory cards – the cards your camera stores digital images on -- are more complex than their tiny size might lead you to believe, a slew of miniature circuits and chips is packed into each card. Since advanced technology can be cranky you might expect flash memory cards to be fussy divas, refusing to work in less than perfect conditions. But memory cards are pretty resilient. They aren't overly sensitive to temperature fluctuations, and chances are you'll never want to shoot pictures in their lowest or highest ranges of acceptable temperature use; typically between -13 degrees Fahrenheit to 167 degrees. The cards can easily handle quick changes in temperature as well.

They can also survive a fall of about ten feet without any problems, and data stored on a good-quality card shouldn't deteriorate for about a century or so. The cards do have a limit to their lifespan, you can't buy one and use it forever but you won't need to replace them all that often. The New York School of Photography figures that you should be able to rewrite a card between 200,000 to 300,000 times. (Note that none of the above applies to cheap, counterfeit and/or off-brand flash memory cards. These are notoriously prone to failure, assuming you can even get them to work in your camera.)

So what will hurt your card? Flinging it into water would be a really bad idea. Getting hit by lighting while holding the card is a no-no, as is standing underneath a huge high-powered magnet -- electrical shocks or magnetic fields can damage the card. You can pass cards through standard airport security scanners, but the magnetic scanners some countries use can cause problems, so having the cards hand-checked by airport security when possible is a good idea. Attempting to bend the card or using it for tasks like prying open a window also isn't wise, you'll probably fracture the circuits.

Most problems with flash cards are caused when a camera is unable to transfer information from its buffer to the card. Before the data that is your photo is written to your memory card it passes through your camera's buffer -- built-in memory (like computer RAM) that temporarily and quickly records the image you just shot and then moves it to the card. If you turn off the camera before the image moves from the buffer to the card, your image is gone and the data on your card might also be horribly confused – the technical term for such confusion is "corrupted." Always wait until the camera's lights stop blinking – and then wait another minute or two more just to be sure -- before hitting the power off button. Don't pop the card out of the camera while the camera is busy doing something either.

When the card is in or connected to your computer make sure to copy your pictures onto your computer before you start tinkering with them. Mucking around with images stored on your card can corrupt the card. To be really safe, don't even open the images stored on your card in order to view them on your computer screen. Transfer the images over to your computer, "stop" the card by clicking "safely remove hardware" in Windows or dragging the card reader or camera icon to the trash on Macs, remove the card, and then have a look at your pictures.

Reformat your card every third or fourth time you use it, but don't reformat it in your computer, use the reformatting utility in your camera. And when your camera sadly bleats that it's almost out of battery power, don't continue to shoot until you've drained it dry. If the power fails mid-shot it may corrupt the memory card.

If you have more than one digital camera, don't swap the cards back and forth if they contain photos, first transfer the photos to your computer and then reformat the card in the camera you intend to use it with. Last but not least keep the card in its plastic case when it's not in use, purse or pocket flotsam and jetsam can damage the card's connectors.

If you've somehow managed to antagonize your card, or you've done everything right but the gods of technology have simply decided to torment you, you'll get error messages ranging from the card insisting its full despite the fact that it has no images on it or visa-versa, dialog boxes asking you to format the card, or your camera/computer may simply freeze up when you try to access the images on the card.  Don't panic and don't give up and reformat the card. There are some excellent programs that can recover lost data from a seemingly trashed card. Data Rescue's PhotoRescue, Digital PhotoRescue, and PhotoOne recovery applications have all gotten good reviews from technology magazines and websites.