How to Prevent Memory Card Corruption

There’s nothing more frustrating than going into the field and later discovering that your memory card did not “take” your take. 

While there are software programs that can help recover files that do not read when you try to download (google: recover damaged image files), or even files that do not show up in playback on your camera right after you shoot, the best bet is to prevent conditions that can cause corruption in the first place. 

Here' are two images "recovered" from a corrupted card. This showed up as one file after I ran the card through a recovery software program. Interesting, I suppose, but certainly not what I had in mind.

Here are some quick tips for preventing memory card corruption:

1)   Don’t carry memory cards loose in your pocket or camera bag. Dust, dirt, and lint can “clog” the card’s pins and interface areas, and cards can be bent or otherwise damaged by other items in your bag. Use a dedicated card carrier available as an inexpensive accessory that has slots that hold cards separate from one another.

2)   Inspect the card for damage. The chief problem is bent pins, sometimes caused by forcing the card the wrong way into the slot in the camera. Look for insertion guides and if it does not slide in smoothly, back it out carefully. If you do have bent pins the card may be irreparably damaged. My experience is that trying to fix it yourself is not very rewarding. Bent pins make it just as difficult to read from a card reader. If you must, try to fix the bent pins with a needle nose plier or tweezer. My best advice: Toss it, but only after you try to retrieve images later.

3)   Make a few shots prior to going out in the field. Check that the test shots show up in playback. If they don’t, you are playing with fire.

4)   Always swap and load memory cards by first turning off the camera to avoid static discharge.

5)   If you have more than one camera, dedicate the card to one camera and do not swap it to your other camera. When you first use a new card in your camera be sure to use the format function; dedicating a card for use in that camera will remove any possibility of a mismatch. While this is not always a big problem, different cameras may have unique file structures. The formatting command is usually found in your setup menu. (Note: if you are using an older card for a new camera always check for images first, as formatting will erase those older images.)

6)   If you are working in the field and nothing comes up on playback, first try turning off the camera and reloading the card. However, it is better to remove the card and replace it with another and deal with the problem card later.

7)   If you do get corrupted or unreadable files, you can try out downloadable file recovery software. My experience with some of these programs is mixed, but it could just work for you—it’s worth a try!