Re: Memory Stick Life Span

On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 10:58:03 GMT, David J Taylor wrote:

>> If the camera or its firmware was incompatible with the memory
>> sticks, the problem would be evident from the beginning. The OP
>> says that the problems don't appear until the cards have been used
>> for several months.
>
> To me that hints at, although not strongly, a handling issue, although it
> would be worth checking for firmware updates or product recalls. It
> could also be that it's only when the memory cards are full that the
> problem happens. Erasing individual images might cause more card
> wear than reformatting a card after use. I know that CF cards are
> supposed to recycle memory allocations so that a particular directory
> block doesn't get over-used - I presume memory sticks do the same?

Yep, I thought of handling being one of the more likely causes,
especially if the cards were handled with hands that recently held
potato chips. :) Even if memory sticks don't reallocate memory
blocks, unless they're used by extremely busy pros, card wear
shouldn't be a factor until they've been used for many years,
possibly decades. To have the same problem show up with each new
card, within months, is unlikely to be due to worn out memory cells.
I'd be much more suspicious of the way the camera is used. If it
doesn't have a good "early warning" battery indicator, using the
camera until it shuts down due to the batteries being depleted could
cause card problems if it shut down during a write to the card. If
it wasn't for the fact that the camera operates normally while using
a relatively new card, I would also have suspected some kind of
intermittent hardware problem with the camera.

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