The 9 Best Ways to Avoid Memory Card Corruption
How does memory card corruption occur?
Loosing images is a photographer’s worst nightmare. If you capture images professionally, loosing images can be a career ending mistake in some cases; and even if you are a hobbyist, it can truly be upsetting. In this article I want to provide you with all the information you need to know to never loose photos from card corruption and how to avoid it in the first place. But before we do, it is important to know the various kinds of corruption that may occur.
Physical damage
Physical damage occurs when the user is just not careful with the card or the card is very old and gets to a point where it fails physically. This can be caused by things like drops, spills, and scrapes. This is the most common form of corruption but it is also one of the easiest ones to avoid. Be careful with your cards, moving them as infrequently and safely as possible.
User Error
User error is what I would define as improper practice / technique. Turning off a camera while it is writing files, allowing the camera battery to die while in use, not formatting your cards, and mass-deleting photos from your camera are all examples of this that should be avoided at all costs. More on each of these in the paragraphs below.
Filing / Software Issues
Probably the least common form of corruption is filing / software issues that arise from some kind of error within the card’s software and is not due to user-error. It is most likely to occur when first using a card or over time. SD, CFexpress, and microSD cards are all solid state drives and should last for up to 10,000 write cycles in perfect conditions.
Now that we have an understanding of what kinds of corruption can happen, let’s get into ways to avoid it.
buy good memory cards From Good brands
The best way to avoid memory card corruption is to start off with good memory cards from good brands. There are many brands out there but my all-time favorite is SanDisk. I have never had a SanDisk card fail me in my 50+ cards and hundreds of thousands of images captured over the last decade. The other main brand I see often is Lexar but I have personally had my one and only Lexar card fail on me within the first couple photos at a shoot. Luckily, it was not paid and I was able to continue on with a new card like nothing happened. It was probably a rare and unlucky occurrence that was a filing / software issue but it caused me to ditch their products afterward. You may have better luck with them than me but I prefer SanDisk. Below are my top recommendations on cards for photographers:
The best SD Card for photography
SanDisk 256GB Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-II (300 Mb/s read / 260 Mb/s write) - $229.99 on Amazon
SanDisk 256GB Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I Memory Card (200 Mb/s read / 140 Mb/s write) - $36.99 on Amazon (my pick)
I personally always buy the SanDisk 256GB Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I Memory Card (200 Mb/s read / 140 Mb/s write) for all my cameras and have never had an issue with read or write speeds. I shoot with a Nikon Z8 and even capture 8K video with it and have never had blackout or writing speed issues. The only reason I believe you may want the SanDisk 256GB Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-II (300 Mb/s read / 260 Mb/s write) would be if you are a sports photographer and find yourself shooting 20fps+ for an extended amount of time. I also prefer the 256Gb which theoretically allows me to capture around 5k images before filling up a card. I have never filled up a card because I practice good backup techniques (offloading images every time after every shoot or outing); but I would never go below 256Gb because of the price for the memory.
The Best CF Express Card for Photography
SanDisk 256GB Extreme PRO CFexpress Card Type B - $119.99 on Amazon
There is no need to buy anything faster than this card. If you camera accepts CFexpress cards and you are properly backing up your files in-camera, then you will be limited in speed by the SD card, not the CFexpress card.
The Best Micro SD Card for Photography
SanDisk 512GB Extreme microSDXC UHS-I (160 Mb/s read / 90 Mb/s write) - $46.02 on Amazon
Micro SD cards are primarily used in drones. I own this card and have never ran out of storage room unexpectedly. The read/write speeds are great and I have never experienced issued with it.
2. Backup, never overflow - prioritize your highest quality cards
Once you have bought good cards, you need to make sure you are practicing proper image backups in-camera. Even if you are a hobbyist you should always opt to back up your cards in-camera and not use the secondary card as an overflow. If your camera uses a CFexpress card, you should always make your CFexpress card your primary card and never remove it. CFexpress and less common XQD cards are much more expensive than SD cards and thus should always be left in your camera. By never removing it, you will not be susceptible to the most common cause of corruption: physical damage; and you will only be susceptible to software-related issues. If you only have two SD card slots then I would highly recommend picking one to be your primary card and never remove it no matter what. If you need to replace a card, replace the secondary card and just re-format the primary card as needed. If you have a good backup technique then you will never run into an issue where you loose files.
3. Store your memory cards safely
When not using your SD cards or other cards, they should always be stored safely and securely in a drop-proof card case. My favorite case is the Qkenvo Aluminum Shock Resistant Memory Card Storage Case. Never store your cards outside of a case and you will be much less likely to suffer corruption from physical damage.
4. Format, never delete
Whenever you put a new card into your camera or need to delete past images, you need to reformat your cards. Never mass-delete images; especially to make room on your card while taking photos. Deleting an image here or there likely will not lead to corruption but it can so if you want to be as safe as possible, never delete files off of your cards. The only way to delete images and clear your card in a safe manner is to re-format it in your camera.
5. Never share memory cards between cameras
I have seen photographers through the years hand cards to other photographers they are shooting with or swap memory cards between cameras without formatting the cards in the new camera body. This is something you should never do; even if your camera bodies are the same model. Each camera (and especially each brand) has a unique way of formatting cards. Even though cameras of the same model should be fine sharing cards, is is best to practice safe file handling. Again, always format your cards when putting them into a new camera body.
6. Always eject cards from computer or turn off camera before removing the card
Whenever you remove a card from a device it is always important to make sure that the card is deactivated and no longer reading/writing. If you are accessing your card on a computer or device, you need to be sure to eject the card before removing it and if it is in your camera, you need to be sure the camera is turned off. If you do not, you may cause corruption.
7.
7. Always replace camera batteries before they die
Another way to corrupt your files is to allow your camera to run out of battery while in-use. Though most cameras will have fail-safes that do not allow images or video to be captured when the battery reaches a certain level, it is not always a feature and so it is good practice to swap out your batteries when they get low.
8. Replace cards immediately if error or signs of corruption should arise
If for any reason your cards start acting strange; displaying error messages or not displaying images at all, then you should immediately retire the card. For this reason it is important to always have an extra pre-formatted card in your carrying case, backpack, or whatever you keep your gear in when going out to capture images so that you can replace the corrupted card. Ideally you would offload the still-functioning card to your computer; but it should be fine if you are in the middle of a shoot. The chances of two cards getting corrupted is slim to none unless something catastrophic happened to your camera (dropping in the water or dropping it on the card slots) at which point you should discontinue the use of the body and remove both cards immediately.
9. Replace cards after a couple years of heavy use
Though modern cards are solid-state and can undergo thousands of write cycles, it is good practice to replace your secondary or SD cards every couple of years if you are using them heavily and are a paid professional. If you are a hobbyist, I personally do not see any issue in retiring secondary or SD cards upon corruption or when visibly old so long as you followed my advice and are backing up your images in-camera. If you do this then you will never loose files in the case of corruption in one of your cards.
Conclusion
As mentioned, it is imperative that you have an understanding of proper card handling and how to back up your images if you are a photographer. If you are a professional getting paid for your work, loosing images could mean the end of your business (try telling people they don’t have to worry about it happening again after someone leaves you a review for their wedding photos being lost); and if you are capturing images for fun, loosing them can be upsetting at the least. If you follow this advice and the advice given in my other article, The Best Photography Backup Workflow As A Photographer, you will be way ahead of the game and will likely never fall victim to loosing images. Thank you all for reading along and I hope this article proved to be useful to you.
The 9 Best Ways to Avoid Memory Card Corruption
Written by: Zach Nichols
February 7, 2024
© Zach Nichols Photography