corrupted memory card for D90

<p>I have encountered a problem that I have not been able to resolve myself.<br>

A Sandisk 16 GB memory card in my D90 appears to be corrupted. Te thumbnails of about 60 NEF files are visible in camera; they are also visible in LR3 once the memory card is inserted into the card reader connected to my MacBook. The process of downloading begins, but stops after the first several files. The same happens when I try to copy and paste the files to my computer's hard drive. I have tried to import the files one by one via LR3; the first several files were successfully imported in this time consuming way, but then the process stalled completely, and the thumbnails of the NEF files are no longer visible; instead of each thumbnail, a message appears that preview is not available. I have read discussions of memory card corruption on PN, and downloaded demos of Photorescue and Kilx. Photorescue has extracted one image, as far as I can see. I am running it again; it is painfully slow. Klix simply showed no progress (no movement of the bar indicating ongoing processes) for ten or fifteen minutes, after which I quit. Am I too impatient? Is there any other software you may recommend? I photographed today in the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park, and was lucky to have the appropriate sunless weather; since then, it has started to rain, and I won't be able to take the same pictures again until my next vacation:(<br>

Thank you for any advice you may give.</p>

<p>M. Ts.</p>

<p>mm , I guess the 16GB card is a SDHC card ? <br>

If yes then : Is your card reader SDHC compatibel ? , otherwise you need another reader..</p>

<p>How long has it been since you formatted the card?<br>

Try to copy the files on the card to a temporary folder using Finder. If this works, then import the photos from the temporary folder into LR3.</p>

<p>Is this the first time you have experienced problems with a 16 Gb SDHC card in your D90?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>from original problem description:</p>

<p><em>"once the memory card is inserted into the card reader connected to" - </em></p>

<p>seems clear that the handling of the card after removal from D90 caused the problem.</p>

<p>This will not be the first or last time to report similar problems and blaming the camera.</p>

<p>Once the card is corrupted outside of camera, inserting back the card into the camera ?, ... you should not expect the camera to fix the card.</p>

On page 242 in the D90 book

SanDisk ...up to 8 Gb is OK.

That could be your problem....

<blockquote>

<p>On page 242 in the D90 book<br>

SanDisk ...up to 8 Gb is OK.<br>

That could be your problem....</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I seriously doubt that.</p>

<p>The D90 is SDHC compatible. Therefore, technically it should work with all SDHC memory cards, which are up to 32M. Individual cards could be damaged or some off brands could be not up to spec, but generally speaking, 16M Sandisk cards shouldn't be a problem.</p>

<p>The D90 was introduced back in 2008 when SD cards were mostly 8G or below. Therefore, Nikon did not test the D90 with higher-capacity cards. Unfortunately, Nikon does not update their manuals and therefore after a few years, the memory card compatibility tables get very out of date.</p>

<p>I am sure the OP will test his D90 with other SD cards, 16G or otherwise, to see whether his D90 is malfunctioning. If the camera is ok, that card could be bad or this is merely a one-time glitch. 16G SDHC cards are dirt cheap in these days. The big question is whether those images on it can be recovered.</p>

<p>P.S. A friend of mine is a chief engineering at Sandisk designing their memory cards. He said that in his office, they have all sorts of digital cameras to test their memory card designs with. The D90 being so common, I am sure Sandisk and other major card mamufacturers have tested their products on it thoroughly.</p>

<p>Thank you all for your kind and helpful responses. I left Photorescue demo working overnight, and this time it showed that it could extract all the images. Just as I was pulling out my credit card to buy the full version of Photorescue, I discovered that the Internet connection at the motel where I am staying stopped working, so I couldn't not buy it at least for several hours. I decided to try LR3 again, this time importing individual files starting with the last one and going backward. To my great surprise, it has worked; maybe the Photorescue demo had fixed something, or maybe my head was clearer in the morning. <br>

To answer some of your observations:<br>

@ <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=4983522">C.P.M. van het Kaar</a> - the card reader is compatible, I have used it for two months with this particular card<br>

@ <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=7152105">Charles Wrenn</a> - I format the card each time after importing the images from it<br>

@ <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=977463">Frank Skomial</a> - I did not blame the camera; also, I cannot see how inserting the card into the reader (something I've done with this particular card and this particular reader and this computer many times without any problems) could corrupt the card -- I am not in the habit of removing the card from the reader before the computer ejects it. In general, I am not blaming anything or anyone.<br>

@ <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=96425">Jerry Litynski</a> and <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=24372">Shun Cheung</a> -- I have never thought of this; even if D90 is tested with the 16GB Sandisk, the fact that it was not designed to handle one may create problems once in a while. I have never had a problem with my 8GB Sandisk, and I am going back to it. It has enough space for 524 NEF files, which is more than enough for one day of my shooting.<br>

Again, thank you very much for your advice!</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I had the same problem with a card in a Sony camera, would work perfectly in the camera but in the card reader the computer would show up some folders but no files in any of them.<br>

In my instance I did the following:<br>

put the card in the card reader on a windows XP computer.<br>

Went to my computer and did a right click on the memory chip (probably going to be E: or something like that)<br>

Then scroll down to properties<br>

This will bring up a menu with several tabs, click on Tools<br>

The top option is "error-checking"<br>

click on the check now and let the computer fix any problems on the card.</p>

<p>That was all I had to do and my card was then readable on the camera and computer as well.</p>

<p>Mikhail, the D90 is designed to work with SDHC. Therefore, it should work with all SDHC cards, up to 32G. However, I wouldn't use any SDXC cards, i.e. 64G and above, on the D90.</p>

<p>The only Nikon DSLR that uses SD cards but is not SDHC compatible is the D50, which was the very first Nikon DSLR that uses SD. After that, all Nikon DSLRs that can use SD are also SDHC compatible. SDXC is more recent; from the D7000 (2010) and on, Nikon DSLRs are also SDXC compatible (obviously except for the D4, which has no SD slot).</p>

<p>However, for any new card, I would test it a bit before depending on it. Once I mail ordered a Lexar 8G cards and it failed to work out of the box.</p>

<p>Here is what is listed in the D90 instruction booklet:</p>

<p>For some reason Nikon did not *like* greater than 8 Gb for SanDisk SDHC cards,</p>

<p>or greater than 4 Gb for Lexar media, back in 2008.</p><div></div>

<p>"<em>I cannot see how inserting the card into the reader (something I've done with this particular card and this particular reader and this computer many times without any problem" </em> - once you have done it many times, you have no quarantee that the next time will be problem free.</p>

<p>Static electricity discharges on card in your hand or pocket, or computer viruses, or driver or operating system glitches are totally random events. Also any possible event on your computer that could write even smallest amount of status data back to the card in the reader, is another source of possible problem.</p>

<p>Your computer software that scans all external devices for viruses, or program that makes indexes of data in folders there, or your security or antivirus software could possiby interfere with the data transfers from/to the card in the reader.</p>

<p>See how many times is your computer subject of "pick and poke" operation from external network or wireless connections. Is the content of memory card in a card reader on your comuter as propected as in the externally connected digital camera ?</p>

<p> </p>