Accidently washed a memory card - is it ruined?

[patrick_f]

Well today I accidently ran a 2g. Sandisk memory card through a complete

cycle of laundry (cold water), including the dryer. I am kind of nervous

about putting the card in my camera for fear that somehow the card is ruined

and this could cause problems with the camera as well. Any advice on this?

Should I toss the card? Thanks in advance.

[wojtek_kalinowski]

I once washed my 512Sandisk CF card,but it was in it's little container.It was OK.Don't put it in a camera,try it in a card reader first.W

[Matt Laur]

You can replace that card for less than $30... which is a lot cheaper than dealing with damage to your camera's memory interface or internal power bus. I'd use it for target practice, and sleep better at night using cards that haven't been through the drink. Also, you can buy small, water-proof card wallets precisely to avoid this problem - not a bad idea at all, for just a few bucks.

[brucecyr]

You haven't finished -- got to run that sucker thru the dryer! Actually I'd put it someplace warm and dry, like the top/back of a TV/monitor, for a few days, and then try it in the card reader. Chances are it'll work fine.

[matt_mccarthy3]

I remember an article some time back ( but I can't remember which magazine published it )

about how much torture these cards could take - it was CF and SmartMedia. They dunked

them in water, stepped on them, and baked them ( in both conventional and microwave oven,

as I recall ). Both of them came out fine - I think the SmartMedia got dinged up from the

stepping test, though. It may very well be OK. But I agree that running it through the card

reader first is a good idea. And of course, if you're really concerned,a replacement is pretty

cheap nowadays.

[michaelging]

I have washed mine without having any problems. A canon Rep once told me that the killer of these things is lint from your pocket that gets in one of the little holes that the interface plugs into and that will ruin a card faster than anything.

[doug_axford1]

I had the one that came with a camera years ago go through both washer & dryer and was fine. Trying it in your card reader & an older camera first is good advice. Maybe you should take it into a camera store and demo a camera with it. That should get the camera store guys hating me!

[fanta]

I washed a Sundisk with the laundry at 60 C and was fine. If concerned, why don't you try it with a card reader before using it in a camera?

[JeffOwen]

I have had a number of electrical items (a VCR for one) that suffered water damage. One trick that does work is to flush the area affected in pure methalated spirits! This alcohol mixture will soak up any remaining water and dry quickly. In most cases this is a LAST resort and I would NOT recommend doing it on a digital camera for instance.

[steven_clark]

If it's CF I might try soaking it in water for a bit to try to get any lingering detergent out of the holes. Anything else I'm guessing it'd be just fine even without the rinse. It's not like there are batteries to short, or mechanical parts to break.

[dbcooper]

Digital images put on the card in the future might look soft if you used a dryer sheet :-D

[steve_dunn2]

<p>Hey, will washing the card get rid of those pesky dust spots on my images? :-)</p>

[ozmen]

I have dropped a Canon 710IS to sea, and the machine had gone to 7 mt underwater. After drying the memory cad, everything was fine, the images were protected. I am still using the card,but the machine is dead of course.

[phil_marion]

"Hey, will washing the card get rid of those pesky dust spots on my images? :-)"

 

YES it will - however the colours will appear slightly washed out :-)