What Causes Camera "Memory Sticks" To Go Bad?

[Carl C]

All but one of my memory sticks have gone bad. I have a 64mb, 256mb and 2 1gig sticks that read "memory stick error". Two of them used to work fine. I bought the two 1gig cards used and they don't work. I'm down to one 64mb card. I've cleaned the contacts with alcohol. What ruins them? I'm about done with Sony. I know that when I move up to a professional camera it will not be a Sony. (they are not in the lock position):confused:

[Rootsy]

where do you store them?

[Carl C]

where do you store them?In plastic cases in my camera case or in the camera. Will magnetism ruin them?

[Johntrip]

I forget where I read this but its not good to have them near your cell phone.....

[vonkamp]

In plastic cases in my camera case or in the camera. Will magnetism ruin them?

Yes!! Degaussing is the preferred method for destruction of hard drives & storage devices. Degaussers are nothing but powerfull magnets.

[Carl C]

I forget where I read this but its not good to have them near your cell phone..... Funny you would mention that. My cell phone is magnetic. Paper clips stick to the back of it. It's possible that the cards were at some point put in my pocket with the phone. I don't suppose there's any way to save them?

[Johntrip]

Not sure.... I remember now where I heard about it.... I was staying at a hotel that had the key cards and mine kept goin bad. When I went to the reception desk I pulled the key out of my pocket along with my cell phone and dig. canera. The girl told me the reason why my key was going bad was because it was next to my phone and then she advised me my memory stick could be affected the same way.....

[penbroke]

I don't think a magnet will damage the flash in the memory sticks but it might corrupt the data causing them to be unreadable. Try to format them in the camera or a usb card reader on your pc. Formatting *will* destroy any data left on them.

I have seen some utillities for data recovery from usb flash drives but I've never had reason to try any of them. Poke around on the 'net...


Frank

[MOP]

Have you done a search on the problem? I know very little about the sticks but it seems as if there are a few fixes, I liked the one where you assign it a drive number and reformat it. That has fixed several of my add on storage devices probably worth a try. Do a Goggle two of a ton that I found below.

http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-26510-Sony-Cybershot-Memory-Stick-problems.html
http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-19775-USB-memory-stick-problem.html

[Carl C]

Thanks, Mop, I'm working on it right now. My cam will not format the cards. It just says memory card error. My photo printer doesn't seem to be able to help either. Funny thing is that reading all of the pre-cautions in my camera manual and memory stick packages there is no mention about cell phones or magnetic fields. I'll check your links and work on it some more. These cards aren't cheap, especially the one giggers.

[penbroke]

The camera has to be able to format the cards for it's own use. Otherwise you would not ever be able to use a new, raw, generic brand card. It may refuse to do it if it sees the card as corrupted. You can also do it with a usb card reader that you can get just about anywhere. I've even seen 'em at Home Depot. If all else fails you can send 'em to me and I'll try to save 'em...

Frank

[Carl C]

Wow, there is tons of stuff on this problem on the web. There seems to be no simple solution and no common cause. Also no mention of cell phones or magnetism. There are also many, many people ripping Sony for this! I don't have a card reader but my photo printer has card slots and connects to the 'puter. I can't find any format or repair options through that. The camera definately won't format them. It just keeps going back to the C:13:01 error code. Penbroke, I appreciate your offer but I may just buy a new card for now. I'll send a PM if I decide to mail 'em to you. Beware of Sony cams and memory sticks!

[WingWing]

I went through this already with my sony camera. There is a number with the error code, do a search on the error code and number and you will find lots of stuff; unfortunately, very little helpful or curative.

The only decent suggestions were to use an eraser head on the metal contacts. That worked for a few. You can also do a search on data recovery software and firms that specialize in this. I found a few, they were pricey, but depending on how valuable the pics are, you might consider the 300-400 bucks to recover the files (or possibly recover the files) cheap.

Now to answer your question as to what makes them go bad. I cannot say for sure what happened with you, but I learned the hard way that when you are moving files, or deleting files from your stick, make sure you are patient and give the camera or computer extra time to finish writing. Like old video games, "do not turn off or remove cartridge while writing..." same goes for memory sticks.

sorry, wish I had better news. Try the eraser thing, hope you have better luck than I did.