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Memory card error- help

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 waterbaby 17 Jan 2013
I bought a 4G memory card last year and a card reader because I was having problems downloading photos straight from my camera. All was well until today. I think my memory card is kapput! Nothing happens when I use the card reader and when I try from the camera, I'm getting a memory card error 'memory card locked'. It's not locked. Can't see photos on camera, can't download them.

Is this common? Has it been caused by frequently removing the card and inserting it in the reader?

Damn and double damn. Is there anything I can do?
 Bimble 17 Jan 2013
In reply to waterbaby:

If it's an SD card, have you tried checking the small locking tab hasn't been knocked to the 'lock' position? http://www.olympusamerica.com/files/oima_cckb/faq_images/_SD_Lock.jpg
OP waterbaby 17 Jan 2013
In reply to TryfAndy:

Thanks, I did say it's not locked. I already checked the position.
 Deltona 17 Jan 2013
In reply to waterbaby:

You may find something on here to help you out. It has a whole bunch of stuff about cards etc.

youtube.com/watch?v=LBXP8EpItSg&


I had a compact flash card that corrupted via a crappy card reader, I recovered them using some data recovery software, so all is not lost.
 adam 17 Jan 2013
In reply to waterbaby:

Might be worth taking a look at PhotoRec.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

Free recovery software for memory cards etc, has rescued files from dodgy cards for me a few times. Still, if your computer isn't even recognising the card, you might be out of luck.
Jim C 17 Jan 2013
In reply to adam:
> (In reply to waterbaby)
>
> Might be worth taking a look at PhotoRec.
> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
>
> Free recovery software for memory cards etc, has rescued files from dodgy cards for me a few times. Still, if your computer isn't even recognising the card, you might be out of luck.

I had a similar issue and tried a lot of different readers on laptops etc with no joy until I spent 2 quid on a usb reader one out of Asda and tried that, and It read it! Of course I have no got my data and I have binned the card.
Worthb trying. ( also make sure the contacts are clean)

Good luck.
OP waterbaby 17 Jan 2013
In reply to adam: Most of the photos are downloaded and I can swallow the loss of the others as nothing special but I'd rather not buy another card like this one if it's going to do it again.

Think I need to buy it from a shop not Amazon, apparently there are a lot of counterfeit cards about!
OP waterbaby 17 Jan 2013
In reply to waterbaby:

Thanks Adam and Jim. I think the reader is fine as the card isn't working in the camera either.

B0ll8cks and it's going to be snowy and pretty tomorrow.
OP waterbaby 17 Jan 2013
In reply to Deltona:

Cheers I'll watch this later
OP waterbaby 17 Jan 2013
In reply to Deltona:

How does it corrupt via the card reader? Could it still be the fault of the reader?
 RichardMc 17 Jan 2013
In reply to waterbaby:
> (In reply to adam) Most of the photos are downloaded and I can swallow the loss of the others as nothing special but I'd rather not buy another card like this one if it's going to do it again.

In that case you have nothing to lose by trying a full reformat in the camera. This has worked for me when the computer does not even recognize the card.
OP waterbaby 18 Jan 2013
In reply to RichardMc: Er, could you say that again in English?
 balmybaldwin 18 Jan 2013
In reply to waterbaby:

Somewhere on your camera settings will be the option to format the card - effectively wipes it clean and resets it as a card (and size of card etc)

Kind of like telling the card what it is and what it is supposed to do again
 wilkesley 18 Jan 2013
In reply to balmybaldwin:

Try Parted Magic from http://partedmagic.com/ This is a live CD/USB which has a variety of tools for recovering disks and re-partitioning them. Be careful you select the correct disk, you don't want to re-partition the main drive on your computer.
 Sean Bell 18 Jan 2013
In reply to RichardMc:
> (In reply to waterbaby)
> [...]
>
> In that case you have nothing to lose by trying a full reformat in the camera. This has worked for me when the computer does not even recognize the card.

This has worked for me aswell, a card went corrupt after a day shooting a job, (this was before I had dual slot cameras running a backup card.) I was getting nowhere with recovery software intially so I reformatted and then ran it through recovery software again.It worked and I retrieved all 400 images. Scary thing to do and very much last resort, but it repartitions the card(i think) so everything is in line again. A word for the future though, dont delete in camera. Hope it all works out for you
OP waterbaby 18 Jan 2013
In reply to balmybaldwin:

Thanks.
OP waterbaby 18 Jan 2013
In reply to waterbaby:

Thank you all for your help.

It's all too complicated and I'm bound to do something wrong because I don't understand anything anyone has said. I'm usually willing to give things a try but I like to have half an understanding of what I'm doing first. I will have to admit defeat on this one for now. May be i'll ask a techy friend to help.

I bought a new card, from reliable shop (hmmm, although.... I'm not sure Tesco can be relied on for anything now!)

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