SD Cards

[Gibbo2286]

I've had a 32 gig SD card in my dash cam for a long time, got a blue screen "The card is full." tried to format it but the computer seems unable to see it says 0 in the capacity and used boxes, tried it in three adaptors all the same, another card, a twin to it, works fine so I guess it's gone boobs up.

Any way to restore it or is it for the bin?

[Dormouse]

I have tried to repair SD cards in the past with mixed success. Google "SD card repair" and give it a go but replacement cards are not expensive so you might be heading in that direction. Worth a go, though.

[GiveMeABreak]

Not really Eric - the NAND cells (or flash memory) have a limited number of write and delete cycles. Once the erase cycle limit is reached individual cells start to fail and then performance degrades.

Because Dash cameras constantly write , erase and re-write large amounts of data in a loop, the cells will wear a lot quicker than say if you were using it only to store your MP3 music files - where once uploaded and just used to play, they can last years and years - as you are only occasionally uploading additional music for example.

It's another reason why you should never run defragmentation programmes on flash memory as it is not necessary and just causes more write and delete cycles, thus wearing out the memory cells more quickly. Ditto for SSD drives in a PC - always make sure disk optimisation for SSD drives in Windows is switched off.

[Dormouse]

explains the mixed results. Never knew that - cheers.

[mickthemaverick]

Useful tip re the SSD in laptops there Marc, thanks!!

[GiveMeABreak]

No worries - so it's a bit of a mixed bag when buying a replacement SD card for a dash cam - you can buy expensive, which may provide extended life intended for this type of application - but they won't last forever regardless of price - or buy a cheaper version with the understanding that they will likely fail sooner - but the cheaper prices may mean you can buy 3-4 of these for the price of an expensive one.

There is the reliability factor too - and this is where it is a mixed bag as even people with expensive branded SD cards for their dash cams have been let down when they needed it most. So no guarantees!

Obviously a smaller capacity SD card is going to give out a lot quicker, as the data will be written and erased to / from cells far more frequently with less capacity. Larger capacities can spread these operations out using more cells, so should last longer.

Some manufacturers offer 2, 3, 5 or even 10 year warranties - but it is important to read the small print as some cards will be excluded from Dash Cam use - many have specific models for this purpose.

[mickthemaverick]

Who said there were no mines left in Wales? The FCF has its very own mine of information!!

[GiveMeABreak]

Nearest mines to me are the Gold Mines (Welsh Gold) in Dolaucothi.

[Paul-R]

When I've had problems with SD cards in the past I've had great success using the old DOS command CHKDSK. It's got me out of the spit on more than one occasion.