xD "Card Error" Notice - HELP!

[lucian]

Earlier I made a post saying I was able to recover images on an xD card ( http://www.fourthirds-user.com/forum...5332#post35332 ). That part was cool.

But when I put the card back into the E-500 about all I can get is a "Card Error" notice. That's OK. I'll just reformat the card - in the camera - NO GO! When I tried to format the card using the menu all that showed on the screen was "BUSY_________________". The only way I could get out of this was to open the media door and remove the card. The camera was totally useless and unresponsive while "Busy".

So I put in card #2 and viewed the images on the card, powered down and up and viewed the images again. I put card #3 in - Card Error.

The card errors are a 1G and 2G Olympus xD card. The Fuji xD cards have not been a problem (fingers crossed; knock on wood).

I've not had any problems using CF cards. My daughter uses her E-500 exclusively and uses CF cards exclusively without problems.

I have several hundred dollars tied up in xD cards. I hate to think that Oly xD cards are defective.

Am I doing something wrong? Anyone experience this with xD cards?

[Ledgem]

How heavily used were these cards? Understand that all flash memory, regardless of whether it's CF, xD, SD, etc., has a limited number of read/write cycles - it's possible that your card has hit its limit and can no longer be written to.

[lucian]

All these cards were purchased new with the last 9-12 months. The two cards in question were used only once, the first week in Dec 2008. I'll have to look again on the other computer but each of these cards was downloaded one time the day following the Christmas event.

Sure is strange.

[Ledgem]

That is strange. And they were purchased from reliable dealers, right? These aren't eBay cards?

[lucian]

And it gets stranger yet. (OOps, the cards are GIGAbyte cards)

First, the cards wre purchased locally from retailers. The Olympus cards were purchased from our local Office Max. Been using them for years and never a problem with anything I've gotten from that store.

The Fuji cards were purchased in our base exchange.

This morning I put one of the Fuji 2G cards into the card reader. It said 504 images on the card. When I opened a folder to view the numbering went from P1017490 to P1018066. There were four (4) thumbnails of each image showing. They were identical not brackets.

So I clicked on one thumbnail of each and dragged into a folder on my exHD. I got a window saying there already existed a copy of that image so I said to NOT overwrite - YES TO ALL. So It did not copy the extra three.

Also It said that the images were modified as of January 01, 2005 at 12:00:00 AM. BUT I didn't purchase the camera or have any xD cards until 18 October 2007. The Christmas event I photographed was 3,4,5 December 2008.

Hark, I hear those fateful words: Do not adjust your TV set. We control the horizontal; we control the vertical .....

The original problem Oly 1G card - card error - I formated in Windows. I then put it into the camera to format. I did get a screen asking if I wanted to format (didn't get that screen yesterday). I clicked on yes - the busy bar came up, after about 30 secs or so it turned green, formated the card. I took a picture of the ceiling lights - OK.

I have another Oly 2GB card for which there is a card error. I'll try a recovery on that today. Maybe, just maybe there will be a little green man on that card. Then I could be a millionaire.

[Ledgem]

Images modified on January 1, 2005 might indicate that the camera was used without the date and time set properly, or that the internal battery that powers the camera's clock died (I'm assuming it has one; if not, it would mean that the camera was sitting without a battery for a long time).

[lucian]

Duh! I looked at the date/time stamp in the camera. Sure 'nuff - said Jan 1, 05 and a time of 00:00. Duh, again. I should have checked that right away. Must be getting old.