Memory card pros and cons

[Bencooper21]

Do you:
1) Fill up your memory card then replace it with a new one?
2) Delete old files to make room for new photos/videos?
Please share you experience/insights. Thanks!

[FlyingPhotog]

I'll delete real clunkers if I have time but otherwise, fill it (but not totally full .. that's a good way to get corrupted images) and swap 'em out.

[juke*]

i usually use one card until i have time to transfer the photos onto my laptop and back them up on my external harddrive.

then i format my cf card and start firing away again.

i am always kind of scared of losing my data, therefore downloading all my shots to multiple harddrives has become quite the routine and whenever i take my camera somewhere far from home, i make sure to have my laptop and external harddrive(s) with me.

[hawaiiboy]

Every time I go out and shoot I get the shots into
the computer pretty quick...then back up to an external drive.
Then I shot down iPhoto....turn it back on to make sure
that the photo's are there....and then I format the card
in the camera.
I also take the laptop when travelling and d/l into it
daily....but I do not format the cards until I am
home and have them in the iMac

[fj1200]

I have several - just got 2 new 8GB class 6 from Amazon. 16GB or 32GB scares me - if I loose one that's a lot of images! When I will be shooting a lot like on holiday I rotate the cards every day, but generally, download the images onto a 1TB external HDD, back them up to my portable Seagate 320GB Passport drive then reformat the card in the camera. Otherwise I end up not knowing what images I have.

Since my first digital in Jan 2002, I have always saved images in date formatted folders, so for example, "d:\Photos\yyyy\yyyy_mm_dd\" and always date-stamp the images using the Canon EOS utility software - so "yyyy_mm_dd_description". This is because of the way computers sort files and numbers, so it will always sort by year, month, date.

[Bencooper21]

Thanks all for these excellent tips. More please!

[Salleke]

I'll delete real clunkers if I have time but otherwise, fill it (but not totally full .. that's a good way to get corrupted images) and swap 'em out.

Can you please explain why filling cards totally is a good way to get corrupted images?

I fill my cards allways totally and maybe I should'nt.

Thanks.

[FlyingPhotog]

Can you please explain why filling cards totally is a good way to get corrupted images?

I fill my cards allways totally and maybe I should'nt.

Thanks.

The number of frames remaining is an estimate because file sizes vary based on information in the frame as well as ISO. Higher ISO = Larger Files.

If you jam the card totally full, you may just get a bad file at the last that can confuse the entire data set.

Personally, I swap cards at 10 remaining to be safe.

[Jon]

Fill it and replace with an empty one. I have multiple cards; I don't delete any images until I've moved them to at least two other storage devices (hard disk, CD, DVD ROM).

[Bencooper21]

I'll delete real clunkers if I have time but otherwise, fill it (but not totally full .. that's a good way to get corrupted images) and swap 'em out.

Based on your experience up to what percentage of the memory card do you fill up (80%? 90%? 95%?) before you're in danger of corrupting images? Thanks again.

[FlyingPhotog]

Based on your experience up to what percentage of the memory card do you fill up (80%? 90%? 95%?) before you're in danger of corrupting images? Thanks again.

As I mentioned above, I'll usually swap cards with 10 images +/- remaning...

[gcflora]

Do you:
1) Fill up your memory card then replace it with a new one?

I usually keep my memory cards. After a while when the files begin to accumulate on the card I either erase all the images or format the card, that way I can reuse it and save $$$ on avoiding having to buy a replacement card.