Or that the card was faulty. There is a 33% percentage for both thoughts.
But I consider Patriot not very good cards anyway.
I mean around here when they want to give a gift for any SD using device, they give this...

Hi Monday,

I'm really sorry to hear about your loss. Hopefully you can recover the footage. Before I took the plunge with DSLR's I researched the reliability of the media and compiled a list of good habits to develop when working with flash memory. Some of it might be overkill, but I won't be completely comfortable shooting to solid-state until there is a way I can record two copies at the same time:

WHEN PURCHASING:
- Only use brand-name memory cards from companies that have a history of making products with reliable performance. This information can be gathered through merchants that have ratings and feedback as well as forums and comparative reviews.

- Use the smallest capacity card that your workflow allows. This will limit the losses you may incur if a card becomes corrupt.

WHEN SHOOTING:
- Always format new cards before use in your camera, even if they come "pre-formatted".

- Don't delete images and video files during a shoot.

- Never use the card to its fullest capacity. Always leave free space.

- Don't let your batteries run out during shooting. Though most modern cameras have safety measures in place to guard against write errors its safer to always have sufficient battery power.

- Completely turn off your camera before removing the memory card. Even though most modern cameras have safeguards and warning systems to tell you that the camera may still be accessing the card it is even safer to turn the power off before changing cards.

- Only use a card in multiple cameras if they are the same brand and model and also have the same firmware installed.

WHEN TRANSFERRING:
- When you transfer your card's image and video files to your computer don't reformat the card until its contents exist in two separate locations, i.e. your internal hard drive and an external hard drive, your internal hard drive and a DVD-R etc. When making your second copy of the card's contents don't copy the first copy to the second location. Rather, copy the card's contents to each location directly. This will avoid creating two corrupt copies if the first copy was corrupt.

- Don't delete the image and video files while the card is connected to your computer. Format the card in the camera you intend to use the card in.

- Always eject your cards from the computer's desktop when you're done transferring your images and video files. Don't just pull out the card. The computer may be accessing it.

- Store your cards in a dust-free, low-humidity location with a consistent temperature. Don't knock, bump or juggle your cards.

this brings up the question- anyone come up with a better way for backing up such large files? i know- blu-ray dvds, or buy terrabyte drives... just wondering if there's anything new on the post-NAB horizon...

I plan to archive at plain DVD's or Dual Layer.

Is PQI a decent brand?

Quite right Joel. Whatever the reason for this terrible mishap, I think we should all accept that these DSLRs have major problems, apart from the terrible aliasing and moire that everyone knows about. Dont get me wrong, I love the 550D, I use mine regularly alongside an EX1, it is great as a B cam for shooting cutaways and infills. What we have in the 550D is a great stills camera that happens to shoot great video, if used within its limitations. It is not, and was never intended to be used as a full time video camera. As Monday said, his XHA1 handled everthing the same day with no problems, as one would expect. No doubt all the issues connected with DSLRs will one day be a thing of the past, but this is the technology we have available today, and we have to accept that. Out of interest, I also have a Sony HX5 digital camera which shoots glorious 1920 x 1080 footage, it never overheats. !!!!!!!!

Try ATP pro. They can be used in an EX1 almost as well over/under cranking as SxS cards. Very reliable

Monday,

I'm sorry to hear about that happening to you. My "guess" is that there was something about that particular card that caused it to heat up bad, some extra resistance somewhere in it that was encountered as the card got close to full.

Patriot, A-Data, and several others are "Johnny come lately" to the market cards and I've heard many horror stories about them. Transcend, I hear just enough "card quit and can't be read, formatted" to where I won't take a chance on them. Dane-Elec has a miserable record of media failure.

If and when I get a T2i (sold my T1i and have a 7D) the only card I will consider is SanDisk. That's what I used in the T1i, what I use in the 7D (SanDisk ExtremeIV 45Mbps and one 60Mbps) and never a problem.

Filling the card up: I don't do this, I treat flash media just like we used to have to treat 20MB and 30MB hard drives. It was in the last 15% down to 10% of capacity that we saw an astronomical rise in File Allocation Table errors. I had 2 instances of horribly scrambled data until I learned to stop filling it up at about 80% and that's where I try to stop on SDHC and CF cards. It makes a difference.

I easily feel your problem was with that one Patriot card. I would get one SanDisk Class (6) or Class (10) and try to run that hard like you did the patriot. Periodically shut the cam down and see if the card is getting warmer than you're comfortable with.

You helped me out with the T1i, I hope this info helps you. I think your T2i is just fine.

Me...I pay the SanDisk price, swallow hard and move on.

Thanks Joel and Bruce. I'm going to get rid of my remaining two Patriots and get 3 Sandisks. I'm going to have to send the card out to a recovery place as the files on there are very important to me. Oh well. I've learned my lesson.

Monday

I and many others have used Transcend 16Gb SD class 6 cards with no problems.

I'll use them. I hope I didn't make it seem like Patriot is a 'no-name- brand. I don't think that at all. The've been around since '85 and consistently rank high in unbiased customer ratings on sites like newegg and amazon - practically always 4 or 5 stars. As with any product you're going to have a failure rate, and the people you most hear from that buy a product are the ones that experienced those failures first hand, so getting a good rating within a public forum is especially hard. Having said that I totally understand you not wanting to use them after you've had one fail...

You totally understand me there Joel. Just nervous being bit once. You definitely did not make it seem that Patriot was a bad brand at all. I'm just nervous to try them on important jobs. B&H has 16GB Sandisks Class 6 for $50 so I'll pick some up and go from there. The Sandisks I have now have been very reliable so far. I just hope they can keep up the record. "/

Just another piece of data:

Patriot LX 32GB SDHC Class 10 (Model PSF32GSDHC10): died within days (froze up a couple of times, then died).

Patriot support (in newegg.com) comments speculates that it might be Class 10 needs to be supported better by the camera (i.e., firmware update) because it's newer (just tellin' ya what they wrote).

And, by the by, I got Patriot because of their good reputation and agree it's not a no-name OEM.

That means that the camera damages the cards because they have intense i/o performance?
I don't understand how this is possible. I can understand that the camera doesn't recognize them but to destroy them? Not a good excuse.

Sorry to hear it happened to you too D. Eric. Just picked up some Sandisks from B&H now.