SanDisk SDHC issue - write protect thingy fallen out
 

I think I've hit my first SNAFU with shooting to SDHC, though it's an irritation rather than a problem.

Two of my SanDisk Extreme III SDHC cards, used regularly in MxR adaptors, are missing their little grey Write Protect sliders, leaving behind a little empty hole.

I can pull stuff off, but they can't be formatted or written to because, well, the write protect thingy broke off when it was on. Well, the ones that have the grey thing work fine, and these two which don't, don't.

From wikipedia:

To whit, I guess that the reading device (EX1) doesn't wish to override it. Nor does the MacBook Pro, which shows the card as write protected and won't even format it. Which is what you want really, unless the tab broke off.

Anyone know of a way of fooling an SDHC card in the same way a bit of tape over a write protect hole will force a tape to be erasable?

same happened to me, once. i disassembled the SDHC, only to discover some minute electrical contacts as part of the slide switch. way too small for my eyes or fingers to attempt repair. i'm afraid the card is worthless, at this point.

Well, it's chalked up as a lesson. I'd just got some dinky new SDHC cases - 8 cards in a neat little box. Quite tight, and a lot of traffic in and out of box and adaptors. I bet the thingies got snapped off in the new cases.

I should have got a batch of Ross's 'orange boxes' and just put up with the extra space required. Order now complete.

Or just do as I do with my SDHC adapters and leave all the SDHC cards "permanently" inside the Adapters and use each "Combo" just like a SxS stick (bar overcranking beyond about 48-50 fps). That way the SDHC cards are protected a bit. Those Kensington adapters are cheap enough for me to use this approach. I still put the Combos in a case and handle them like they are priceless - and at times they are (when the clips are on them).

Most SD cards have a lifetime guarantee. Perhaps it will cover the defect...

rather painless
 

Considering the cost of the SDHC cards, this is a fairly painless problem. That's the beauty of this solution. The cards are virtually an expendable. Can be treated like tapestock.

Imagine if your SxS or a P2 card had that problem?

SanDisk will replace the card without a hassle. I would simply do that.

Also, the suggestion regarding extra preloaded adapters is a good one. That is what I did back when I bought six Kensington adapters. They are preloaded and I never have to switch cards at a shoot. I only switch preloaded adapters.

John

I think thats a good idea.

Just received my EX3 and new to all of this, I thought I read on the forum about never go to a shoot with new unused SDHC cards, always shoot on a used one, is this still the case.

Hi Tony.
Always a good idea to test any recording media, be it tape or card, before using on a shoot. Hope you are enjoying the new cam.

Yes Colin, the pictures, what little I seen of them, are stunning.
What I was wondering was. I've started to gather up a few of these cards, like you and they are all new, so do you take a SDHC card and record say 5 or 10 min on each of them?
When would you know there OK to use, if you see were I'm coming from.

I always check cameras and media before a shoot. I shot a wedding last Saturday and used 2, 16 and 2 8gb Transcend cards, all tested for about 1 minute beforehand, no problem whatsoever. We just have to trust the technology I guess. I think its pretty sound. Certainly far less to go wrong than in a tape based camera.

So,take the SDHC card and record 1 or 2 mins on it and if theres no error messages it should be OK to record on. You don't have to record any more than that to test it.
Thats not to bad then.

What I'm hoping to do (but probably wont work like this) is to record my wedding onto the SDHC cards then let them stay on the shelf until I need to work on that wedding project, that could be about 6/7 weeks. I know I will need a good few cards to let me do that. Well, thats what I'm thinking of anyway.

Its reminds me of when I first got my DVCam tapes, a 3hr tape cost me £35, I always seemed to be buying tapes but then, after a while I didn't need to buy any at all.

Thanks.

You could go that way Tony, but it could get a bit expensive. I back up my edited footage, encoded to H264 on 2 seperate hard drives. You can pick up external 1 Tb drives for about £85. Doing it this way frees up your cards instantly. Some will say that hard drives can fail, and they are right, but by the same token any piece of equipment we use can fail. I tend not to think in a negative way, and as I have said in the past, we must trust the technology.

Hi Colin, what I meant was record my wedding, take the SDHC cards out of the readers and leave the cards sitting, untouched, until I have to start editing that wedding which could be 5/6 weeks later...or is this the wrong way.

Or do you mean shoot your wedding and then when you get a chance copy the cards to 2 HDs, leaving the cards usable again, only sooner.

Whichever works for you, I certainly would not hesitate to copy all the files to HDD as soon as possible.