How often should you change your memory cards?
 

Yea, so I'm about to buy replacements for all my SD cards (6 in total) even though they function fine. I guess I just don't want to hold onto them until the point in time comes when they fail.

Am I being too cautious, or am I making a sensible move?

Re: How often should you change your memory cards?
 

Realistically, how many times have the cards been oner written? 50?, 100?, 150? They are rated for thousands.

Also, you have just as much chance getting a bad card that's new, so you'd have to fully record them at least twice to know they're working properly, though of course like any other card, your new card could fail the very next time out.

So, no right or wrong answer. Do what you are comfortable with.

Re: How often should you change your memory cards?
 

Are they cosmetically damaged?

Reason I say that is because one of my SD cards was cosmetically damaged and a bit of the plastic (where the contacts are) came off. Hard to describe without pictures.

If they are cosmetically knackered. Change them.

Otherwise, what's the point? couldn't agree more with Dave.

Re: How often should you change your memory cards?
 

Most come with a lifetime warranty (small print limits this to 35 years for the Kingston cards we use). So the makers think they will last a while.

Every year we run ours through a program called H2testw which writes and verifies every sector. If any fail we get them replaced under warranty for free (not had to do that yet). We also run new ones through the same process.

If anything, the little gold connectors will wear out before the cards themselves do.

Re: How often should you change your memory cards?
 

Yes Danny, that's what I was referring to actually. One of the plastics separating the gold connectors had broken. The card still worked, but I replaced it as it was an accident waiting to happen.

Re: How often should you change your memory cards?
 

They don't wear out - other than through rough handling. Buy reliable brands from reliable sources obviously.

They have improved enormously from their modest entrance into our industry a few years back. Its years since I've had a failure - at the start I used to shoot using dual card bodies for insurance, they were very expensive bodies to get that feature. Now that seems overkill especially if you routinely have several cams running at the crucial moments.

In the past I've changed cards at the point where more memory hungry bodies required more and faster storage. An early digital stills camera I bought - the D60 (not to be confused with the current 60D) - I added 4 x 256mb cards and that was fine. And the D60 was the dogs b*%%^cks at the time.

Can't see the need now unless 4k really takes off. I don't anticipate replacing so much as adding to my supply of cards as more and more ambitious multicam becomes the norm - gopro here Cx there, another gopro her, another CX there etc. You do get into the question of how much of the day to commit to each card though; lots of mid-range ones v. fewer high capacity ones.

Pete