SD cards have become a common place in the storage industry for numerous reasons, including compact size, high-storage, data transfer speed, etc. They are available in various form factors that make them suitable for use in the smallest of devices, such as digital cameras, MP3 players, PDAs, and smart phones. As flash memory card usage has increased tremendously over the last few years, users have discovered a number of vulnerabilities causing data loss on these cards. Accidental format or erasure, viruses or Trojans, and SD card corruption are some of the common culprits responsible for SD card data loss. The number of data disasters can be reduced by taking into consideration some of the below mentioned preventative measures:
- Format Your New SD Card
When you buy a new memory card, you should format the card in your camera to ensure that the file system on the card is recognized by the camera.
- Store Data on Multiple Cards
Due to technological advancements in the memory card technology, SD cards come in compact sizes and can provide massive storage. It is wise to strip your data across multiple cards, rather than keeping it on a single high-capacity card. If one of these cards fails, the data stored on other cards will remain intact.
- Remove the SD Card Properly from the Computer
After transferring files to your computer, it is necessary to properly remove the SD card from your system. For a safe removal, you can use the ‘eject’ option. This will inform the system to stop all communications with the card even after the file transfer has finished.
- Switch Off Your Camera Prior to Removing the Card
If you accidentally take out the card while the camera is still on, the photos on the card may become unreadable due to file system corruption. In order to prevent your files from potential damage, you need to properly remove it after turning off your camera.
- Avoid Accidental Formatting of the Card
While transferring photos to your PC or viewing the card data in a different camera, a message may pop up asking to format the memory card. If you inadvertently hit ‘Yes’ on the message box, your data will be gone in less than a fraction of a second.
- Update Antivirus Software
Some virus programs are meticulously designed to target removable devices. They might move to other systems through these devices. If your memory card is infected with a virus, it can mess up the file system on the card. As a result, you may face significant data loss. To fix problems related to viruses and other malware, you can update your antivirus software with the latest patches.
Proper handling of the SD card is the first step towards preventing data loss. In case you have encountered a memory card failure or lost some of your priceless photos to accidental deletion, you can resort to professional SD Card Recovery software. These utilities do an extensive scan of your corrupt media card to recover lost or inaccessible photos, videos, movie clips, songs, and other multimedia files.