Card Failure: Lexar CF 32GB 1000x

[Maui5150]

As for a chip swap.. Good luck with that. Even though a card may be the same, often their are tweaks in a generation, so two identical 32GB 1000x may have different internals.

Learned this the hard way. Not with flash cards, but with flash drives... speaking of which, I back my USB drives regularly to my PC and even if functioning, after about 18 months, I toss and replace.

They run like a tank, even with daily use... until they fail.

 

[chris haylett]

I had a Lexar 32GB 1000x card fail awhile back and spoke with various people at Lexar about it. I had been using an older Sandisk FW800 card reader, as my MAC location laptop only had Firewire 800 and not USB3. Lexar, in no uncertain terms informed me that all their UDMA 7 cards must be downloaded using a UDMA 7 compliant card reader - they didn't care which brand, just UDMA 7. They said that using a non-UDMA card reader might not cause the card to fail immediately, but it will eventually - no if, and's or buts. They replaced my card N/C. I posted about this awhile back and got flamed by someone claiming to be an engineer, blah, blah, blah, but the fact is, Lexar themselves is saying this, not me. So, I don't know if the card reader really is/was the entire problem, but I'm sure not taking a chance. I'm using a new UDMA card reader and suffering with the slower transfer times as it's bottlenecking into the USB2 port, but better that than going against Lexar's directive and potentially wrecking a card and losing all my images.

 

[stein]

This is a true nightmare , I've been using the LEXAR 128GB 800x with NO problems for a year in 7D and 5D mkIII - but my SD 128Gb Sandisk broke/split as I inserted it into the camera in darkness (night time photo). SD-cards are so weak physically so be aware! Another SD-card failure is trying to insert it wrong way (contacts opposite) that breaks the card as well
Stein, Norway
http://tromsofoto.net

 

[Mitch.Conner]

Same happened to me on Tuesday night using the same Lexar card as yours. Fortunately, I was shooting with two cameras, and retained more than the 30 images I need for the event on camera 2. This is my first Lexar failure ever from the days of my 40D to present. A bigg thank you to the authors of all the "build in redundancy" advice I have read on Canon Rumors.

I own two Lexar 32GB 1000x CF cards that I use much more than my SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB cards. This thread has me concerned and wondering if I should just use my current (and buy more) SanDisk Extreme Pro cards from now on.

 

[Chris Burch]

In talking with the company that eventually recovered the data, he said they see about equal numbers of Lexar and SanDisk failures. He did mention that SanDisk encrypts the data within the card, which makes recovery more difficult. As a result, I havne't abandoned my Lexar cards. It is unnerving though. I've started dual writing a lot more.

 

[expatinasia]

In talking with the company that eventually recovered the data, he said they see about equal numbers of Lexar and SanDisk failures.

Thanks for highlight that important fact. I think it is all too easy for threads like this to become a SanDisk v Lexar and ultimately it all boils down to our own experiences with each brand. My cards are mainly Lexar at the moment and so far so good. (probably shouldn't have said that!! : )

 

[alexanderferdinand]

Owning different brands in the past and now (Sandisk, Lexar, Transcend, Sony, Samsung, Toshiba) I had issues with:
Transcend 16GB CF 600x (very slow, didnt loose images. Slow. compared to others 1/3 speed)
Sandisk 16GB CF 60MB/s (look above)
Samsung SD (the metal one) didnt work at all at delivery
Sony SD 16GB 94MB/s didnt work in the Sony RX100 (!!), h2test found errors

My 1D Mk4 has sometimes hickup at longer series with the CF card (no matter which), cannot reproduce or provoke it........

My observations thrown in.
addendum: the more expensive a card is, the more honest seem to be their speed.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Same happened to me on Tuesday night using the same Lexar card as yours. Fortunately, I was shooting with two cameras, and retained more than the 30 images I need for the event on camera 2. This is my first Lexar failure ever from the days of my 40D to present. A bigg thank you to the authors of all the "build in redundancy" advice I have read on Canon Rumors.

I own two Lexar 32GB 1000x CF cards that I use much more than my SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB cards. This thread has me concerned and wondering if I should just use my current (and buy more) SanDisk Extreme Pro cards from now on.

All cards have failures. Some have mentioned that their companies will no longer buy Sandisk due to high failure rates and a analysis of the problem. Its all overblown.

Always have spare cards, any of them can fail.

 

[Warrenl]

They said that using a non-UDMA card reader might not cause the card to fail immediately, but it will eventually - no if, and's or buts.

I had two Lexar 1000x 32G cards fail within one month of each other. I got the same advice as Chris from Lexar. Was also using Firewire 800 card readers.

 

[No Mayo]

I just called Lexar and was told…
1) Yes, using the firewire 800 card reader has probably already corrupted my 1000 speed lexar cards. Even though they continue to work fine for now.
2) Order the new card reader that is USB 3.0 and most importantly supports UDMA 7.
3) All card readers ordered directly from LEXAR will be REV E (revision E?). This (latest) revision addresses this latest card corruption issue.
4) Yes, I can order it from B+H for $15 cheaper and if it does not have "revE" printed in the serial/model number I can update it's firmware for free directly from www.lexar.com.
5) I can then also repair my 1000 speed cards using my new and updated card reader.
6) This will make my cards new again and remove any data corruption that is skulking on my cards.
7) The cards affected include all the 800 speed and up.
He also explained that the issue was that the new cards are sending info faster than the reader can process it. The reader then sends some of the overflow data back onto the card. (The new reader can manage the data properly with the buffer.) This is the corruption source and evidently if left unfixed it is a time bomb. While I agree that any card can fail at any time, I will be thwarting this cause by ordering the new reader and following the lexar update instructions.
8) I did not ask for a link to do the updates/repairs on the new reader (if necessary) and the cards. I told him that I would call when I had my new card reader.

 

[Warrenl]

I just called Lexar and was told…
1) Yes, using the firewire 800 card reader has probably already corrupted my 1000 speed lexar cards. Even though they continue to work fine for now.


Interesting....

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I just called Lexar and was told…
1) Yes, using the firewire 800 card reader has probably already corrupted my 1000 speed lexar cards. Even though they continue to work fine for now.
2) Order the new card reader that is USB 3.0 and most importantly supports UDMA 7.
3) All card readers ordered directly from LEXAR will be REV E (revision E?). This (latest) revision addresses this latest card corruption issue.
4) Yes, I can order it from B+H for $15 cheaper and if it does not have "revE" printed in the serial/model number I can update it's firmware for free directly from www.lexar.com.
5) I can then also repair my 1000 speed cards using my new and updated card reader.
6) This will make my cards new again and remove any data corruption that is skulking on my cards.
7) The cards affected include all the 800 speed and up.
He also explained that the issue was that the new cards are sending info faster than the reader can process it. The reader then sends some of the overflow data back onto the card. (The new reader can manage the data properly with the buffer.) This is the corruption source and evidently if left unfixed it is a time bomb. While I agree that any card can fail at any time, I will be thwarting this cause by ordering the new reader and following the lexar update instructions.
8) I did not ask for a link to do the updates/repairs on the new reader (if necessary) and the cards. I told him that I would call when I had my new card reader.

The new reader and firmware updates for the old have been around for years now. Lexar sent me a new one 6 months ago when I complained that my old one dropped off line after a hour or two. The replacement doesn't do that.