Lexar CF cards FAIL - Sandisk?

[Benhider]

Is anyone else having massive failures with their Lexar CF cards. I've had a few cards have complete corruptions that lose all data and is not recoverable by any software, tekserve or even Lexars 8-12 week in house recovery. The card only shows 33MB in recovery. They have a great warranty program so everything is replaceable except for the lost work. I've been shooting small jpegs to second card slot, but still not satisfied with that solution.

Is anyone else having this error? Does it happen with Sandisk? Has anyone used the Raw Steel cards?

I think I'm going to switch completely this week. I've been slow to as I know sandisk have a worse warranty program. But if they don't fail then I won't need it.

Anyone else have the 33MB card failure? Could you recover anything? Does this happen with Sandisk?

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

No, my Lexar cards are fine. Sandisk is reported on this forum to have some issues.

How many cards failed? You make it sound as though you have a lot of them and they all failed.

Individual cards fail, and, of course, counterfits fail frequently. Even batches of a certain lot can have a die flaw.

Which cards failed,? Is there a serial number laser engraved on the back edge of the card. I'd ask for it, but mine is a very long code and I'd likely make a error copying it. (Its hard to see, because its engraved on black)

 

[Rienzphotoz]

I currently have 2 Lexar 64GB CF cards and both work perfectly ... I've also had Lexar 4GB, 8GB & 16GB CF cards, none of the ever failed me ... not even once.

 

[brett b]

I've seen a couple of posts complaining about Lexar cards. I've been considering getting a few of the Pro 1000x cards for the speed. Now I'm hesitant.
I've been using Sandisk for many years. I also have one Photofast card. I haven't had any failures with any of them.
Where did you purchase your cards? My understanding is that there are a lot of counterfeit cards being sold on Amazon.
In what camera body/bodies of yours have the Lexar cards failed?
My Sandisk cards have been used in many bodies without a failure:
1Dx, 1DIV, 1DsIII, 1DsII, 1DIIn

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I've seen a couple of posts complaining about Lexar cards. I've been considering getting a few of the Pro 1000x cards for the speed. Now I'm hesitant.
I've been using Sandisk for many years. I also have one Photofast card. I haven't had any failures with any of them.
Where did you purchase your cards? My understanding is that there are a lot of counterfeit cards being sold on Amazon.
In what camera body/bodies of yours have the Lexar cards failed?
My Sandisk cards have been used in many bodies without a failure:
1Dx, 1DIV, 1DsIII, 1DsII, 1DIIn

Since Lexar replaced them for him, they are not counterfits, but it is unusual for cards to fail.

 

[Orangutan]

How many times had you used the cards before the failure? CF manufacturing defects tend to show up early in the use life of the device. You should test your cards thoroughly before you trust them for important work.

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=13413.msg241802#msg241802

Every manufacturer has some defective product, so you won't necessarily be any better off with a different brand.

 

[Robert Welch]

I've used both Lexar and Sandisk with pretty much equal success. I had some Sandisk cards fail on me about 10 years ago, but since then, the only other card I've had fail was a Delkin.

I think Lexar and Sandisk haver similarly good products, they both have some who have had problems, but the problem rate is rather low I would think. Those who do have problems are very vocal, of course, and may make it seem that the products are worthless, and that is understandable. If you've had a number of Lexar cards fail on you, then you are not likely to continue to use Lexar and I wouldn't blame you. But you can find this is the case for any card, I'm sure.

If you really want the highest quality card, and are willing to pay for it, you can get the Transend 300x UDMA 16GB, which have a different type of error correction built in:

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-300x-CompactFlash-Memory-TS16GCF300/dp/B0017NO1H2

Be careful, though, not all Transcend cards use this technology, and I don't think the ones that don't have as good a reputation as either Lexar or Sandisk, from what I can tell. The only Transcends I know for sure have this is the one I linked to, and you can tell by the price (almost 3x the price of the regular Transcend cards), it's not cheap technology.

 

[Efka76]

It could be the case that you have fake Lexar cards and that's why they are failing. Lexar, Sandisk, Transcend are all really well known firms and I have never heard that their production is failing (massively, as in your case).

Another reason could be that you improperly handle them. In such case Sandisk and others will fail as well.

In my opinion, try to buy original cards and your problems will be solved

 

[expatinasia]

I too have never had any problems with my Lexar cards, in fact I just purchased two 1000X 32GB cards for the extra speed they offer. SanDisk's fastest aren't quite up to the same speed yet.

 

[francorossi]

I had the same error with a 32GB 400x Lexar. I tried to recovery in Lexar and Sandisk software and both fail. Found online a software called CardRescue that save all files from the card, only 3 losses. Since then i usually test this card in recreational shots, and it never had that error again.

 

[demwilliams]

Hello,

If you contact Lexar @ 1-877-747-4031 we will be glad to help you sort through your card issue,



Regards
Lexar support

 

[Studio1930]

I have had two Sandisk cards fail but none of my 10 Lexar 1000x cards have failed. 1Ds2, 1Ds3, 1D4, 1DX. The Lexar cards have tens of thousands of shots on them each (if not hundreds of thousands).

 

[expatinasia]

Hello,

If you contact Lexar @ 1-877-747-4031 we will be glad to help you sort through your card issue,

Regards
Lexar support

Sorry if this sounds cynical, but has anyone verified if this is a valid Lexar number? I am not in the US, so am not about to call it to find out!

If so, then wow!! That's what I call customer service, and I am even more pleased to be a customer of Lexar's best cards.

 

[Stickman]

Sorry if this sounds cynical, but has anyone verified if this is a valid Lexar number?

You mean getting crazy like doing a cut and paste into google, and finding it as the primary number for Lexar support as listed on their webpage?

http://www.lexar.com/support

 

[m]

Sorry if this sounds cynical, but has anyone verified if this is a valid Lexar number?

http://www.lexar.com/support

I'm running 2 cheap kingstons, which some other cameras can't even read. (from that other brand, of course )
Never had any issues with them.

 

[expatinasia]

You mean getting crazy like doing a cut and paste into google, and finding it as the primary number for Lexar support as listed on their webpage?

http://www.lexar.com/support

Yes, something like that. 8) I knew posting before my first coffee of the morning was a bad idea.

Thanks!

 

[Benhider]

I have had two Sandisk cards fail but none of my 10 Lexar 1000x cards have failed. 1Ds2, 1Ds3, 1D4, 1DX. The Lexar cards have tens of thousands of shots on them each (if not hundreds of thousands).

Obviously I have already contacted Lexar, and there was no recovering the images! They did an extended recovery, and could only replace the card at best.

I'm switching to Sandisk, but also doubling all data at time of creation. (additonal SD on mark iii and CF on 1DX)

 

[willhunt]

I just had a shocking incident yesterday with a Lexar 16GB 1000X card. I'm shooting my daughters Varsity dance team at the University of Michigan's basketball venue. Great lighting, everything is going super smooth. Her team is walking onto the court for their final Pom routine of the season. This is IT. All of the practices and hard work have come down to this minute and a half. I snap a few as they're walking out, and BAM. My 1DMKIV turns to a brick. Cannot write to card.... blah,blah blah. I furiously power down the cam, pull and re-install the card, pull the the battery, and nothing works. My pro body, lens, and CF card is a BRICK! Nothing will work. I grab a SANDISK Exteme Pro card, and everything is back to normal, AS THE TEAM IS WALKING OFF THE COURT! To say the least, I am fu***ing pissed! The reason I purchased all professional gear, is so things like this CANNOT happen. When the decisive moment is there, I am ready.
Sorry to the forum for my rant, but i just had to vent somewhere. I am going to contact Lexar, but truly what can they do. The moment is gone. I not only didn't get any photos, I didn't even get to watch my daughters final dance routine, as I was fumbling to get the cam to work.
Sorry, Lexar. But it will be Sandisk for me from now on when the shots are critical.
Anyone on the forum ever hear of any problems with Lexar 1000X CF cards, and the Canon 1D Mk IV?
Sorry again for my rant. Great forum, and I plan on sticking around. Thanks.
And I must add, I bought two of these cards together from Adorama, so I'm pretty darn sure they aren't fakes.

 

[thepancakeman]

The reason I purchased all professional gear, is so things like this CANNOT happen.

Stuff like this can ALWAYS happen, that's why "professional gear" has two memory card slots.

 

[acoll123]

The reason I purchased all professional gear, is so things like this CANNOT happen.

Stuff like this can ALWAYS happen, that's why "professional gear" has two memory card slots.

I bought two 32gb 1,000x Sandisk Cards around Christmas from B&H. I shoot sports and had something similar happen to me a few times while shooting basketball games. At the time I had a 1DIV and a 5DIII. Happened with both cameras when I got close to filling the buffers. Luckily I kept the original packing and B&H agreed to take them back in exchange for 2 similar Sandisk cards - the Sandisk cards were almost twice as much but I have never had a similar problems to the one I had with the Lexar cards and my Canon Cameras. I will say the Lexar cards were super fast downloading from my card reader and I did have more buffer head room but it still wasn't worth worrying about camera lock up . . .