SD failure

[Slamman]

I'll expand on a problem I mentioned earlier....

 

A budget USB card, only 512MB, Canton brand stopped reading, though the computers all detected it, it would present an error in Device Manager or from My Computer mark it when clicked as Unformatted, would you like to Format it now??

 

This was not the case, the drive had photo and driver content and had been used a few times.

Now, with a Sandisk 6 in 1 card reader I've been using as my first multi card reader presented the same conflict with several SD cards, from 512MB to 2GB in size, bought from MicroCenter's in-house branded hardware.

 

Thing is, I use a USB multi card reader I got later on that is Syntax brand (UCR-61) that has served me very well, I find the cards will read in this device.

 

Prior to this even being a problem is what to read MemoryStick Duos with, any Sony MemoryStick since the protective MagicGate was introduced severly limit the devices they read upon, and newer high capacity cards are coming out as we speak, upto 16GBs in some cases! That is simply amazing but presents the question of drivers again, most hardware suited to fast machines under Vista/XP. I at least can use these with Windows 98 and ME as well as Win 2K.

All my machines are upgraded with some form of flash card and I am truly concerned that these may have relatively short shelf life and I need to maintain a traditional failsafe backup.

 

Thoughts and experiences welcome!!