1. daverp's Avatar
    Having some problems with memory cards, and not sure why. I'm on my 3rd 1gb memory card.

    I've got a couple of them, one for work, one for personal. I swap them out as needed. Not the best system, but I don't want my personal business falling into the wrong hands if I leave my blackberry somewhere, and I hate having to unlock it every time I used it, so, I change them out as needed.

    When I pull I've reinserted two cards now to find out they refuse to continue working. The device won't recognize it. I've even tried formatting the cards, and get nothing. I try to bring up or format the cards on my PC, and get nothing but error messages.

    It seems (with the first two) I can swap them out about 6 to 8 times before they die. I've recently begun not only shutting donw the blackberry first before removing the battery, but waiting a minute or two before pulling the battery and swapping out the cards.

    Is there a set way to do this? What is going wrong? The cards aren't that expensive, but I keep losing data and having to download to the card all over again.
    06-16-08 03:30 PM
  2. mikeyg164's Avatar
    hmm very interesting problem, Im not sure....Im sure someone here will have some advice though.
    06-16-08 05:36 PM
  3. SumthinNew's Avatar
    Are you using authentic microSD cards, or the cheap knockoffs made from that one and only asian country. Some people know this and some people don't, but in reality these cards do have a end of life cycle. They will eventually fail after prolong use, most noticeable are the cheap ones from ebay.
    06-16-08 08:30 PM
  4. daverp's Avatar
    The first one was a knock off, the second was an actual SD brand card.

    Doing some research on the internet, I read somewhere with another blackberry model, that removing the memory card while "an application was running" could damage the card or the device. I thought this could be it, but I'm not leaving any application open associated with the card, and I see no "safely remove memory card" feature or anything like that. I thought just powering down before removing would be good, but it aparently isn't.

    I'm now disabling the card in main menu / media card, and turning "media card support" to off before removing or replacing. Hopefully that does it, as I'm getting tired of burning up cards, especially in such short time spans (week or two).
    06-17-08 11:50 AM
  5. bmcclure937's Avatar
    I did not have time to read this thread, but maybe this will help:

    1) Do not remove cards while device is powered on

    2) Make sure to insert correctly each time

    You could always use folders on one memory card, but that does not help your business / personal issue. And you can put a password on your device... but that won't help if someone gets your device and takes out the card. hmm

    EDIT: Consider this post as useless since you already tried this. I just read through the thread and I am not sure what to say.

    Stick with an SD, Kingston, Crucial, Patriot... may sure you slide the card into the holer and snap into place. And I would continue powering down when swapping cards as a preventative measure. Maybe try 2 Gb cards... or think of a more innovative solution than swapping cards... that has to be a pain to pop the battery out and swap out cards all the time.
    Last edited by bmcclure937; 06-17-08 at 01:29 PM. Reason: Information
    06-17-08 01:26 PM
  6. Daedalus's Avatar
    I understand you concern but stick with name brand SD cards and do not keep things that you do not want plubic on your phone. buy a holster do not set the phone down get in the habit of always putting it in one place, mine is always in it's holster even if it is not on my hip and that only happens at home home.
    06-17-08 02:38 PM
  7. bmcclure937's Avatar
    I understand you concern but stick with name brand SD cards and do not keep things that you do not want plubic on your phone. buy a holster do not set the phone down get in the habit of always putting it in one place, mine is always in it's holster even if it is not on my hip and that only happens at home home.
    And he makes a wonderful point!

    Why are you so concerned about this 'private' data??

    And if the data is that sensitive that it could be compromising to you or the company... then why is it on a phone anyways?? It should be encrypted somewhere and not be carried around in a microSD card on a BB!!

    As for your issue... you have the same risk of losing the phone while having the memory card in there with the 'sensitive' data for a short amount of time as you do with the personal data.

    I would get one microSD card and use discretion about what you put on the card... I would also get a holster to ensure the BB does not get lost. Or always keep it in your pocket. Set a password... because if you lose it most people may not know to open the phone and check the microSD card, they will try to use the phone and it will be locked by a password.
    06-17-08 02:48 PM
  8. dave_sz's Avatar
    Its one of the computers that "damaged" ur cards...

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    06-17-08 09:37 PM
  9. metaltophat's Avatar
    What OS are you using for syncing your BB?

    I had a similar issue when I first synched my microSD on my BB and I'm running Windows Vista. Wouldn't really surprise me if Vista is what's messing up your cards...
    06-17-08 09:54 PM
  10. X RAY TECH's Avatar
    Never had a problem like this, and I didnt know micro sd cards had a service life either. Learn something new every day on Crackberry.
    06-18-08 12:07 AM
  11. Kronk's Avatar
    1) Do not remove cards while device is powered on.
    How would one do this anyway? You have to pull the battery to get to the card.

    Why are you so concerned about this 'private' data??
    Maybe because he considers it 'private'? It could be something from financial data to family pictures.

    I agree though that swapping cards often is not a prime solution. The only real suggestion I can offer (since you don't like locking your device) is to password protect your media card and just leave one in there.

    To enable media card protection go to Options>Media Card>Encryption Mode and select the mode you want. This will not lock your decive, but you will have to enter a password to access anything on the media card.
    06-18-08 02:06 AM
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