Anybody know anything about SD Camera Cards?

[indianasmith]

My wife got me a brand new PNY SD HC 120 HD 8GB camera card for Christmas.  Holds over 200 large-resolution photos, etc.  I've been using it all day in my little Canon A470 PowerShot with no problem.  This evening I plug it into my computer's SD card slot to upload some pics off of it - and the computer doesn't recognize it.  Doesn't even seem to know it's there.

And of course, the packaging seems to have gotten thrown away in the Christmas day prior to relatives arriving cleanup (I opened it a day early).  SO I have no idea what to do.

Any suggestions?

[SPazzo]

Hmmm.....

Did you try plugging the camera (with the SD card in it) into the computer via USB?  Also, it could be that the slot on your computer can't handle the High Capacity cards.

Even so, I wouldn't suggest using the card slots.  Especially with such a nice memory card like the one you have.  Plugging in and unplugging any kind of memory cards has a higher chance of them getting corrupted.  It's happened to me before, and it's a real pain in the arse.  I always plug the camera into the computer via USB and transfer my pics that way.  Unless I'm in a hurry or my camera batteries are dead or something, it's the best way to go.

Hope that helps!

[Jim H]

It definitely sounds like your card reader doesn't support the newer SDHC standard.  The old SD card spec normally only went up to 2 gigabytes, though some broke the spec and went to 4.

You might be able to find a driver update to the reader to get it to support SDHC, but don't hold your breath.  Best bet is either a new reader (you can get them for like $5) or use the USB cable with the camera.

[AndyC]

I have this problem now and then, and it's usually just a matter of reinstalling the driver for the card reader. If it's an external USB model, that's as easy as unplugging it and plugging it back in. An internal card reader can be reinstalled from the device manager.

But I do agree that connecting the camera by USB cable is the simplest way to go. Don't install any software that came with the camera, just let the computer treat it as a storage device and copy the files to your hard drive the same as you would from a CD or a thumb drive.

In some ways, the card reader is a vestige of the earlier digital cameras that used a slow serial connection. When the alternative was pulling a card full of photos through your serial port at dial-up modem speed, it made sense just pulling a PCMCIA card out of the camera and sticking it in a reader. Since USB came along, the camera and the reader have an identical connection. The only real reason for a removable card (aside from the odd time you need to copy pics onto another person's computer without the oddball non-standard cable your manufacturer insists on using) is the ability to swap a full card for a fresh one. Of course, now that people can get flash memory cards in the tens of gigabytes, there's not likely to be any reason for most people to take the card out of the camera at all in normal day-to-day use.