Using SD memory cards

[News]

This is probably me being thick, but I'm struggling to use a couple of SD memory cards. One is 'standard' size (about an inch square), and the other is smaller. The second one has an adapter to make it the same size as the larger one. I also have a USB stick into which either can be plugged. The problem is that neither PC can see either card, whether plugged directly in a card socket, or via the USB stick. PCs are W7 and XP. Am I missing something obvious? Surely the cards don't need formatting before use? One card is Kingston, so not an unknown back street copy.

[Dave Liquorice]

The cards are fooked? Have you A.N.Other devices to try 'em in to see if they can "see" the cards?

They do but if they don't appear as drives you can't do that...

[Bob Minchin]

The cards should come formatted. Check that your pc device manager to check the card reader is OK Mine is filed under Secure Digital Host Controller and only appears when a card is plugged in.

Bob

[Andy Burns]

Are the cards SD or MMC or the higher capacity SDHC or SDXC? If the latter, your PC's memory slots and USB readers may not be compatible, anything larger than 2GB isn't SD (or is bending the rules).

[Nick Odell]

Do you know for sure that the card reader works? I bought one via mail order from a computery place and it flatly refused to do anything: the one I subsequently picked up in a pound shop performs without a murmur of dissent.

Nick

[root]

I've tried a few cards in adapters as you describe and found that the adapters tend to be cheap, shoddy and at best intermittent in their abililty to "see" the cards. Of the three pieces of cheap carp I have tried only one adapter worked properly - and even that one failed after a few insertions.

You could try cleaning the contacts on your cards, they may have picked up some contamination from the adapter.

[airsmoothed]

Yep, almost certain to be the problem, if the USB reader isn't SDHC compatible you won't see the cards. Poundland and their ilk usually have SDHC compatible USB card readers which work fine IMX.

[John Williamson]

Do the cards work in a camera? Try formatting them in the camera, and then reading them in the computer.

If they do work, then the problem's with your computer. If they're over

2Gb and it's an oldish computer, then as others have said, they'll be SDHC, and can't be read by older units. Such as this 5 year old Toshiba laptop. A new card reader will almost certainly read SDHC cards, I got mine from PC World for a tenner a year ago, and it reads all known forms of Flash memory, except the very early ones that emulated a floppy (SSFDC?) and PCMCIA cards.

[Theo Markettos]

I have a Poundland USB card reader with slots for SD and microSD cards. It'll read microSD cards in the microSD slot, but not in the SD slot with a passive adaptor. The same microSD+adaptor combo works in every other machine/camera I've used.

Theo

[<me9]

What size? There are SD cards (below 2G) and SDHC cards (larger than 2G). The card reader may be SD rather than SDHC. I had to get a new reader for cards greater than 2G.

[News]

In message , Nick Odell writes

Bingo! Much fiddling about with the card in the USB reader thingy, and it works. Obviously a poor connection in there, somewhere. New card reader required.

Cheers,