New M9 fries its first SD card

EdwardKaraa

EdwardKaraa

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Oct 17, 2011
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Ok, my brand new M9 fried its first card, a Sandisk 8GB Ultra. I thought these cards were ok, but after a week of use, the camera today refused to turn on. After I removed the card, the camera functioned normally. But the card is not recognized by the computer now.

The question is how do I recover the photographs that are on the card. I have some nice ones in there? Anyone can help?

Thanks in advance!

Edward
 
...just to make sure :
You did format the card in the camera and did not use it in any other camera in between ?
 
icebear said:
...just to make sure :
You did format the card in the camera and did not use it in any other camera in between ?
Click to expand...

I always format the cards in the camera, and do not use them on other devices. The card was working fine after I finished taking photos, and on the way home, I was able to review the shots on the LCD. The camera later on froze until I removed the card.
 
EdwardKaraa said:
I always format the cards in the camera, and do not use them on other devices. The card was working fine after I finished taking photos, and on the way home, I was able to review the shots on the LCD. The camera later on froze until I removed the card.
Click to expand...

What firmware version are you using? I am using 1.7xy, there is a later one 1.9xy that supposedly eliminates some SD card issues of the M9.
As I am only using Lexar Pro cards and never had an issue with these (SDHC 16 GB 133 x and 400x) I have chosen NOT to update the firmware to the latest version - if it's not broken don't fix it;). Good luck figuring out what is causing the hick up.
 
I have the latest firmware 1.196. I did a search online and it seems the card is not recoverable. All the Sandisk cards are in the garbage now. I will buy another Lexmark card like the one the vendor sold me with the M9.
 
It's not the model of card, it's that specific card. I sent mine back to sandisk and they gave me a new one which worked fine in the M9 for another year or so (before I sold the M9 like a dumb-ass).
 
I had a similar problem a few months ago with a new card i bought while out of town for the weekend. I formatted it in the camera and it went fine until I tried to read the card using my computer. I got a card not recognised message on the computer screen. I ended up buying an external card reader for computer. It worked fine and now it even works with the in computer card reader.
 
Using Lexar Platinum II card myself, with no problems. I figured that as Leica had "certified" Sandisk cards as OK, they were obviously the ones to avoid! :)
 
1. I recovered all images from my SanDisk 8GB card with SanDisk's own program that comes as a free download with the card.

2. You need to reformat the card first. It only rewrites the file structure and does not erase the images. Even my PC would not reformat the card and it was Apple's disk utility that allowed me to reformat the card.

3. Then SandDisk's program recovered the files. No other program came close.

4. Switch to Lexar. I have used Lexar Platinum II 8GB, and I have had no more problems and that is months now.

5. I haven't upgraded to the latest firmware as I want discreet mode and won't be using SanDisk for the M9 again anyway.
 
Still using the Sandisk and Kingston 2GB cards with my M9 that I've had since the M8 days, and still using firmware 1.162. No desire to upgrade either, as it seems frought with risk.
 
Thank you for the replies! I did a bit of research and one guy on L-forum had exactly the same issue with the same card. I think maybe it's not the card but the way you handle it. My mistake was to delete images in the camera, as it seems I have to do that carefully and slowly, this goes for image review as well. I shouldn't flip between the photos too quickly. I also may have turned off the camera while it was trying to decode a photo. It seems whatever you do, you should count at least 3 seconds before the next step. Anyway, I don't want to risk loosing anymore images, so the Sandisk is on the black list.
 
By the way, someone suggested to me to do a full format in camera (rewrite option) on all new cards. That takes quite long, possibly 30 minutes or so, be he claims that his M9 had never had card problems with any brand.
 
EdwardKaraa said:
Thank you for the replies! I did a bit of research and one guy on L-forum had exactly the same issue with the same card. I think maybe it's not the card but the way you handle it. My mistake was to delete images in the camera, as it seems I have to do that carefully and slowly, this goes for image review as well. I shouldn't flip between the photos too quickly. I also may have turned off the camera while it was trying to decode a photo. It seems whatever you do, you should count at least 3 seconds before the next step. Anyway, I don't want to risk loosing anymore images, so the Sandisk is on the black list.
Click to expand...

I'm considering upgrading my M8 to a M9 but read your posts makes me a bit scared!
 
I did like this to recover the files from my fried card:

- load the card in a non-leica camera
- take a picture (and yes it stored the picture on the card and I could suddenly browse through the Leica files)
- put the card back in the M9

That's it.

I think that the M9 sometimes corrupt the allocation table on the card. When you take a picture with another camera, which stores it on the card, the allocation table is updated and the card is readable again.

This procedure have worked 2 time for me :)
 
Termik said:
I did like this to recover the files from my fried card:

- load the card in a non-leica camera
- take a picture (and yes it stored the picture on the card and I could suddenly browse through the Leica files)
- put the card back in the M9

That's it.

I think that the M9 sometimes corrupt the allocation table on the card. When you take a picture with another camera, which stores it on the card, the allocation table is updated and the card is readable again.

This procedure have worked 2 time for me :)
Click to expand...

That makes sense to me. But in the field it might necessitate having that other camera, and on one occasion my damaged card was not then readable in the X100 either. I now carry a spare M9 formatted card (Lexar).
 
Thanks! Sounds like a great idea! :)

Termik said:
I did like this to recover the files from my fried card:

- load the card in a non-leica camera
- take a picture (and yes it stored the picture on the card and I could suddenly browse through the Leica files)
- put the card back in the M9

That's it.

I think that the M9 sometimes corrupt the allocation table on the card. When you take a picture with another camera, which stores it on the card, the allocation table is updated and the card is readable again.

This procedure have worked 2 time for me :)
Click to expand...
 
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