Comments on: CompactFlash card takes licking, keeps ticking

Bridge demolition destroys digital camera, but CompactFlash card hangs on to bridge's final moments.

[Jonathan]

This is why solid state devices are the best

I like my original 430MB Microdrive but nothing beats SS in reliability. I actually washed a Sony Memory Stick (FYI NEVER AGAIN WILL I USE THAT FORMAT.) that was washed and dried and still works.

Wash & wear memory

I had a similar experience. I accidentaly ran my 128MB Memorex USB Thumbdrive through the washer and the dryer. When I heard it rattling in the dryer and removed it, it was too hot to hold, and the built-in plastic loop on the cap had fatigued to the point it broke off in my hand. But everyting on the drive was available and it continues to be reliable. Eureka - in an era of "disposable-everything" - something that works BETTER than expected.

[DotComFactory]

Just a few cards?

Kudos to SanDisk for rewarding Frazier with some media. But they could capitalize on the situation by offering Frazier some new camera equipment in exchange for his testimony in a national campaign regarding the durability of the solid-state media. I have a 2.2 Gb CF II drive that I use for controlled shoots, but when in doubt I use the CF solid-state cards.

[David Arbogast]

This is news?

When an airplane crashes, many parts survive, but we don't write news stories about how great those parts are.

This seems to be a story about an inexperienced and reckelss photographer. Whether he was using film or solid-state storage should not have mattered one bit, because he should have been out of harms way, shooting with a camera that had better zoom capabilities.

All this guy proved, is that he was lucky.

[bci9]

Hmm...

Somehow, this comment seems to miss the point.

If the photographer was "dumb" all the better. Ever hear of the term "idiot proof"?

[hokuwho?]

CF cards ahead of readers

I have only one major and one minor problem with CF media and that is with the interface support. I have two readers, a PCMCIA adapter and a Lexar Jumpstart USB adapter. Minor: the PCMCIA adapter is instantly recognized with hot swaps between my laptop and desktop readers while the USB takes trickery and perseverance on any recognition even on Windows XP. Major: this will give you hives -I borrowed a Canon PowerShot from a friend. Removing the CF card seemed especially difficult so easing the card out with only two fingers (shipyard electrician's fingers) I discovered three pins were extracted along with the card. I am still researching insertion/extraction tools and camera repair runs from $300 to $500 dollars (some even higher!). And this not an isolated problem as my web searches revealed in major league cursing. ~StevenJ