My Lumix LX7 gets a lot of use. I carry it with me everywhere. Last week while filming training videos at Conway Scenic, I’d been using it to make still photos. However, on Wednesday when I went to download the card to my Macbook, the unexpected occurred.

I removed the card from the Lumix and went to insert it into my card reader. When I did this the plastic split and crumbled and the card broke into several pieces!

This was a first for me!

I tried to reassemble the card and get it back into the card reader, but this didn’t work well enough to allow my computer to read the data stored on the card.

Then I thought I’d try something a bit riskier. I closely examined the remaining pieces of the card (several bits and crumbs had fallen away, including a number of the dividers on the contact portion of the card), and I returned the card to the Lumix. My concern was that I might not be able to get the pieces out again.

I have a cord that allows me to connect the Lumix directly to the MAC. Locating the cord was part of the challenge, and I was hoping this wasn’t among accessories I may have left in Dublin. However after a thorough search, I located the elusive cord and plugged the Lumix in.

To my delight, I was able to check the card on the camera and ultimately successfully download all of the images stored on the defective card.

The lessons from this disaster:

1) SD Cards are fragile.

2) You can retrieve the data from a broken card even when the plastic disintegrates.

3) It helps to have more than one means of retrieving data from your SD card.

4) Using a cord to directly download the card to the computer puts less stress on this ephemeral media storage system.

5) Always back up your SD Cards and download them often.

6) Always carry spare SD cards.

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