I have a Kodak Z710 camera (had one before that was stolen) that came with an SD memory card. For the first camera I purchased several additional 1 & 2 GB SD cards I still have, but it was time to add some new material, so I ordered two 16 GB SD cards from AliExpress, only to find out my camera is far too old for such capacity. Now I have several questions:

1. Can I still use these 16GB cards on my computer, to back-up my pictures? Does the computer format the cards?

2. I have now ordered 4GB cards that are on their way, but yesterday I found an eBay seller offering 4GB SD cards - non HC - for 'older devices'. The cards in the mail ARE HC - will I be able to use them for my camera? What does 'HC' mean?

3. Checking eBay and AliExpress ads. yesterday I found cards with 'high speed' indications and others that have an additional number (up to 10)? Guess those are not good for my camera as well....

I am really confused and there is nobody around I could ask for info.

Please help me!

Thanks,

ursula

That is an older camera. Not the best by today's standards. I just saw one for sale used for $10. Of course it will not accept most newer SD cards. How about getting a newer camera? Gene

Hi Ursula,

I second Gene's advice to get a newer camera if you can. In the meantime, with regards to your questions:

1) You can use them as backups, but it's not the best choice of backup media (an external HDD or CD/DVD/Bluray backups are preferred - and always have at least one off-site copy). You can easily format them in the computer. Most cards come preformatted as FAT32 (older) or exFAT (newer) anyway.

2) Do you mean SDXC vs SDHC vs SD? The HC stands for high capacity (whilst XC stands for eXtended Capacity) and is a newer design (although the physical shape and electrlcal characteristics are still the same, so SDXC/SDHC devices can support the older SD cards). From what I can find about your camera, it doesn't support SDXC/SDHC cards; these won't work, I'm afraid.

3) I think what you're referring to here is the SD card "class". This denotes the speed of the card. Many older devices use Class 2 or 4. You can find Class 6, but it's less common. Most new devices can use Class 10 or SD cards that have a new class number - UHS-I or UHS-II (Ultra High Speed) which generally include a transfer rate (30MB/s, 45MB/s, 80MB/s, etc.). UHS is only applicable to some SDHC and SDXC, so if your card is labelled with this, it won't work.

In short, you need to find older SD cards (not SDHC or SDXC) for your camera, or purchase a newer camera.

Hope that helps.

@gasrocks - Gene, thanks for your input, but a new camera is not an option. I am on disability pension and the budget is tight. Want to know what car I drive? A 1998 Toyota Tercel

@Australis - Joshua: thank you so much for your easy to understand explanations. This clarifies all my doubts: I will be the proud owner of 6 SD cards that I have no use for Believe it or not, but the only person on eBay offering a 4GB card for 'older devices' charges US$10 per card, plus postage - far more than the cost of the the modern ones with much higher capacity and speed. All my pictures are backed up twice on DVDs, so I think I will just erase my old cards and keep using them.

I thank both of you very much for your input. Here are some pictures I have taken with my first Kodak Z710.







Cheers,

ursula

Hi Ursula,

Glad to be of help. If you've got them backed up already, I'd just make a third copy on a good-quality DVD (i.e. Verbatim) and store it somewhere else (perhaps a friend or relative's place). Then wipe and reuse the SD cards.

I generally transfer my photos off my SDHC/SDXC cards onto the computer and burn them onto two disks (one which is stored at my parents') as well as backing them up onto an external hard disk. The other thing I do is calculate checksums for the photos so that I can tell if the file has been corrupted. I use ExactFile to do this (basically, it computes an almost-unique string of numbers and letters - called a checksum - for each file and if the file changes even slightly, the checksum drastically changes).