Cna digital memory cards for a camera go bad. My new reader/writer worked good 2 times and now it wont work.?

I took the reader/writer back to the store, they checked it out and it worked fine. could it be my memory card? the card is 4 years old

Not really ... they are pretty robust.

The things that can happen are as follows:

* dirt or finger prints on the cards contacts
* the card has become corrupted by either 1) deleting images off the card rather than waiting to do it on the computer, 2) not formatting the card after each use (after copying your images to your computer) or 3) removing or inserting the card when the camera is still turned on.

Generally the memory cards will last for decades if they are not abused. One of mine went through my washer and dryer the other day ... it still works fine, although it is not recommended you do that

It is possible the card is bad - you can try formatting the card and see if that works. Format the card in the camera - not with your computer. Different cameras need different folders and "generic" files to be in certain places. If you moved or deleted any of the files or folders on the memory card (when it was in the card reader attached to your computer), the camera won't know where to save pictures. Formatting in the camera should resolve the issue of the missing folders and generic folders.

Since the card does not seem to work anyway, it can't hurt anything by trying, but you could gain a working card back...

I agree 100% with the two previous answers, but I will add that I have read, and you know you can't always believe everything you read, that memory cards actually do have a limited number of read / write cycles, though the number is very, very high. So in theory, I suppose the card could just be "worn out", but I would suggest trying as stated above first, especially formating the card IN THE CAMERA.

Steve
http://www.pbase.com/s_parrott

in addition to what fphotoace and Bill G's answers, you can corrupt a card by not using the "safely remove hardware" feature on windows. Just like any device, you need to use this to avoid corruption. Also, using store kiosks can corrupt your card. The store kiosks have heavy use and could contain dirt or particles that could corrupt your card.

They can go bad. I've had a couple of them go glitchy. One was new enough that I returned it and got another. The other one was only about a year old when it started acting up. First it gives me error messages in the camera. The only way to fix that is remove it, then put it back in. Now it gives me grief when I load the images onto my computer. It loads some of them, then stops. Electronics can be weird like that. They can work fine for a long time, then suddenly glitch up. Others can last for years.

Get a new card and see if your problems clear up. If so, then you will know it was a bad card.