msmoto said:
And, another

If it is not reading in the computer also I would maybe think about the card being faulty. I would try another and if the new one works fine send the bad one back to Sandisk for a replacement.

This happened with an offbrand card I had...I couldn't even recover anything from it because nothing would even recognize the card. I lost the pics...I sent the card back and got a replacement, but I haven't use that brand card again. Bought a Sandisk card and haven't had a problem since.

The easy answer to both of these is to reformat the card and try again. The harder answer is if you want to try and recover any of the data from the card before reformatting. SanDisk used to bundle a product called Rescue Pro. You can still download a demo version for free to see if you can recover before buying a license.

Honestly, some sort of data recovery software should be in every photog's bag. It's just as important as a sensor cleaner :-)

The reason I'm digging this thread up is that we should probably put together a sticky trouble shooting thread and put all of the first answers in there:

Did you reset your camera? Did you pull the battery? Try a different lens? Is the cap off? Etc... Anyone else think this is a good idea?

And, another

diamondz said:
I just purchased a Nikon d5100 from Besy buy and along with it a new 16gb sandisck sdhc card. when I turned it on today..it said that there was no sd card installed..when in fact it was there... i had taken some photos and some videos..just trying to get the feel of the new camera..but i cant get any of them to pull up. I have been reading about this issue and my firmware is already up to date. Has anyone had this issue with up top date firmware? I will get e new card and try it..any reccomendations. The card is also not readable in my laptop either..it could be the card..but i could preview my pictures in the camera at one time..now it insists that there is no card installed.

stillriver said:
We bought a Nikon D5100 for a trip to Tanzania this past month. For the first several days, everything worked fine. My husband downloaded and cleared the 32G SD Card onto a MacAir computer each night. He was taking mostly still shots. On the day that we saw a leopard and a couple of Cheetahs, he switched to shoot video. The camera went blank after a minute and the hourglass displayed stating "can't read card data". He turned it off and on again but had the same issue. When we got back to the lodge, he inserted the data card into the computer and it didn't even register that the device was inserted! There was no icon on the desktop noting that the SD card was inserted. So--has anyone else had this problem? The camera is 3 weeks old. We are hoping against all odds that there may still be a way to capture the data on the card. BTW, we had another data data card we used for rest of trip with no problem but we never used video again. We're not sure if it was a card problem or switching to video or a lemon camera problem? Thanks for your help! Glad to have found this Forum.

Nope...SanDisk cards are the best. It is a firmware problem.

CrawfDJC said:
I have just bought a D5100 and a Sandisk Extreme 16GB SDHC card. I put the card in, formatted it and then over the next couple of days I got a "NO SD CARD INSERTED" error. It is an intermittent fault - I would pull it out, put it back in and it would work for a couple of shot but them the error would return. I returned the card and swapped it for a new Sandisk Extreme 16GB SDHC card but the same issue is still happening.

Is there something I am missing or is there an issue with the D5100 and these cards?

I am about to update the firmware - a new release on the 10/11 - to see if this helps but any help would be appreciated.

Thanks everyone. I updated the Firmware and the problem was resolved. Loving the camera, shame the original firmware could not handle a common SD card.

There have been tons of refurbished D5100s for sale. I wonder if everyone was having this problem and just returned them where the firmware could have fixed them. Nikon should have put out a message to all the stores telling them to try the firmware first (but I guess it would have to be somewhere other than a big box store to get that kind of service).

I had the same issue with the 16gb card. I did the firmware update and the problem was resolved.

Normally if you buy a camera after a firmware update has been released you should expect it to come with the latest version. Obviously if the one you bought had been on the shelf or left the factory before the update, it won't have the latest version. Have a check and let us know if that was the problem. From what others have said it seems likely. Let's hope so.

I purchased recently D5100 and it is not having any problem with 8GB card but when I inserted 16 GB card, it started giving problem for the first time after taking more than 200 shots, started showing " NO SD CARD INSERTED" message, I removed card and re insertged again, It just worked for a few minutes and later it started giving problem.

Now I have to try the suggestion given by tcole1983

Perhaps there's a good reason why the camera permitted some photos to be taken before it gave an error.

Could it be that the first few photos taken are held in the camera's buffer even if the card which is inserted is unusable, and the camera only objects when the buffer is full?

skifam5 said:
Secondly, is can I recover those files?

Thanks!

A quick format option won't erase the data at least for quite a long time (until overwritten). I find this digital camera recovery site http://www.digital-camera-recovery.com/ lists a couple beautiful programs for unforamt and recover data. Merry Christmas!

Not really. I just timed the download at http://crossgate.nikonimglib.com/dsd_redirect/redirect.do?P=tZrty17&R=zTTIF24&L=CETpi00&O=L9n6r00 . It took 5 seconds to download the whole file. It may depends on how busy the server is. You should try it after mid night EST.

I'm glad it worked for you as well. Did you have any difficulty downloading the firmware? For me, it was not easy........

I had the same trouble with a ScanDisk Extreme Pro 8GB SDHC UHS-1 card. I was getting errors from the camera erratically until I upgraded the firmware to 1.03. The problem has disappeared and I have taken more than 1,000 NEF with the card.

To anyone experiencing memory card issues on D5100/D7000, get the newest firmware download and your memory card issues will be gone. I thought I was losing my mind as my Sandisk 16GB Extreme was constantly not being recognized, and would need to removed and re-inserted just to take a picture. Thinking I had a defective card, I returned it and got a new one to find the same problem. Did a Google search and found many people were having this issue, then found Nikon released a firmware update. The firmware update was not quite as "easy" to download as was published, but with Nikon Tech Support, I finally updated the firmware and voila, no more memory card issues.

Just got a D7000 and bought 2 brand new Sandisk 16G Class 6 Ultra cards, on the approved list. Card errors out of the gate. Formatted in camera, etc. IMO, Nikon has a bigger problem here and with the risk of losing shots and the randomness, I'm seriously questing my purchase. Disappointing for a camera like the D7000.

Thanks @tcole1983. This firmware update seems to have resolved the problem.

I suggest updating the firmware with the new version. It seems to have been addressed in the newest version that was just released 11/10/11. Check it out...

http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17547

I am having the same problem with D5100 and a class 10 SDHC from SanDisk. I tried formatting using the PC and the camera. None work reliably. Most of the times, the camera does not recognize the card. Intermittently, it does and I can take stills. Video is choppy. This is quite frustrating.

Hello Nikon support team, Speak up or risk a loss of reputation.

CaryTheLabelGuy said:
Are you sure the D7000 didn't start a new folder on the SD card? Are you running the latest firmware? V1.02 is the latest. If you move from U1 and shoot, then move to U2 and shoot, the D7000 has been known to create a new folder. I think they fixed this on the new firmware, but I couldn't be sure on that. I don't use the user settings due to not really needing them. This is something you should look into further.

V1.03 is here, Read here: http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=4288

i had this problem too! i read on this book(Nikon D7000: From snapshots to great shots by John Batdorff) that you have to format the card ON YOUR CAMERA before you start clicking away. hmm ill quote the exact words here:

'When you purchase any new SD card, you can pop it in your camera and start shooting right away and probably everything will work out as it should. However, what you should do first is format your memory card in the camera. This process allows the camera to set up the card to record images from the camera ...The card may work in the camera at first without being formatted, but chances of failure down the road are much higher"

Tested and true.

Try to insert the SD card on a PC and see what format it has. (The filesystem should be FAT32), if not, format the card on the PC using a FAT32 filesystem format and try again.

I don't remember where I saw/read that Nikon cameras do not like NTFS formatted cards.

Disclaimer: I never tried to check if my cameras are capable to read NTFS formatted cards... I guess that the only problem that could arise is that the camera will not recognize the card, and you will be forced to re-format the card back to FAT32.

Hope it helps.

I am having the same problem with my D5100 and a Sandisk 4GB SDHC. Both cards are on Nikon's approved list for the D5100.
http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17353/~/approved-sd-cards-for-d5100