Why won’t my Memory Stick work?
Q My ancient Sony laptop developed a fault recently butut because it was so old and still running Windows XP, I didn’t bother getting it repaired. Instead, I bought a new (non-sony) Windows 10 laptop. My old laptop came with a Sony-branded Memory Stick that fitted into a slot on the computer, and I used this to back up my documents. My new laptop has a similar slot but it doesn’t seem to like the Sony Memory Stick — the stick fits but is loose and wobbly, and the laptop won’t recognise it. I assumed that one memory stick was much the same as any other. Have I misunderstood? If so, could you explain where I’m going wrong?
Graham Pointer
A You have misunderstood, but it’s hardly your fault. Since 1998, Sony has been producing proprietary memory cards that it brands Memory Stick (note the capitalisation). It’s not quite dead yet, but Sony’s Memory Stick brand is certainly on life support. To confuse matters, however, the term ‘memory stick’ has long been used generically to describe what are also often referred to as ‘USB sticks’ or ‘thumbdrives’. What you have is a Sony Memory Stick, not a generic USB stick.
Adding to your confusion is the fact that your Sony Memory Stick fits loosely into a slot on your new computer. You didn’t tell us the make or model of your Windows 10 PC, but many new laptops have built-in slots that accommodate memory cards. On more recent laptops, these slots are almost always designed for the SD Card format, which has become the de facto standard for memory cards in many devices. Both the SD Card format and Sony’s Memory Sticks are available in various physical sizes, but the specifics are an unnecessary distraction here.
The upshot is that your new laptop probably has an SD Card slot, and you’ve been inserting a Sony Memory Stick into it. The Memory Stick fits because some are almost the same size as a standard full-size SD Card, albeit a little smaller and slimmer, which is why it’s not a snug fit. It wouldn’t make any difference if the card fit perfectly, however, because Memory Stick and SD Card are completely different standards, which means the reader is incompatible with the card.
If you want to continue using your Sony Memory Stick, you could buy a compatible memory card reader that plugs into one of your laptop’s USB ports, such as this £7 example from Integral — www. snipca.com/21597 (see picture above). But unless your Memory Stick contains files you really need to recover, you’re better off replacing it with a regular USB stick or an SD card memory card. The latter option makes the most sense if you have other devices, such as a digital camera, that use this type of memory card, but for backing up documents, any USB stick will do.