I am now, for the 4th time, having to re-download a full 32 gb worth of games, because I accidentally removed a card while the Vita was in sleep mode. I am pretty upset, and worrying about the continuing functionality of the card itself. I have read that in addition to totally f***ing your software, it could permanently ruin the card. I realize there are not too many Vita users here, but does anybody else think this is a stupid, stupid, design choice by Sony? Frankly, if I wasn't so heavily invested in the Vita, I would sell it right now, because I don't suffer stupidity gladly. Have 5 memory cards, so switching happens frequently. I feel it's only a matter of time until it happens again. At LEAST if it was ok in sleep mode, I would be ok. That's the problem. I assume it's off when it's not. There should be some safegaurd to prevent this, or even better, it should be hot-swappable. I know of no technical reason it should't be. At least this time I ALSO didn't insert a different card in sleep mode, and ruin 2 at once. Sigh. Sorry so aggro. Like I say, pissed off. And I have this shit backed up BTW, but have no idea which file on my pc is for which card, hence having to re-DL.

That's pretty standard for any solid state media, and goes for SD cards, game cartridges, and pretty much anything else that interfaces directly with the hardware. You run the risk of corrupting your data. Same thing if you pulled the plug on a HDD while it was still running on your computer.

You have to turn off your PC to unplug a usb hd? I don't. No sata drive I have ever used requires the PC to be turned off to unplug it. Unless you are refering specifically to SSD drives, but even then, some models are hot swappable, so it's technically possible. I can remove and insert usb flash drives and sd cards from my PS3 while it's turned on. This is not a hunch, but 100% factually accurate. I have 3 PS3's and it has been my main media player/hub for almost a decade. Also, wasn't the PSP capable of haot swapping it's memory sticks? At any rate, my problem likely stems from the fact that the devices I use most often, don't have this restriction, coupled with the Vita going into sleep mode, and me simply forgetting to check on occassion if it's turned off. Thanks for the reply. It took a while, because psn was quite slow at times, and I had to be on top of which game had dlc, but I got everything re-downloaded.

On mobile phones you have to, at least, ask the OS to safely remove them, so even then you couldn't just remove it suddenly. Anyway, restarting the Vita isn't a problem because it really does it way faster than mobile phones. Of course, it will re-scan the card, but smartphones also do it. You really don't have alternatives for that.

This is true. I just have to be as careful as possible. It doesn't happen too often. 4 times over 5 years. Like I say, it's the sleep mode that kills me. Sleep mode has no cues to indicate the Vita is still on, unless you happen to get a message and the PS button flashes blue. I don't remove it when the device has the screen running and is obviously on.

I feel your frustration man. It sucks to remove your memory and SD cards by accident.

I bought this 64GB Vita memory card for 79 USD from the get go so I never had to change card.

So far, all my games (over 50) fit on the card.

Get 1 x 64 GB card, and just never remove it.
Just uninstall stuff you dont plan to play again (if you run out of space).

I always check. I believe that I removed it with the Vita on only once and was lucky enough to not corrupt it. I have a 32 and a 16 GB one. I would get a 64 GB card, but I ended up considering it too damn expensive (almost 100 bucks) and just bought GoW Collection for 15 instead. Smart choice.

• yes, it is annoying. hot-swapping for PSP memory sticks (while not loading, saving or formatting) was allowed, they should have kept it that simple
• always assume that the Vita is in sleep mode and not turned off. Who boots down his Vita when the sleep mode is such comfortable?
• instead of (or additionally to) backing up the whole Vita system on PC, back up the separate games instead. It is much more flexible this way to change the current game library on that card
• do yourself a favor and sell your 5 tiny cards and buy one or two 64 GB cards instead... much less swapping
• do you really need more than 64 GB of games with you all the time? back up the games you probably don't play this month on PC, you can reinstall them within minutes (you don't lose the save games)
• alternatively buy a second Vita for memory card #2 and forget about swapping cards. You can use one Vita while charging the other, so you have always a fully charged Vita ;)

Are you using a new model of the Vita? I only have the original OLED one and I can't imagine how you could accidentally move the memory card. In mine its inside the Vita protected by a little door (and then I also have a L2/R2 grip case thing over the top) I've removed the card before too and all it did was pull everything out of my folders.

It does suck having to download everything though, I'm currently downloading and backing everything up on my computer which is taking forever but it should save time since I constantly have to delete games to make room for new ones and then redownloading can take much longer than simply copying from my HDD.