I have a Nikon Coolpix B700 and my wife has a compact Canon sx730.

For a while now my standard method of downloading photos to the computer has been to simply take out the s.d. Card, insert it into the computer's card reader and when I download the photos to my album folder they are automatically uploaded to Dropbox.

I have been told that this is not a good practice due to the risk of damaging the camera's card slot or the cover with repeated use. Looking at both cameras the covers and slots appear reasonably sturdy and after spending a frustrating hour trying to download and set up the Canon software I have abandoned the attempt and really do not want to have anything more to do with it.

Has anyone ever heard of a card slot or cover being damaged by overuse or are there any other factors which make the manufacturers software preferable for downloading photos?