Format or Erase Cards Before a New Shoot?

<p>Is it better to format or erase memory cards between uses? </p>

<p>I've read several people advise to format, the theory being that the card's file index will be recreated and thus less likely to become corrupted than if its just over-written.</p>

<p>I do follow this advice and have never (touch wood) had a corrupted card, although I've also heard of people who have had problems even though they format between uses, but that could be caused by other problems. </p>

 

<p>Always format the card on the camera (not the PC) after being sure that the photos are safely moved and backed up.</p>

<p>- Format a card is faster if there are many files, Delete is faster if there are just a few files</p>

<p>- Format a card wipes out the whole card, Delete may still leave some files, folders, and pictures taken by other cameras there</p>

<p>- Delete in a PC is a lot easier if you don't want to wipes it all clean (in this case, a format is better). For example, you may want to use the same card with many cameras. (Some of us would think that is crazy, but I found that is convenient and never have trouble with that)</p>

<p>- Format in the camera if you worry about incompatibility. Format in a PC will give you more options and if you know and avoid the wrong options, the PC often format better than the camera</p>

<p>I've never formatted a card in the camera. I format the card in the PC once before putting it in service, and just delete files thereafter.</p>

<p>In 7 years of shooting and 3 different DSLRs, I've never seen any difference, or need to format in the camera.</p>

<p><Chas><br /><br /></p>

<p>Charles may be right, but I've read in several places that it's best to format the card in-camera. Deleting, they said, leaves some trace of the files on the card. For that reason, I always reformat the card in-camera rather than just delete. It's easy and fast to do, so for me it's a matter of better safe than sorry.</p>

<p>It's always advisable to format a card using the equipment in which it will be used, i.e. the camera in this case. You'll find that recommendation in virtually all digital camera manuals.</p>

<p>The reason is that "standards" really aren't. There can be subtle differences in the way the file structure is created between the camera and the PC (in this case) which may only show up under certain circumstances.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

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<p>It's always advisable to format a card using the equipment in which it will be used, i.e. the camera in this case. You'll find that recommendation in virtually all digital camera manuals</p>

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<p>The manuals also say what is the maximum size of the cards that can be used, and this fact is often wrong</p>

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<p>The manuals also say what is the maximum size of the cards that can be used, and this fact is often wrong</p>

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<p>"Wrong" is a relative term. I'm sure the information in the manual was correct at the time it was printed.</p>

<p>Storage technology is advancing at break-neck speed. Devices that were cutting-edge two years ago are obsolete now, having been overtaken by faster devices with higher capacities.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

 

<p>and there are cases that the new cards of higher capacity need to be formatted by a PC, the camera refused to format them</p>

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<p>and there are cases that the new cards of higher capacity need to be formatted by a PC, the camera refused to format them</p>

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<p>If the camera can't format the card, then it can't use the full capacity of the card.</p>

<p>That's why you should format the card in the device which will write the data.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

 

<p>It can't format the card but yes, it can use it full capacity</p>

<p>Formatting the card in the camera erases everything on the card (actually, erases the FAT, not the data) and sets up the directory tree used by the camera. Formatting also removes all fragmentation, which can slow down file operations and sometimes cause corruption.</p>

<p>You can only manually erase the things the camera can see. If you add things via a computer, they'll remain on the card. If the camera starts a new directory it won't "see" the old directory automatically*, and any images in that directory will remain. There are slight variations in the size of image files on the card. This will cause fragmentation when the camera tries to save a larger image in that space.</p>

<p>* You can tell the camera to look in all directories via menu settings. It still won't find files/directories added by a computer.</p>

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<p>Formatting the card in the camera erases everything on the card (actually, erases the FAT, not the data) and sets up the directory tree used by the camera</p>

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<p>And it can only read, write, erase (which is also write). Format in camera is similar to "Quick Format" in a PC, it can not really format a card and that's why if a card is not already formatted in a compatible format, the camera will just refuse to use it instead of reformat it itself. To get around this, the manufacturers restrict users to buy only a certain types of cards</p>

<p>Also, It assumes the card is perfect and doesn't check to see if the card has any bad sectors. This is risky because the camera may stop suddenly when you take a picture and the next sector is bad. You get a "Card error" message instead of a picture </p>

<p>It's a good idea to format the card with a computer before use, since this will detect and map out any defective sectors on the card. If the card comes with a FAT32 format, this mapping has already been done, but why not do it again for safety. It's not necessary to repeat this process every time you refresh the card. The quick format performed by the camera is sufficient to make the card completely available for photos.</p>

<p>There are some system and hidden files which can be added to the card when connected to a PC. These are not always removed by a quick format. AFIK, this only happens when you attempt to write or erase data on the card (other than a full format) with the PC. If you stick to simply reading the card and copying its files to an hard drive, you should not have a problem. Don't use a "move" function, which executes both a copy and erase operation.</p>

<p>Nobody ever presents evidence of what has happened without formatting. The responses are always either technical "reasons" or "the manual says so." It would be interesting to see some data on problems encountered without formatting. Also, </p>

 

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<p>actually, erases the FAT, not the data</p>

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<p>is not true for all cameras.</p>

Agree with Jeff on this. While it's comforting in an intuitive sort of way to think that formatting is the only

safe way of erasing a card, I've yet to see any hard evidence. I'm putting that in the myth category until I

do rather than propagate "conventional wisdom."

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<p>Nobody ever presents evidence of what has happened without formatting</p>

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<p>Many did if you search on the net. This was what happened with my Nikon D1x:</p>

<p>The manual only says it can use up to 512Mb card but I believe maybe new bigger cards can be used. So I bought a 1Gb card, put it in and it worked fine. Then I thought, how about 2Gb? I bought a new 2Gb card, put it in and my camera wouldn't want to do anything with that card at all (of course we verified in the store and at home that this card worked fine with other cameras</p>

<p>Then I used my PC to look closely at the card and I found that this card was formatted in Fat32 which would save room and work faster). So I reformatted this card in Windows XP to FAT16 and it works fine with my D1x ever since</p>

<p>The question was about format vs erase. That's not what you are talking about. I still haven't seen any hard data on format vs erase.</p>

<p>Two button format in camera. You might notice a performance increase versus just deleting files. Delete doesn't remove the data but a format will.</p>

<p>I've also had family members have issues by formating on their computer and not in the device they were using the card in (not necessarily a DSLR but a cell phone and I think an MP3 player are two that come to mind.)</p>

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<p>I still haven't seen any hard data on format vs erase.</p>

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<p>My friend has a Minolta A2 and he has this problem with it. When he tries to take pictures, the card which is 512Mb would only store 2 pictures (in highest resolution) and then it would say "Card is full". If he deletes all, then he can take another 2 pictures and "Card is full" again. When we Delete All, the camera really says there is no picture in it</p>

<p>I put the card in my PC and see that the card is already almost full with pictures of another Canon camera. So we put the card back in the camera, format it and it works normally happily ever after. I could but I didn't format that card in my PC because I wanted to see if the camera can do it, and yes it does right</p>

<p>That isn't hard data. That's one possible example. It could have been caused by a variety of problems.</p>

 

<p>I have a D200 and a D700. I mostly use the D700 and all my cards are formatted with the D700. If I put that those D700 formatted cards into the D200, they will appear to be empty or not even work. And I know that if I take a card formatted on a D200 and put it in a D700, it will allow you to shoot, but when you try to download the pictures, the pictures are really scrambled up. <br>

I always format the cards in the camera because of this issue so I know the camera and cards are working in sync. <br>

I seriously doubt whether there is any real difference between PC or camera formating, except for this issue.</p>

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<p>I put the card in my PC and see that the card is already almost full with pictures of another Canon camera. So we put the card back in the camera, format it and it works normally happily ever after.</p>

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<p>That's to be expected.<br>

A storage card is just like a hard drive. It contains a root directory that has sub-directories. By default the camera accesses one sub-directory which has a specific name. If there are other sub-directories present, the camera won't see them. But since the files in those sub-directories take up space just like any other files, they limit the free space available on the card.</p>

<p>Formatting the card in the camera removes the extraneous sub-directories (and the files in them) and creates the default sub-directory as the only one on the card, so you can use its full storage capacity.</p>

<p>By contrast, erasing the card in the camera will only remove the files in the default sub-directory. If other sub-directories exist, the camera won't touch them. This is the fundamental difference between formatting and erasing in the camera.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

 

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<p>Nobody ever presents evidence of what has happened without formatting. The responses are always either technical "reasons" or "the manual says so."</p>

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<p>So Jeff,</p>

<p>Tell us, if you please...<br /> How many microprocessor-based products have you designed?</p>

<p>I don't mean adding a new hard drive and memory to your PC. I mean DESIGNED, from the ground up, product specification, component selection, interface design, printed circuit board layout, power supply specs, noise analysis, etc?<br /> I'll hazard a guess based on your preceding comments... ZERO.</p>

<p>I've designed over fifty complete products, as defined above, and subsystems for many others.</p>

<p>There are lots of variables that affect the performance of a card in a system. Logic levels and timing can vary considerably with variations in supply voltage or temperature. The recommendations in the manual are based on guaranteed performance of the device over the full range of temperature, humidity, and supply voltages as shown in the product specifications.</p>

<p>Are you prepared to guarantee to the owners of these products that your recommendations will work under all conditions?<br /> I didn't think so.</p>

<p>If you have some EVIDENCE that the manuals are wrong, be so kind as to present it. BTW, "I did this and it worked" does not constitute evidence, nor even relevant information.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>