CF card

[bill_force]

<p>I have a 1 gb Transend CF card in my camera bag and rarely if ever used. I put it in 3 diff. cameras and the all say they can't read the card. I reformated the card (fat) in my PC and I can read and write to the card in the PC, the PC recognizes the card O.K. When I take it from the card reader and put in any camera I get the error message stating it can't read the card. Other CF cards work fine in all the cameras.<br>

I have never seen a CF card "die" from non-use? Is there a software recovery tool or method to revive the card?</p>

[JosvanEekelen]

<p>Try to format the card in your camera of try a low level format in the PC. If that does not work simply forget it/throw it away. CF cards are cheap nowadays so avoid running risks with them.</p>

[William Kahn]

<p>Formatting the card in the camera is a pretty standard requirement, and that means in each of the three cameras you use. So, every time you move it to a different camera, you have to format the card again.</p>

[walter_degroot]

<p>if the camera appears as a Glorified card reader. to the pc</strong><br>

the actual formatting may vary.<br /></strong><br>

ther old canon powershot G2 accepts cards up to 2g. same as the old dos limit<br /></strong><br>

dos and win 3.1 and win 96 ( the first)<br /></strong><br>

other camneras may or may not see the card.<br /></strong><br>

the olyimpus xz-1 which will accept up to 64 g card would not see a 4g card it formatted it<br /></strong><br>

but then the card was not seen by several card readers,.<br /></strong><br>

I do not know what is meant by LOW LEVEL Format as far as a card is concerned.<br /></strong><br>

this went out with MFM RLL and ESDI drives as well as scsi drives<br /></strong><br>

it may refer to the floppy style format.<br /></strong><br>

Both panasonic and HP have programs to format cards when using a reader.<br /></strong><br>

the HP program lets you choose fat or fat32.<br /></strong><br>

but as said, formatting in the camera,. no matter hiow hard it is to find the util in the menus<br /></strong><br>

is the safest way to go.<br /></strong></p>

[bill_force]

<p>Now I have another question, if the camera tells me that it doesn't recognize the card HOW do you propose that I format it? I have done a low level format in my PC, run diskchk etc. The card works normally in the PC, can read and write to the card O.K. but none of my cameras will recognize the card. Incidently the card is virtually new (never used) but stored in my bag for at least a year without usage.</p>

[William Kahn]

<p>It's apples vs. oranges. Your PC will format the card to make it compatible with its operating system, which is totally different from the firmware that runs the camera. Trying to use a PC-formatted card in your camera is like trying to get into a baseball game with a movie ticket.</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>Make sure you format the card with a FAT32 file system. The camera should recognize the card, at which time format it in the camera to set up the proper directories for recording images. It may not recognize nor format the card if it is in another file system, such as NTFS.</p>

<p>In general, the camera cannot read images you put on a card using a PC, even ones you might edit "in place." The PC does not create nor update the necessary auxillary files and directories.</p>

[bill_force]

<p>I finally did what I should have done to begin with. It's obvious that the card was corrupted so the camera couldn't find it so as a last resort (should have been the first) I went to Transcends web page and in downloads I found a recovery program that has their own format tool in it. I formatted the card with their format tool and then the camera DID find the card. I then formatted in camera and all is well now.<br>

Thanks all.</p>