Camera cards un-formatting while in use ???

esszeeeye · Mar 30, 2009

Using the Windows right click "Quick format " after cutting and pasting every batch of photos,twice my Transcend 4G card stopped working,while out shooting, in the Cannon 40D.
"Card not formatted" it said.I could take the photos I'd shot off,no problems,and after re-formatting again,continue shooting.

I think the same thing happened,last week,with my Sony compact,which uses Pro Duo sticks.

Is there a replacement utility for formatting cards ?

Any help much appreciated !

PS Its my first DSLR,so there may be something I'm missing here,like photog. school and more some experience..heres one from last week's batch -

plodr · Mar 30, 2009

My first recommendation is to format a card used in a camera in the camera with the software provided.

If that doesn't work, here is some formatting software for sd and sdhc cards
http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/sd/download/sd_formatter.html
I'm not sure if cards formatted this way can be used again in your camera but if after formatting, the camera sees the card, try formatting using the camera software.

esszeeeye · Apr 2, 2009

Ta plodr,
- reformatting in the camera took care of that card with that camera.(I'll keep that site in my back pocket)

I'm thinking there may be something else going on with my computer,as its the 4th time I've got a bad format,with different cards for different things
Is there a way to check if the Windows formatter is working ?

plodr · Apr 2, 2009

That I don't know about because I've never formatted an sd nor an sdhc card using windows.
What I normally do is move what I want off the card on to my desktop. The card is then blank. Once on my desktop, I erase the files (heidi eraser). I do this with USB drives and sd cards. The only thing I format in windows are floppies.

If you are using XP, it might format as FAT32 but I think some cards might be formatted VFAT, which is actually the 16 bit. Maybe that's the problem - windows doesn't format the best possible way in this instance.

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Camera cards un-formatting while in use ???

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plodr MajorGeek Super Extraordinaire Moderator Staff Member