John Hermanson wrote:
> Would someone explain why formatting a cf or xd card with a computer
> would render it unrecognizable when put into the camera? A third party
> wants to know.
>
First, the question is very differennt for CF than for xD cards.
Second, there seems to be some confusion in the replies so far between
erasing files and reformatting the card.
As Chuck says, CF cards should just look and act like IDE disks. If Oly
chose to put some special markers or formatting on them, i would think
it would have shown up as an issue before. Nevertheless, there is no
ordinary circumstance where it should be necessary to reformat a card,
and if you do so, do it in the camera you are using it in.
xD cards are a different kettle of fish. They aren't used everywhere for
everything. And as one of the two official creator/supporters of the
format, Oly seems to feel they have the right to do proprietary things
with them, like the panorama format and heaven knows what else. The
problem with reformatting them with a computer operating system has been
around for quite a while.
The instructions that come with Oly xD cards don't directly say never to
format it from a computer. They do say always to format it using the
camera with which it is to be used. The only time they mention computer
formating is in the section about disposing of your card, where they
point out that formatting doesn't actually erase the data, just the index.
One solution that has worked for many Oly camera owners who make this
mistake is to find someone with a Fuji xD card camera or take the card
to a retailer and ask to try out a Fuji or three using your own card.
Quite often, according to forum reports, the Fuji will recognize the
card and can format it. It is then generally recognized by the Oly
camera and can be reformatted there to get back to the beginning.
It has also been reported that some Oly cameras will recognize cards
that others don't.
Another thing to try is manually creating the subdirectories the camera
expects.
I found out all this shortly after I got the F10, when I couldn't get my
All in One card reader to recognize the 16MB card that came with the
camera. Further research revealed that formating wasn't my problem. It
turns out that there was a flaw in chip sets used in lots of cheap
read-everything adapters that failed under some circumstances or other
with xD cards. I bought an Oly MAUSB-300 xD card based thumb drive. It
works for downloading from the xD cards and also as a convenient
storage/transfer device. I have simply left the DCIM subdirectory and
the Fuji generated subdirectory under it on the xD card and put other
data files in other directory places and I've had no trouble at all.
Works for data, erase the data and it works for the cameras.
I may have strayed in many ways, but the 1gb xD cards I bought for both
P&Ss and the reader for them are all Oly.
Moose
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