It can be helpful to format the card on the computer once in a while.
There are two types of FAT16/FAT32 formatting... a full format and a
*quick* format. A quick format simply erases the contents of the
directory. The disk/card appears to be unused even though any previous
file contents are still there. A full format takes much longer since
the process reads and writes every sector. It not only erases the
contents but also checks every sector for errors and disables those that
check bad.
Cameras only do quick formatting. Computers do both and you get to
select which one. If you stick your flash card in the computer and do a
full format you can be confident that what ever space is available after
the full format is also functioning correctly. But, after formatting on
the computer, the flash card doesn't contain any of the special file
folder structure placed there by the camera and unique to that camera.
Once you put it back into the camera do another in-camera format and it
will then be fully ready to go.
Chuck Norcutt
On 9/30/2010 4:06 AM, Piers Hemy wrote:
> Although it is recommended to format a CompactFlash card with the camera, a
> card can be formatted with a computer. The card must be formatted on a
> Windows system using a FAT or FAT32 file system.
>
> Piers
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