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Feb 4, 2012 10:35:02   #
Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.
 
What kind of problems would you have if you don't format a card before using it in other cameras?

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Feb 4, 2012 10:41:42   #
kschwegl Loc: Orangeburg, NY
 
The other camera may not be able to save/read photographs. Sometimes that would happen in the old floppy disc days.

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Feb 4, 2012 11:36:26   #
kylan Loc: behind you or in your closet
 
does any one know of a sd cf card converter so i could use the eye-fi in my canon EOS 30d
thank you

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Feb 4, 2012 11:39:32   #
picsaregreat Loc: Piedmont, NC
 
No one has mentioned that there are several programs that can find and save pictures from a flash card even after the card has been formatted. The pictures are not gone just ereased off of the FAT (file allocation table). I use eImage on my computer. I have been using it for several years. Some of the high end fast cards come with the software on the card itself. Sandisk pro works very well but you have to renew it every year for it to work. So if you format one of your cards that has pictures you wanted to keep, don't take anymore pictures before you run the software to find your lost pictures. But don't be afraid to format. My first Canon digital camera was a 2mp powershot s100 in 2001. Took about 10,000 pictures with it. Uses CF cards. It still works but I don't use it. Photography is sooo fun.

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Feb 4, 2012 11:50:31   #
picsaregreat Loc: Piedmont, NC
 
We stress about loosing pictures in this digital age, but how many did you lose during the film days. We would sometimes mail the film to be developed, take them to the drugstore and hand them to a 16 year old "expert". I have had whole rolls to disappear, "sorry here's another roll" would be all I would get. And I would bet that I'm not the only one. I'm still taking pictures, sure it stinks when you lose some, but that's not going to stop me. Have fun.

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Feb 4, 2012 13:02:46   #
jolefont Loc: Brooksville, FL
 
Yeah, like my daughters 5th Birthday party

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Feb 4, 2012 14:42:31   #
lacsar Loc: Columbia SC and Newland NC
 
I always take the card out and put it into the computer to read it and transfer files to the hard drive. I have been doing that with every camera I have ever owned since digital. That would be at least 15 years or more and have never lost a photgraph that way. I never had a problem with either type of card doing that. You can even format your card in the computer. Just format it again in the camera. Don't get paranoid about what some people say. I suspect I will get flamed or someone will say I'm asking for trouble, but it has worked since my first camera and will work with the rest.
cjkorb wrote:
Doe wrote:
Old Redeye wrote:
You don't need to delete the photos and reformat. When you reformat it automatically deletes all the photos. That's why it's so important to make sure all the shots have been successfully transferred to the computer FIRST.


I was getting somewhat worried....I hadn't seen anyone post that they delete their cards by reformatting, which is what I do. I never delete them, I just download them and then put the card back in the camera and delete.

I actually probably shouldn't take the card in and out of the camera to download like I do, but I do anyway. I have lost photos because of that before because of static.

Does anyone else actually put the card in their computer or hook by camera via UBS?
quote=Old Redeye You don't need to delete the pho... (show quote)
For me it's faster taking the card out of my camera and putting it in the card reader.
quote=Doe quote=Old Redeye You don't need to del... (show quote)

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Feb 4, 2012 17:01:23   #
melphoto60
 
marcomarks wrote:
judy 2011 wrote:
......reformat my card? And how often? I've only done it a couple of times. And never seen to have a problem. Some people I know never do. But someone said I have to reformat. So just wondering. Is it really important?


I hardly ever reformat a card. I just transfer the files to my computer using copy/paste in Windows Explorer, then after seeing that they are actually on my hard drive for real, I select and delete all on the memory card, then put it back in the camera.

Sometimes I wait 6 months and just reformat the card to make sure it has a good clean file allocation table (FAT file) with no errors and that the card's storage space is all clean too. But it's definitely not something you need to do a lot or every time.

That would be as obsessive and wasteful as transferring all your files and programs to a second hard drive and reformatting your computer's main hard drive daily. A memory card is just a solid state hard drive that is quite stable and rarely has any problems unless they've been abused by static electricity, or a washing machine, a huge magnet (even that might not affect it), or something else abnormal and really weird.
quote=judy 2011 ......reformat my card? And how o... (show quote)


not talking abt reformating computer the would erase your computer, talking abt reformating memory card in camera after downloading pics...

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Feb 4, 2012 18:10:27   #
Wahawk Loc: NE IA
 
judy 2011 wrote:
......reformat my card? And how often? I've only done it a couple of times. And never seen to have a problem. Some people I know never do. But someone said I have to reformat. So just wondering. Is it really important?


I always connect camera to computer, MOVE to pics so that they are removed from the card and then reformat BY THE CAMERA every 8 or 10 times that I clean it off.
I always leave ONE pic on the card and in the internal memory of camera --a picture of my business/name card-- in case I lose the camera and the finder trys to return it!

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Feb 4, 2012 19:37:25   #
marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL
 
picsaregreat wrote:
No one has mentioned that there are several programs that can find and save pictures from a flash card even after the card has been formatted. The pictures are not gone just ereased off of the FAT (file allocation table). I use eImage on my computer. I have been using it for several years. Some of the high end fast cards come with the software on the card itself. Sandisk pro works very well but you have to renew it every year for it to work. So if you format one of your cards that has pictures you wanted to keep, don't take anymore pictures before you run the software to find your lost pictures. But don't be afraid to format. My first Canon digital camera was a 2mp powershot s100 in 2001. Took about 10,000 pictures with it. Uses CF cards. It still works but I don't use it. Photography is sooo fun.
No one has mentioned that there are several progra... (show quote)


I would add, "POTENTIALLY" save, not just save. If the file has been corrupted by the card having a problem, not just the FAT corrupted but the actual storage space, the file can be lost or unreadable -never to be recovered.

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Feb 4, 2012 22:16:39   #
ThomasS Loc: Colorado
 
judy 2011 wrote:
ThomasS wrote:
Judy 2011 wrote:
ddrum wrote:
I was told never to delete pics with the computer. Use the camera. The computer can screw things up.
Judy 2011 wrote:
......reformat my card? And how often? I've only done it a couple of times. And never seen to have a problem. Some people I know never do. But someone said I have to reformat. So just wondering. Is it really important?


I always delete from the computer. Never had a problem. *touch wood*

Judy,

If you delete using your computer (something I don't usually do), absolutely reformat that card in your camera. Occasionally, a computer can make changes on a card that will make it unusable in your camera. Reformatting the card in your camera will normally fix that. Once I am sure all of my pictures are saved on my computer (and backed-up elsewhere), I always reformat in my camera. Since I started doing this, I have never had one of my cards fail.

One other thing. If you have multiple cameras, don't take a card out of one camera and use it in another without formatting it in the new camera. I have had serious problems doing that.
quote=Judy 2011 quote=ddrum I was told never to ... (show quote)


I hadn't thought of the card into another camera. I have done that before. Only cuz I took off without a card in my big camera and missed some shots of the steam engine rolling down the tracks! I was so mad! So had to use my pocket camera's card.
quote=ThomasS quote=Judy 2011 quote=ddrum I was... (show quote)


Hi Judy,

Actually that's what cost me a lot of pictures. I wasn't even thinking, and I pulled a card out of one camera and put it in another. If I had formatted the card in the "new" camera, it would have been fine, but I didn't and it corrupted the card. Couldn't recover anything. This won't always happen, but it can. The fact that the cameras were different brands probably didn't help.

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