Bud Black

What is the difference between deleting all files or formatting an SD card?

Marionsho Loc: Kansas

Welcome to the Hog Bud.
I'll watch this for a better answer than what I can give.
I never delete, just reformat the card after downloading them. Not sure why. Musta read it somewhere.
Marion

agillot

i always heard that it is better to format .i do it that way .

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Here: http://www.lightstalking.com/delete-or-format-understanding-your-cameras-erase-functions/

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

As stated in DWU2 link, Formatting a card, in camera, is nearly always the best option for deleting all files. The first and foremost reason is that it helps to keep the file structure on the card healthy.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

I agree with everything except one point: It is true on a hard drive that having fragmented files will slow it down. But in the case of Flash memory, there is no such penalty. It will run just as fast.

BUT, some people do report card corruption problems when erasing individual images and yet others see no problems what-so-ever. I am coming to the conclusion that the in camera operating system on certain camera models must be the problem. It would be interesting to have those who have had problems report the camera model and firmware revision.

As for myself, I have several Sony and Olympus bodies and have never encountered a problem if I erase any individual images.

And many times, I erase the card on my computer before returning it to the camera, and often do not bother doing a format. I also do not use the same card in multiple camera bodies.

JamesCurran Loc: Trenton ,NJ

My simple view:

Deleting several hundred files takes many minutes.
Formating the disk takes just a few seconds.

louparker Loc: Scottsdale, AZ

Deleting visible files still leaves hidden files whereas formatting cleans the drive, which is why camera manufacturers always recommend reformatting in the camera, which also sets up the drive for proper use in that camera.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Formatting storage media usually only replaces the file directory with an empty one, allowing all space on the media to be overwritten with new data.

Deleting a file or files simply erases the directory *entries* for those files.

In both cases, the files are still there, and can be recovered with file recovery software, unless you use the media to store NEW files.

SOME cameras and operating systems allow "low level formatting" or "secure formatting", which simply writes zeros to all storage locations on the media. It is generally unnecessary to do secure formatting unless you work with sensitive information or subject matter. It takes so long to do on some systems that it may be impractical... Drilling a big hole in a card, then flushing it, may be less expensive and quicker for small capacity cards than waiting for low level/secure formatting.

From a workflow standpoint, it is probably smart to use a freshly-formatted card for each new session. I never delete images in the camera, for a long list of reasons that usually have to do with a desire for file redundancy, the inability to truly see the image on the small LCD of the camera, time, and so forth. I edit on a minimum 21" monitor, so I can see what is really there.

My workflow is:

Format the card in the exact camera I'm going to use it. (If the camera needs special directory structures beyond the standard DCIF folder, it creates them and stores them then.)
Expose until I'm done with the session.
Remove the card, place it in a USB 3 reader, and download the contents to my computer.
BACK UP the images in an off-line, remote location, using a removable hard drive, a cloud account, DVDs, flash drives... (I use all of these).
VERIFY the backup.
Put the card back in the camera and re-format it there.
Edit the images... Back up the edits.

I tend to keep everything from a job backed up off-line. I keep things in chronological order, everywhere. I never delete from an SD/CF card in the camera. I always format.

There is nothing technically wrong with file deletion. I just don't believe it suits my workflow, because I WANT a backup of every image I record. I have gone back to my backups several times and chosen different files to work on, sometimes at customer requests. The moment or pose I chose originally wasn't what they wanted, and they asked for options, or a reshoot. Sometimes the "culls" are usable.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Formatting your card will absolutely clean your card and prime it specifically to your camera model for the next round, while deleting will get rid of some data. It leaves residue behind that can get clogged up over time and corrupt a card (rendering it useless). So, always a good idea to format your cards (and doing it in-camera) and not the computer!!! I know this is anything but correct, describing what's going on, but put into simple words, it does!

FL Pics

This is an over-simplification, but one that probably is easiest to understand. Deleting a file does not really erase it; it just makes it unavailable (except through recovery software). So the medium still has a lot of junk (the “deleted” files on it). This makes for inefficiencies in both recording and retrieving new information. Formatting the card cleans out all of the files so that the medium is junk-free.* It is important to format flash cards in the camera in which they will be used, and not via the computer. Different devices have different ways of indexing their files, and you want to be certain to have your cards formatted accordingly so as to be able to retrieve the recorded information.

*Technically, not all data is necessarily wiped off with just one pass, but that gets into various levels of erasing/formatting disks, and generally is necessary for security applications, and not casual use.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Inefficiency only happens with rotating magnetic media... flash storage uses a different file storage scheme. It has no "tracks" or "sectors" to write in a circular pattern.

If you securely format flash (write zeroes) it's clean in one pass. A magnetic drive may need seven passes.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

I had a discussion recently with a techie at one of the SD card manufacturers regarding formats. Kingston, I think it was. Here is how he explained it: Whether or not an SD card will lose write speed and whether or not a full format can help depends on the device writing to it. Some write only 1's, some write only 0's and the respective formats he referred to as "1 loading" or "0 loading". If the card is not formatted for the system writing to it then the system has to do it as it writes, slowing it down. Hence the recommendation to format in the device being used. Some devices though can write both 1's and 0's, just like a hard drive, and formatting, or lack of it, will not affect write speed.
Canon cameras write only a single digit which is why they offer a "Low Format". In the manual it even states that if your SD card loses speed then a Low Format should be done. Nikon, from what I have been told, has only a single type of format which leads me to believe that Nikons write both 1's and 0's.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

I think it does a little more than that - namely, allows the camera to then overwrite the "deleted" files. There have been several occasions I have run out of space on the card while shooting; after deleting several unwanted images, I was then able to shoot some more images. In other words, deleting files seemed to actually free up space on the card.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Deleting files does not erase the location that the file was stored at. But it does make that location available for reuse. When the camera needs to now use that space it erases it first, and then writes the new image.

A normal format in camera also does not erase the images. But it does mark all the space as available to be used. And then when an image is saved, only then is the space to save that image erased.