Question about managing in camera files (Page 3): I have made more than 15,000 images on several Canon cameras, always erasing throw-always before downloading to my computer with no...

wham121736 Loc: Long Island, New York

I have made more than 15,000 images on several Canon cameras, always erasing throw-always before downloading to my computer with no problems. Why waste time downloading what you will discard later?

Grace98 Loc: Waterlooville, Hampshire - United Kingdom

I think there is a grain of truth in this. I recently deleted lots of pictures whilst still in camera and then noticed I hadn't downloaded them (don't ask how I managed this but long story). I placed the SD card in a card reader and used Recuva...half of the deleted files were corrupt. Luckily the ones I wanted weren't corrupted. Can you please send us the link to this video...thank you..Grace

tcthome wrote:

I seen a u-tube vid stating there is a possibility of corrupting files if deleted in camera. I have done & have had no problems. In my camera owners manual it says , cards need formatting the first time ( new ) used & in camera if they were used in another device or camera. I format in camera after every time I upload to my computer.

tmd. Loc: Berea ky

Some people say they don't delete in camera because the photos might look better on bigger screen☺ I do however delete ones I know I don't need.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

The only issue I see is that you might delete an image you didn't mean to, or that wasn't that bad to begin with. However, I do delete in camera the obvious missteps. Why waste my time pp'ing a junk file?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

wham121736 wrote:

I have made more than 15,000 images on several Canon cameras, always erasing throw-always before downloading to my computer with no problems. Why waste time downloading what you will discard later?

BlackRipleyDog

How many ways can we slice and dice this subject?
Answer: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

tmd. wrote:

Some people say they don't delete in camera because the photos might look better on bigger screen☺ I do however delete ones I know I don't need.

Yes, If i know it's bad, it will look worse bigger.

Hank Radt

Grace98 wrote:

I think there is a grain of truth in this. I recently deleted lots of pictures whilst still in camera and then noticed I hadn't downloaded them (don't ask how I managed this but long story). I placed the SD card in a card reader and used Recuva...half of the deleted files were corrupt. Luckily the ones I wanted weren't corrupted. Can you please send us the link to this video...thank you..Grace

There is, of course, always a possibility that doing anything to the card can corrupt a file. But the risk is pretty low, particularly on a quality card. Take a look here: https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/46196/is-deleting-pics-from-memory-card-in-camera-dangerous

The potentially more serious issue is that your card may be corrupt, i.e., it has bad sectors, particularly if you immediately used Recuva and hadn't deleted those irretrievable files previously (if you had deleted those previously, it is more likely that they were overwritten by subsequent shooting sessions).

If it is a case of potentially bad sectors, you may want to try running Check Disk on Windows or Disk Utility on Macs to determine if this is the case. If so, you could try repairing the sectors (using these same utilities), but the search I did on SD cards seems to suggest that once an SD card starts getting bad sectors, it is likely more bad sectors are on the way, and the general recommendation is to toss the card and get a new one. I will admit that I don't know enough about the mechanics / construction of SD cards (vs. the traditional spinning HDDs in computers) to know how reparable the SD cards are. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can address this; in the meantime, consider searching on "bad sectors SD card" or "repair SD card" - some of results might be helpful

Bob Boner

What Bob said. Download images from card to the computer. Format the card in the camera.

BlackRipleyDog

Bob Boner wrote:

What Bob said. Download images from card to the computer. Format the card in the camera.

Precisely and just let God (Lightroom) sort 'em out.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

I've formatted in the laptop and formatted in the camera both many times. Also deleted shots in the camera and in the laptop. None of that has any effect on the memory cards or the camera.
I do download all shots most of the time because there could be a crop or something I didn't notice in the little screen on the camera.. All shots are downloaded to a folder and renamed using BRIDGE.
I then bring them up full screen one at a time using Windows PhotoViewer and delete the deadwood. Photoshop any that need it and Voila, all done for initial intake.

DaveyDitzer Loc: Western PA

Hank Radt wrote:

Really not much of a practical difference either w... (show quote)

Question to this explanation: I was told that solid state memory devices do not treat deleted files that same way that traditional hard drives do in that deleted files are not written over in the same way. This is responsible for the idea that deleting a file does not allow more file space on the solid device. If you can clarify, please help us.

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

DaveyDitzer wrote:

Question to this explanation: I was told that solid state memory devices do not treat deleted files that same way that traditional hard drives do in that deleted files are not written over in the same way. This is responsible for the idea that deleting a file does not allow more file space on the solid device. If you can clarify, please help us.

Not that I am a techno nerd, but this comment seems to resonant. Thanks to all of you who participated in this thread. A lot of good thoughts and I don't think I heard anything here that would influence me to not deleat files in my camera, but just saying, it is a lot easier to manage files on a computer than mess and take the time to manage files in your camera, assuming of coarse you have capacity on your card while on your shoot.

Thanks again and happy new year to all and may 2018 be the best photography year yet for all of you.

Hank Radt

DaveyDitzer wrote:

Question to this explanation: I was told that solid state memory devices do not treat deleted files that same way that traditional hard drives do in that deleted files are not written over in the same way. This is responsible for the idea that deleting a file does not allow more file space on the solid device. If you can clarify, please help us.

Here's a reasonably straightforward explanation: https://www.datanumen.com/blogs/ssd-vs-hdd-different-chances-recovering-deleted-files/.

Basically, an internal SSD (i.e., the one in your computer) has a protocol called TRIM which, when you erase a file, leaves the sector empty. External SSD (i.e., a drive not in your computer) drives don't always make full use of TRIM which means these are similar to traditional HDDs which erase the file record, but not the underlying data. Which means it is possible to recover a deleted file, using a recovery program, on an external drive (SD card), though difficult and most likely impossible on an internal SSD.

However, in either case, you don't get more file space whether the sector is empty or not - "deleting" a file (on a non TRIM drive) simply instructs the file system to allow a sector to be over-written with new data - the data is still there until such time as it is replaced with new data, but you can't see or access it under normal circumstances. Which is why it is important if you accidentally delete a file to not save anything else to the disk (that overwrites on "delete") until you run a recovery program. FYI, I run my programs off my internal SSD (for speed), but save my files on the traditional HDD.

DaveyDitzer Loc: Western PA

Hank Radt wrote:

Here's a reasonably straightforward explanation: h... (show quote)

Thank you. Very helpful !