Recently, I was trying to explain to @pete21 why you should always format your memory card in the camera, rather than deleting the pictures on the computer.
I've now found the article again that I was referring to on that occasion & wanted to share it with you all.
That was an interesting starting point (although articles that contain "never X, always Y" without credible explanation make me nervous. I smell marketing FUD!).
Reading on I was disappointed to find that SHXC cards will default to a restrictive Microsoft (exFAT) format. The list of disadvantages for the format is twice as big as the advantages (on the Wikipedia article). Maybe the real reason why in-camera formatting is preferred, is because the format is over-complicated and the implementations are different or buggy - so the camera will work better with its own 'format'?
What does he mean by "While we’re discussing how to erase all images, never erase any of the images by using the computer"?
I get what he's saying about not deleting images from the card but sometimes you take a pic that's a total dud. Surely it's OK to delete individual pictures?
@vathana I format my card every day after I've uploaded that days images to the computer. It just keeps things nice & neat & I know that I haven't got a combination of photos on the card, some of which have been transferred to the computer & some that haven't.
@2thgirl Formatting the card means you can not recover any raw image data at all, it is gone. If you happen to delete your newly uploaded images while you are processing etc there will be no recovery from the card. As for the tip in the link...well...:S
There is such a thing as memory wear and yes its around 1 million + cycles but formatting a card daily will add to its finite number of program-erase cycles.
Unlike "de-fragging" your hard drive, "erase single/all" just marks the FAT file system on the card as free space just like Recycle Bin on a PC and writes over the top, format removes the file.
If you erased all weekly or daily that is fine but be sure to have a back up on DVD/CD or any type of external hard drive before you format. As for formatting my cards I use Sandisk Extreme Pro's 1000's of photos put through it formatted twice in two months and no signs of read/write errors or slowing.
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Reading on I was disappointed to find that SHXC cards will default to a restrictive Microsoft (exFAT) format. The list of disadvantages for the format is twice as big as the advantages (on the Wikipedia article). Maybe the real reason why in-camera formatting is preferred, is because the format is over-complicated and the implementations are different or buggy - so the camera will work better with its own 'format'?
I get what he's saying about not deleting images from the card but sometimes you take a pic that's a total dud. Surely it's OK to delete individual pictures?
I have a LOT to learn. :-(
All I need to do is now remember to format BEFORE I fill the card up, lol
There is such a thing as memory wear and yes its around 1 million + cycles but formatting a card daily will add to its finite number of program-erase cycles.
Unlike "de-fragging" your hard drive, "erase single/all" just marks the FAT file system on the card as free space just like Recycle Bin on a PC and writes over the top, format removes the file.
If you erased all weekly or daily that is fine but be sure to have a back up on DVD/CD or any type of external hard drive before you format. As for formatting my cards I use Sandisk Extreme Pro's 1000's of photos put through it formatted twice in two months and no signs of read/write errors or slowing.