Formatting SD Card

Missy1981

Missy1981

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Sarah
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Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a Canon 650d and a Sandisk memory card to go with it. I've been reading the instruction manual to learn how to get to grips with the camera and it says that I must format the memory card first because it is new.

The thing is I had already taken a few photos before I read this in the instruction manual as I was not aware that you had to format new cards.

Should I transfer these pics onto my PC and then format the card?

Also why is this necessary? What does formatting the card do? (It doesn't explain this in the manual) I want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Sarah
 
Hi Sarah Yes if there are any photos on card transfer them to pc. Formating card will clear any photos on it. There will be some debate as to how much formating card will distroy information on it.
 
vetonbike said:
Hi Sarah Yes if there are any photos on card transfer them to pc. Formating card will clear any photos on it. There will be some debate as to how much formating card will distroy information on it.
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Thanks for your reply. Do you know why its important to format the card though? I know that by formatting it, I can lose the pictures so I would definitely transfer them first. I was just wondering what the reason for formatting the card is? It's a brand new card, never been used.
 
It sets the card up for the camera it will be used on. If you transfer it to another one . You may need to reformat it.
 
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vetonbike said:
It sets the card up for the camera it will be used on. If you transfer it to another one . You may need to reformat it.
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So because I didn't format it before I started using it, will this cause any problems? Could I just carry on taking photos or would you recommend that I format it? Sorry for all the questions! :-)
 
Ask as many as you want. If the card has recorded the photos you have taken. There is no need to wory. Just Carry on. AS you have a Canon watch HB vidios thay are a bit long but very informative. Probably do Nikon aswell. Sorry dont have a link.
 
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Missy1981 said:
So because I didn't format it before I started using it, will this cause any problems? Could I just carry on taking photos or would you recommend that I format it? Sorry for all the questions! :-)
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In truth probably not. If you've been able to take photos then the card was already in a format that the camera could read and write to - I think the standard format is FAT32, but I'm not sure.

That said it is always recommended that a card is formatted in the camera that its going to be used in as this will ensure that the card is in exactly the format the camera requires. although theoretically it shouldn't make a difference if the card is already in the required format, in practice there have been problems noted if the card has not been formatted in the camera.

I'd recommend that you copy what you've already got on the card to your computer and then format the card in camera. Don't format before you've transferred the images as the formatting process will erase them (well not erase them but make the images no longer visible)
 
Thanks for the replies. Just to be on the safe side, I'll copy the pics to my PC and then format the card
 
always good to format the card in a new camera sets it up all the folders for that camera. so yeh backup and format
 
Again Sarah, the book I gave a link on (in the 'shooting RAW' thread) explains card formatting in much more detail. Whatever you do, don't format the card in your PC/Laptop - it needs to be formatted in the camera.

The book also emphasizes the importance of re-formatting on a regular basis (obviously making sure you've backed-up all you images) especially before a 'big' shooting session.
 
I'd suggest a spare memory card too, I was shooting an event the other week and putting a 8gb card in expected to be able to shoot 325(ish) images in raw format, after shooting just 37 the camera was telling me it was full. There wasn't anything else on the card, I think it was essentially a problem with the structure of the card and sectors? Glad to say it hasn't happened since.
 
Thanks guys. I copied all the pics over to my PC today and formatted the card so hopefully it will be ok.
 
Tbh if it's working then don't worry yourself too much.

There's been plenty of times where I've swapped cards between my cameras, not formatted them, and it's been fine.

Obviously if I was doing paid work I wouldn't take the risk and would format. But for times I've forgotten when I'm messing around I've never had an issue.
 
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