Help I can't format my memory cards

amumonamission

amumonamission

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Sarah
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Hi Everyone,

Right, I bought a memory card reader a while ago on Amazon, a cheap one but the reviews were mainly good, to use as a back up in case the reader which is built in on my pc should fail.

Well the reader on the pc did exactly that a couple of weeks ago so I started using it. To begin with everything was going ok until on this one occassion I got the message "protected files were not deleted from the card" or something like that, (I use canons Zoom Browser when downloading the images to my pc) So I thought ok so I'll just format the card, no problem, but NO, says the files are all write protected, so I have a fiddle with the switch on the side of the SD card but still no!! So assuming my card is now broken and full :bang: the next time I use my camera I have to use my spare card. Come home, put images on the pc, I get exactly the same problem!!

Anyway to cut a long story short I have narrowed the problem down to the card reader. But my problem is I have 3 SD cards now that are full, that all say they are write protected and which I cannot format if my life depended on it!! Not cheep nasty ones either.

Is there anyway I can format these cards or are they just fit for the bin now!??

Please any help would be much appreciated as always :)
 
there is a little slider on the side of SD cards that will 'lock' them to prevent format/deletion.

Check yours?
 
I had a similar issue, the reason for the error was the card reader. Bought another one and the same cards worked fine.

Might be worth getting another reader or testing the cards on someone else's reader to rule out the cards.
 
Always format in the camera not the PC.
 
I always format cards in camera rather than on the PC, and I have two card readers just in case one should fail.
 
If its transferring you pictures over OK, then there shouldn't be a problem. As others have said though, card readers are cheap enough so you could get a spare one or just use a USB cable to transfer directly from the camera.
 
Deleting images in camera will actually leave them on the card. Formatting removes all the data like a brand new card. I religiously format after every download.
 
Jonhob said:
Deleting images in camera will actually leave them on the card. Formatting removes all the data like a brand new card. I religiously format after every download.
Click to expand...

Not true!
 
Jonhob said:
Deleting images in camera will actually leave them on the card. Formatting removes all the data like a brand new card. I religiously format after every download.
Click to expand...

No it doesn't. There are plenty of programs that can recover data from formatted media.
 
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