Refomatting CF cards on Mac OS X

patch29

I have had a couple cards acting weird, not reformatting the first time in the camera. I am thinking about reformatting the cards in my computer. I am on Mac OS 10.4, are there any recommendations on how to do a larger then normal reformat? I am thinking the card needs to be zero'd out, not sure what the right term is, but looking for the right thing to do. I am thinking about doing it with disk utility. If there is a better program please let me know.

Thanks, Patrick.

mercphoto

patch29 wrote:

I have had a couple cards acting weird, not reformatting the first time in the camera. I am thinking about reformatting the cards in my computer. I am on Mac OS 10.4, are there any recommendations on how to do a larger then normal reformat? I am thinking the card needs to be zero'd out, not sure what the right term is, but looking for the right thing to do. I am thinking about doing it with disk utility. If there is a better program please let me know.

Unsure. I actually always use the camera to reformat the card. This is usually considered the fastest, and most reliable way to do it. As per Mac OS, don't know (and I use Macs). Disk Utility may or may not know what to do. The other thing is in Finder, drag everything to trash, THEN EMPTY THE TRASH. That last step is key.

The big question is, why the camera can't reliably format the card. Strange.

DavidTO

It couldn't be something really simple, like you've got a locked file on the card, could it?

patch29

I unfortunately do not know, my camera was being used by a friend this weekend and kept giving odd messages and not doing the right thing. Some of my cards are over two years old, just wondering if zeroing out the card would help it. Not sure why reformatting is not doing the trick all the time in camera.

pathfinder

patch29 wrote:

I unfortunately do not know, my camera was being used by a friend this weekend and kept giving odd messages and not doing the right thing. Some of my cards are over two years old, just wondering if zeroing out the card would help it. Not sure why reformatting is not doing the trick all the time in camera.

I never erase files from my CF cards in a computer - MAC or XP. I ALWAYS format my card, when I am ready to re-use it, in the camera I am going to use it in. That way I alway know that the card is formatted in the proper manner for the camera it is in. You would not want an HFS formatted card would you??

David_S85

There has been sooooo many threads about this topic on the forums over the years. The general concensus is that formatting the cards in the (same) camera yields more consistant and safer results. Formatting from a computer, while not necessarily dangerous to the card, is also inviting results not intended by the card manuafacturers. YMMV.

Sometimes a formatting utility comes with cards, as they did for Windows for my Sony memory sticks. I still only format in-camera (and never had a problem from doing so).