OT: Do SD cards really need to be formatted?

craftech wrote on 12/25/2005, 5:31 PM

I know people who just pop them into a digital camera and don't format them with the camera. Is it necessary to format them and if so, why? Specifically this is a 1GB SD card for a Canon A series camera.

Thanks,
John

Comments

Coursedesign wrote on 12/25/2005, 6:25 PM

Conceivably, some cards may be sold unformatted to save on license fees to Microsoft.

Memory cards use the old file system from the glory days of DOS. After a few decades of widespread free use, MS decided to start collecting royalties on this.

I shot a lot with my Canon SD450 before bothering with an in-camera formatting for no good reason. (This is a great camera btw, and the 2.5" LCD on the back is a head turner.)

Orcatek wrote on 12/26/2005, 7:51 AM

If the camera recognizes it and gives the correct available space then no need to format. That has always been my rule and never had a problem.

Steve Mann wrote on 12/26/2005, 11:19 PM

What's the big deal - it only takes a few seconds to format the card. In fact, formatting is faster than deleting files.