Formatting SD card

[Guest Ken G.]

I have a 2gb SD card which I put into a digital camera. I didn't realize the

camera would only reference a 1gb card and it has reformatted it to 1gb. Now

I can't get windows (XP SP3) to format it back to 2gb. Is there way to get my

extra gig back?

[Guest Uwe Sieber]

Re: Formatting SD card

 

Ken G. wrote:

> I have a 2gb SD card which I put into a digital camera. I didn't realize the

> camera would only reference a 1gb card and it has reformatted it to 1gb. Now

> I can't get windows (XP SP3) to format it back to 2gb. Is there way to get my

> extra gig back?

 

Probably the cam has written a partition table with a 1 GB

partition. XP is not able to delete partitions on 'removable'

drives.

 

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/files/diskerase.zip

 

With this tool you can erase the whole disk. You can

cancel the operation after a second, the partition

table is already erased then.

 

Reinstert the card and format it. It should now

have 2 GB. But XP formats it without a partition

table, as 'superfloppy'. Digicams do not like this,

so, if you want to use the card in a cam, format

it in this camara.

 

 

Uwe

[Guest Anteaus]

RE: Formatting SD card

 

I have met this problem of Windows not being able to format USB-connected

media correctly once the bootsector has been corrupted by another device. One

solution is to boot into realmode DOS with the card connected, and format it

there. To do this you need a DOS CD (or floppy) of course, and a computer

with a BIOS that supports USB drives natively.

 

"Ken G." wrote:

> I have a 2gb SD card which I put into a digital camera. I didn't realize the

> camera would only reference a 1gb card and it has reformatted it to 1gb. Now

> I can't get windows (XP SP3) to format it back to 2gb. Is there way to get my

> extra gig back?

[Guest Anteaus]

RE: Formatting SD card

 

Thinking about this a bit more, it may not be corrupted, it may simply be

that the partition is undersize.

 

Run compmgmt.msc and take a look in the Disk Management section. If the

partition only half-fills the space, you need to remove the partition and

create a new one. This is a separate issue from formatting. You will then

need to format your new partition, in which case use FAT32 for best

compatibility with cameras, etc.

 

Obviously, make absolutely sure you get the right disk!

[Guest Ken G.]

RE: Formatting SD card

 

Thanks. Its showing 2 partitions of 973mb with the second one shown as

"unallocated" The option to remove the partition is greyed out. Where to from

here?

 

"Anteaus" wrote:

> Thinking about this a bit more, it may not be corrupted, it may simply be

> that the partition is undersize.

>

> Run compmgmt.msc and take a look in the Disk Management section. If the

> partition only half-fills the space, you need to remove the partition and

> create a new one. This is a separate issue from formatting. You will then

> need to format your new partition, in which case use FAT32 for best

> compatibility with cameras, etc.

>

> Obviously, make absolutely sure you get the right disk!

>

>

[Guest Ken G.]

Re: Formatting SD card

 

Thanks Uwe. I now have my 2gb card back. It didn't kill the partition after a

few seconds so I let it erase the whole card then re-formatted it.

 

 

 

"Uwe Sieber" wrote:

> Ken G. wrote:

> > I have a 2gb SD card which I put into a digital camera. I didn't realize the

> > camera would only reference a 1gb card and it has reformatted it to 1gb. Now

> > I can't get windows (XP SP3) to format it back to 2gb. Is there way to get my

> > extra gig back?

>

> Probably the cam has written a partition table with a 1 GB

> partition. XP is not able to delete partitions on 'removable'

> drives.

>

> http://www.uwe-sieber.de/files/diskerase.zip

>

> With this tool you can erase the whole disk. You can

> cancel the operation after a second, the partition

> table is already erased then.

>

> Reinstert the card and format it. It should now

> have 2 GB. But XP formats it without a partition

> table, as 'superfloppy'. Digicams do not like this,

> so, if you want to use the card in a cam, format

> it in this camara.

>

>

> Uwe

>

>

>

>

[Guest Paul]

Re: Formatting SD card

 

It probably needs to be formatted.

 

Control panel / admin tools / computer management / disk management.

Highlight it / right mouse / format

 

"Ken G." <KenG@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:C86C964F-D477-4E5F-BA3A-C3924CD7F470@microsoft.com...

> Thanks. Its showing 2 partitions of 973mb with the second one shown as

> "unallocated" The option to remove the partition is greyed out. Where to

> from

> here?

>

> "Anteaus" wrote:

>

>> Thinking about this a bit more, it may not be corrupted, it may simply be

>> that the partition is undersize.

>>

>> Run compmgmt.msc and take a look in the Disk Management section. If the

>> partition only half-fills the space, you need to remove the partition and

>> create a new one. This is a separate issue from formatting. You will then

>> need to format your new partition, in which case use FAT32 for best

>> compatibility with cameras, etc.

>>

>> Obviously, make absolutely sure you get the right disk!

>>

>>