formatting cf cards

[mcyacw]

I'm a newbie in digital cameras and got the a70. I bought a sandisk 128 cf do i have to format it?

[Heimdall]

Did you open the Manual?
Think its on page 134

Heimdall

[Matzzzy]

Heimdall wrote:
Did you open the Manual?

Heimdall

I just love sarcasm on Mondays :)

.:Matz:.

[UK_Terry]

I always format a new card "In Camera"

i am not sure you have to...but it is a thing i have done with all cards i have bought, and when i have changed cameras

[stardis]

Format it everytime you download the images and want a clean card.

[quriousman]

I use SD card for my IXUS II and I often format the card after I download the files.
But is it OK to format the flash card often ?
No effect on the card lifetime :) ?

Just wanna share my experience :
Few days ago I bought 256Mb Sandisk SD card. Took some pictures, download & deleted them (not formatting). And then I shot 2 movie clips, 3 minutes each (320x200), shot some full resolution images, some photostitch images, and last 1 640x480 movie clips.
After that I change to reply mode and there was an error message in LCD that says "Card Error", "Invalid AVI format or file" or something like it (I dont remember the exact message). The prev/next button didnt work at all. I've turned off & on the camera but nothing changed. The error message still came up.
I went home & try to read the card using my card reader and thank God all the files were OK and I have no problem downloaded them using Zoombrowser.
Then I tried to format the card using my camera. But IT CANT BE FORMATTED!
So I tried to delete all files first using Zoombrowser and tried to format it again. This time it worked.
I tried to took some movie clips & pictures again and so far the 256Mb card seems OK (I can reply all the files in the camera). So what caused the problem exactly ?

According the manual :
"You are recommended to use an SD card that has been formatted in your camera to shoot movies".
Is it the cause ? So it means that I should format the card everytime I wanna shot movies?
And its not because IXUS II cannot handle 256Mb card right?

[stardis]

Format the card in the camera everytime you have downloaded the images and no longer want them. Formatting will not hurt the card.

Format the card in the camera you will be using it in also.

[stduc]

Seems a bit excessive stardis - but you are correct. It won't do any harm. It's also a lot faster than 'erase all'.
However, I wonder if some of this card trouble isn't because poeple are not using 'eject' before removing their card from their card reader?
If using a card reader on your computer always use the eject' option before removing the card. (Found by doing a 'right click' on the card in 'my computer'. Alternatively in XP use the 'safely remove hardware' icon in your system tray. If you get trouble (sometime windows get 'lost') either log out (XP/2000/NT) or shutdown windows before removing the card. Failure to do this can result in the card containing 'open' files. This confuses the camera.

[quriousman]

stduc wrote:
Seems a bit excessive stardis - but you are correct. It won't do any harm. It's also a lot faster than 'erase all'.
However, I wonder if some of this card trouble isn't because poeple are not using 'eject' before removing their card from their card reader?
If using a card reader on your computer always use the eject' option before removing the card. (Found by doing a 'right click' on the card in 'my computer'. Alternatively in XP use the 'safely remove hardware' icon in your system tray. If you get trouble (sometime windows get 'lost') either log out (XP/2000/NT) or shutdown windows before removing the card. Failure to do this can result in the card containing 'open' files. This confuses the camera.

Thank you for the info.
I always stop the connection of the card reader before removing my card (right click the usb icon on Win2000 status bar, choose the usb device and click STOP button). But yeah previously I ever stop it too fast, warning window showed up and I think the Window stuck or something and I just remove the card. Now I never do it again :)

Bout file & folder organization of IXUS/Powershot, I will post a new topic for it.