1DSMKII will only format 4gb card to 2gb

[MDJAK]

I got the extreme III 4gb card. Neither my computer (which is running fat32 under windows professional) nor the camera will recognize more than 1.89 gb on the card.

What am I doing wrong?

(I posted this under the storage section of this forum, but I feel more people view this portion, so please accept my apology for the duplication.)

[robertwgross]

You have to ask yourself exactly how the CF card was formatted.

---Bob Gross---

[HKFEVER]

Try this web site.

http://www.customernation.com/pls/ps/ps.ps_main?p_host=304&p_supplier=5096&p_parm=PSHFAQ&p_subcategory=&p_product=

[CyberDyneSystems]

Link does not work,..

Whats the possibility that the card is a forgery?

Other than that,. you need to format in FAT 32.. (what's windows professional?)

[Salleke]

I got the extreme III 4gb card. Neither my computer (which is running fat32 under windows professional) nor the camera will recognize more than 1.89 gb on the card.

What am I doing wrong?

(I posted this under the storage section of this forum, but I feel more people view this portion, so please accept my apology for the duplication.)

Maybe there is a hidden partition on your card. Install Partition Magic on your pc and check it out. You can then delete a hidden partition and then format your card again.

With WINDOWS Professional you probaly mean WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL.

[CyberDyneSystems]

With XP pro you can bring up the administrative tools and find and "maybe" delete any hidden partitions as well. No need for Partition magic. It may not even be a hidden partition,. just that the only partition on the card happens to be 2GB leaving the other half as empty unused space.

Either way,. you can see if this is the case and possibly fix it with XP Pro

Make sure the card is in your reader and;
1. Go to "control Panel"
2. Click on "Adminitrative tools"
3. Click on "Computer management"
4. In lower left hand pane,. click on "disk management" (don't you just love how many steps it takes to get to anywhere with MS.. )

5. In the right hand pane you will see a bar graph of all you drives,. find the removable card and see what the partition info says. IF it is indeed a 4GB card with a 2GB partition,. half the card should have a blue stripe over it... thats the working 2GB partition,. the other half will be grey with lines through it... thats the empty space.

If this is the case,. try and delete the existing partition by right clicking on it.. then make a new one,. again by right clicking. Chose FAT 32 for partition type.

[MDJAK]

I certainly appreciate everyone's attempt at helping me. Right after I posted, I was on my way down to B&H. The returns department said it was the third one they had gotten back this week, took it with no hassle at all. Then I go in the store to buy a 1gb extreme III(they've yet to get in the 2gb which is what I wanted in the first place). I tell the salesman that I just returned the 4gb. He smiles, jokes about me giving him ten bucks for the answer to the mystery. I jokingly reach my hand in my pocket for a ten spot.


He turns to another, more knowledgeable salesman who says there's a small switch on the edge of the card that has to be moved to use all 4 gigs. He asked me, didn't I read the manual? I did, but it said nothing of the kind I tell him.
He says, it was a Lexar, right?
No, say I, it was a Sandisk.
We have to get to the bottom of this, says he.
My salesman says, let's bring one up and open it and see.
He says, we're not supposed to open up the blister packs. We'll do it tomorrow and get to the bottom of it.
Didn't do me much good standing there today, but got another 1gb, tried out the 50 f1.4 which was a real eye opener in low light, and then the 135 F2.0, which surprised me at how small and light it was. But I was good and only spent 240 on the card and some epson paper.

[chtgrubbs]

There have been some discussion on both DPReview and Rob Galbraith's site about problems with the 1Ds II and 4 gig cards. Here is one:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/... ...ew=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=all

[RobinAllenson]

Hello. I had exactly the same problem on my 20D. Although I did not find anything in the manual, on the back of the card, there is a setting. It says:
(| 3. - 2Gb for Fat 16 SLRs
|) 2. - 2Gb for Fat 16 SLRs
() 1. - 4Gb for Fat 32 SLRs
By default my switch was on 2 out of the box. I switched it to 1, reformatted with the 20D and it now shows me as having 3.7Gb instead of 1.89Gb!

Hth.

Cheers
Robin