Delete image, recover space?

[jgrussell]

I was in line at Disney World last week waiting to rent a locker at Epcot, and half-listening to a salesman (this is at the camera shop just inside the park). He was selling a CF card to a P&S user and told her that if she deleted a shot right away from the card, it would recover the space, but if she took 2-3 shots and then went back and deleted it, it wouldn't recover the space. I was surprised and said so and he replied: "Oh it's that way with all memory cards."

Now I know for a fact that's not true: it ain't so with SD cards, at least not with my XSi. Is it true with CF cards? Is it camera-dependent or card-dependent?

[Jon]

It just outright ain't true. If you delete right away, the next file will be stored "contiguously" according to the file allocation table, so theoretically it'll get written faster and without fragmentation. Since memory cards (almost universally) use memory load leveling algorithms to make sure you don't always use the same few sectors, the file's being written randomly to the card anyhow. And the directory structure will let you reuse that space from the deleted file later, once the card's filled up. Fragmentation may cause the occasional problem in reading/writing files, but it doesn't "lose" space. It can slow down older (slower, unbuffered) hard and floppy disk performance though.

[SkipD]

I hate salepeople who spout BS as if it were fact. I've had to bite my tongue in several stores when I've overheard such drivel from salespeople.

[jgrussell]

It just outright ain't true.Thanks for confirming what I believed, Jon. I did tell the guy I knew it wasn't true with my camera and SD cards and he acted as though I obviously couldn't have a clue what I was talking about!

[jgrussell]

I hate salepeople who spout BS as if it were fact. I've had to bite my tongue in several stores when I've overheard such drivel from salespeople.When I am 100% certain that the salesperson is wrong (and is misleading a customer), I won't hesitate to speak up. Particularly in a place like Disney World, being forced (by bad advice) to decide RIGHT THIS MINUTE to delete a shot for fear of running out of card space is surely the kind of thing nobody should have to face. But I wasn't sure enough about CF cards to interfere on that point. I will know better next time.

[krb]

It sounds like he misunderstood what happens if you delete an image and then try to undelete the image. If you delete the image then put it in teh computer and use the recovery software then you can get it back. But if you delete the image and then continue using the card then the space is likely to be overwritten with another image.

[jgrussell]

It sounds like he misunderstood what happens if you delete an image and then try to undelete the image.Unfortunately, I think you give him far too much credit for understanding anything at all... But I suppose it is possible that he was confusing the undelete issue. He certainly was confused!