How Do I Get 4GB +/- From My 4GB CF Card on My 1D Mark II?

[DwightMcCann]

I thought that the 1D Mark II could use any size CF currently made but when I format my new Sandisk Extreme III 4GB CF card the camera only seems to see 1.89G. When I try to format it with my computer is also sees only 1.89G. I tried to search for info both here and via Google but didn't see any clues. I expect that I am missing something obvious. HELP?

[lostdoggy]

FAT32
see this link:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6896

[Leorooster]

I might be wrong, but my understanding is that the 1,2,3,4,...GB are only round numbers. The real capacity is normally a little bit less than what is advertised.

[jfrancho]

Dwight, I think I heard something about a dipswitch or something? I'll go digging.

[lostdoggy]

I might be wrong, but my understanding is that the 1,2,3,4,...GB are only round numbers. The real capacity is normally a little bit less than what is advertised.

that is alot of lost from 4GB to less then 2GB!!!

[jfrancho]

I might be wrong, but my understanding is that the 1,2,3,4,...GB are only round numbers. The real capacity is normally a little bit less than what is advertised.Half capacity is a "round number"???

[Leorooster]

ops....I thought it's a 2GB.....:o :o . In that case.....there should be a switch on the side of the card where you can choose from 2GB and 4GB. You should switch it to 4GB because by default, it's at 2GB. At least mine works that way....., but you would still get a little less than 4GB...Half capacity is a "round number"???

[jfrancho]

ops....I thought it's a 2GB.....:o :o . In that case.....there should be a switch on the side of the card where you can choose from 2GB and 4GB. You should switch it to 4GB because by default, it's at 2GB.That's OK, you have the info I was digging for.

[DwightMcCann]

THANK YOU! Dipswitch. Duh! I even saw the options on the card. But since the searches I did didn't turn up anything I went stupid! Now I'm gonna have to do another Paypal donation! 3.7GB after format. So, how big can we go with these cameras? 8GB? 16GB?

[arpi]

So, how big can we go with these cameras? 8GB? 16GB?

I think that since each CF card has its own internal controller, it can go as high as the card goes (and as far as the internal embeded operating system of the camera can handle). the 'reduction' of space is due to formatting the card (formatting adds information to recognize the beginning and end of sectors in the CF card and for reliability-redundancy)

[CyberDyneSystems]

Cameras support FAT32.. which I think is still limited to 128GB?

Largest CF card currently is 12GB :)

[Todd Jacobsen]

Cameras support FAT32.. which I think is still limited to 128GB?

Largest CF card currently is 12GB :)

That's a lot of images to lose on one card!!

[DwightMcCann]

Todd, it's probably not a Lexar! :-)

[lostdoggy]

Cameras support FAT32.. which I think is still limited to 128GB?

Largest CF card currently is 12GB :)

From MS library:

Size Limitations in NTFS and FAT File Systems
Each file system supports a maximum volume size, file size, and number of files per volume. Because FAT16 and FAT32 volumes are limited to 4 GB and 32 GB respectively, you must use NTFS to create volumes larger than 32 GB. If you use FAT16 or FAT32 in computers that start multiple operating systems, you must note the following size limitations:

FAT volumes smaller than 16 MB are formatted as FAT12.
FAT16 volumes larger than 2 GB are not accessible from computers running MS-DOS, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, and many other operating systems. This limitation occurs because these operating systems do not support cluster sizes larger than 32 KB, which results in the 2 GB limit.
In theory, FAT32 volumes can be about 8 terabytes; however, the maximum FAT32 volume size that Windows XP Professional can format is 32 GB. Therefore, you must use NTFS to format volumes larger than 32 GB. However, Windows XP Professional can read and write to larger FAT32 volumes formatted by other operating systems.
If you create multidisk volumes such as spanned or striped volumes, the amount of space used on each disk is applied to the total size of the volume. Therefore, to create a multidisk volume that is larger than 32 GB, you must use NTFS.
For more information about FAT16 and FAT32, see "FAT File System" later in this chapter.

[DwightMcCann]

So, does this mean I'll have to run Linux in my camera? Does Canon have the Linux firmware download ready? Is it RHEL9? SuSE9? Which kernel? And what, oh what am I going to do to keep out the hackers? Is there a firewall available? :-)

[CyberDyneSystems]

From MS library:


....In theory, FAT32 volumes can be about 8 terabytes; however, the maximum FAT32 volume size that Windows XP Professional can format is 32 GB. Therefore, you must use NTFS to format volumes larger than 32 GB. However, Windows XP Professional can read and write to larger FAT32 volumes formatted by other operating systems.....

This 32GB limit was an arbitrary addition to XP by MS to force the issue of NTFS partitions over the use of FAT32 (and really.. did we need this addded incentive??)

Win 98 can make FAT32 partitions much larger than 32GB... I had a 125 plus GB partition in FAT 32 on my last Win98 PC... (A pair of 80GB drives striped in RAID zero for a 160GB drive.. it was partitioned into 125+, 20 and 5GB partitions.

All this says really is that if they could make it fit.. a FAT32 supported Camera could use an 8 terabyte CF card :shock:

Oh and my mistake,. I think the 128/132 limit was Win98's... not FAT32's