Format vs Erase Photos

Anyone else wonder this? Why one over the other? Usually I just format the card which takes all of 1-2 seconds compared to using Erase, which takes about 4-5 seconds. Any reason to use one or the other to simply clear your card?

I erase.

Never erase images, just format after they've been downloaded, then delete the unwanted ones.

I erase off on the camera, I typically don't format the card; but I never thought bout it...not something to think upon. xD

Photoshop bridge takes care of removing my images once they are transferred and backed up to my secondary HD

I always format after transferring images.

Format...

Just think of a HD.
The reason why we de-fragment our HD every now and then is because the reader is trying to read data, and if too many missing files it would slow down the process.

I believe formatting from the camera removes all the folders on the card as well as photos. As for the actual files, it doesn't really delete them, which is why you can still recover files after the fact.

I would imagine that formatting would cause your flash memory to wear out faster, since you're probably writing to empty sectors. Of course would it wear out noticeably faster? Probably not.

Flash does not behave the same as magnetic disk hard drives. Flash can only be written to so many times. If you fill up 25% of your flash storage (1-25% is photos/video), and then you erase it, and then you fill it up to 25%, the data would be sitting on 26-51% of the storage. That's why you can recover files longer on a flash drive. They call it wear leveling.

So I would imagine that if you erase your 25%, it's going to touch that 25% of storage and say "flag erased". If you format, it's going to touch 100% of the storage and say "format". Unless you're doing this 1000 times a day though, you probably won't see much difference in how long your flash lasts.

tkadrum wrote in post #12875748
Just think of a HD.
The reason why we de-fragment our HD every now and then is because the reader is trying to read data, and if too many missing files it would slow down the process.

This is done to move files closer together on the media to minimize the time a mechanical head has to move. It doesn't translate to solid state storage at all.

Format.

Always format.

When I first started using memory cards many years ago I read or was told that there was a greater risk of data corruption if you erase vs. format. I believe it has to do with the allocation table that is created during the format process. If the allocation table gets corrupted then you can lose any and all photos on the card. Formatting replaces the old AT with a new one each time and is the only thing that gets erased. This is why you can still recover your photos after a format.

I might not have all my facts straight, but that is the way I remember it so I have always formatted.BTW: I believe that formatting only erases the AT and does not write to the entire card, so it shouldn't cause the card to wear out any faster. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than I can support this with more details.

No brainer .. you should format in camera.