Low level memory card formatting in camera...why not?

I always format each card in-camera when I put in the card. I consider it my last check to make sure card and camera are communicating properly before I begin shooting.

I've been making that a low-level format ever since the option became available.

I'm aware it's not a true low-level format...or it would take hours on some of these big cards. Instead, whatever they're calling a "low level" format only takes moments.

So is there any reason not to do low-level formatting all the time?

Edit: Also, I use a lot of cards. I use enough cards so that I never have to reuse a card before I've delivered that particular job.

Flash memory has limited write cycles. But generally, it is unlikely that you'll encounter this within the normal lifetime of a card. SD cards generally have on the order of 100,000 write cycles and SD cards include circuitry to manage wear-leveling,

Wilt wrote in post #19282778
Flash memory has limited write cycles. But generally, it is unlikely that you'll encounter this within the normal lifetime of a card. SD cards generally have on the order of 100,000 write cycles and SD cards include circuitry to manage wear-leveling,

Yeah, I'll never get there on a card before the technology changes enough to replace it.

RDKirk wrote in post #19282762
I always format each card in-camera when I put in the card. <snip> So is there any reason not to do low-level formatting all the time?

I never format the card on a regular basis. I have a directory structure and various saved settings in files on the card. I lose them if I format the card.
I just erase all when I want to start with an empty card. That also preserves any protected images on the card.

RD

Thats how I have always formatted my cards and I do it exactly as you describe. Its my last step as well. I format in camera and then I shoot my event and upload when finished. Never done it any other way. I have used 1D cameras because they have always had dual cards. I format both cards with the same procedure. I have had 3 card failures and my back up cards always had the images.

This is the first I have heard that this is not the way to format cards and is considered a low level memory card format

Dont think I will change now

umphotography wrote in post #19283751
RD

Thats how I have always formatted my cards and I do it exactly as you describe. Its my last step as well. I format in camera and then I shoot my event and upload when finished. Never done it any other way. I have used 1D cameras because they have always had dual cards. I format both cards with the same procedure. I have had 3 card failures and my back up cards always had the images.

This is the first I have heard that this is not the way to format cards and is considered a low level memory card format

Dont think I will change now

I guess my real question is: Why is there a choice? Why would anyone who is going to format in camera not do the low-level format?

I never format in camera unless I start to have issues. I just delete all images. Also, we are not really sure what the differences are between a format and low-level format, we can't assume it is the same as a windows complete format of a storage device.

There is no right or wrong answer here, do whichever of the 3 forms of "wiping" your card you want. There is no track record of one being the absolute best, just that historically if you start to have issues with a card, a format or low level format in camera might fix it.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #19283758
I never format in camera unless I start to have issues. I just delete all images. Also, we are not really sure what the differences are between a format and low-level format, we can't assume it is the same as a windows complete format of a storage device.

There is no right or wrong answer here, do whichever of the 3 forms of "wiping" your card you want. There is no track record of one being the absolute best, just that historically if you start to have issues with a card, a format or low level format in camera might fix it.

What used to originally be true in the early days of the PC...

1. Format simply changes a character or two in every file's name in the directory, so it is interpreted as no longer valid name, and the actual data which it original pointed to is actually still on the drive.
   
2. Low level format writes 0's to the entire memory, including both the directory and to the data storage area, which is why it takes longer to do low level format than to format the directory only.
   

"Low Level format will zero the the drive, completely deleting all files, all 1's and 0's are turned to 0s. No more headers, no more file data. Low Level Format takes longer because the computer or camera actually clears every bit of memory on the drive. You do not have to Low Level format normally.Feb 12, 2017"

And Canon Hong Kong says this, also in 2017
https://hk.canon/en/su​pport/8202627200

"NOTE
Low-level formatting
To perform low-level formatting, press the [INFO] button. Confirm that [Low-level format] has been appended with [], and then repeat the procedure explained in step 5.
　
Low level formatting may take longer than standard formatting, since all recorded data are erased.
You can cancel low-level formatting in progress by choosing [Stop]. In this case, all data will be erased, but the memory card can be used normally."

Canon corroborates what photo.net says.

A regular format just clears the file allocation table which lets the whole card be overwritten with new data. But it doesn't actually delete any data or create any new data. If something horrible happened after a format but before old data was overwritten, then the old data can be retrieved by file recovery software.

A low-level format will permanently clear all the old data, overwriting it with new data. (Change all the 1s to 0s, basically.) Data is gone forever. It's probably a good idea to do that if you sell or otherwise dispose of a card. And, if your old data gets corrupted and is causing problems with the camera accessing the card, then a low-level format might fix that.

So, a low-level format eliminates the failsafe of data recovery and and adds an extra set of writes that you don't have with a regular format.

Does it matter much? No. Until it does.

Good point on the low level formatting potentially eliminating the ability to restore an accidentally deleted file. There have been a few times I have had to use Sandisk recovery to get files off the card. Again until I have issues with the card (I/O performance seems off, or errors start to pop up accessing images), I just delete or do a high format. Low level is more of an emergency mode fix.

Wilt wrote in post #19283914
What used to originally be true in the early days of the PC...

1. Format simply changes a character or two in every file's name in the directory, so it is interpreted as no longer valid name, and the actual data which it original pointed to is actually still on the drive.
   
2. Low level format writes 0's to the entire memory, including both the directory and to the data storage area, which is why it takes longer to do low level format than to format the directory only.
   

It also re-wrote the disk sectoring, if I remember correctly.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #19283971
Good point on the low level formatting potentially eliminating the ability to restore an accidentally deleted file. There have been a few times I have had to use Sandisk recovery to get files off the card. Again until I have issues with the card (I/O performance seems off, or errors start to pop up accessing images), I just delete or do a high format. Low level is more of an emergency mode fix.

As I mentioned, I use enough cards so that I've delivered the job before having to reuse that card. By then, I have several copies of the files in different backups.

The low-level formatting is my last and most practicable test of the media before I use it.

I guess I am still using my old throwback logic from floppies. I didn't format a floppy until I started to have issues with it (bad sectors, etc), and would just delete files, add files, etc. Maybe periodically I would do a format to be safe.

Today's media and today's file management tools are so good, those lower level diagnostic-related functions shouldn't have to be a part of every day life. Just my own views on this and how I use gear. So far across the years I have not had any card related issues other than a sandisk card and a sony card that just stopped being recognized by the camera, and I couldn't even salvage it with Windows, I presume something in the io bus broke on each. No file corruption issues, no lost files, etc.

When I had my 1D4, I couldn't do this (and R5 users now too), because I would have my saved settings on the card. That complicated matters a bit too. Also when I was running alternative firmware, I couldn't do that without losing that capability.

Of course now that I have said I have had no issues, I am now expecting that this will indeed happen to me at some point in the near future.

RDKirk wrote in post #19284003
It also re-wrote the disk sectoring, if I remember correctly.

Yup, the old command line Format could do a lot of stuff in its syntax.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #19284078
I guess I am still using my old throwback logic from floppies. I didn't format a floppy until I started to have issues with it (bad sectors, etc), and would just delete files, add files, etc. Maybe periodically I would do a format to be safe.

Today's media and today's file management tools are so good, those lower level diagnostic-related functions shouldn't have to be a part of every day life. Just my own views on this and how I use gear. So far across the years I have not had any card related issues other than a sandisk card and a sony card that just stopped being recognized by the camera, and I couldn't even salvage it with Windows, I presume something in the io bus broke on each. No file corruption issues, no lost files, etc.

When I had my 1D4, I couldn't do this (and R5 users now too), because I would have my saved settings on the card. That complicated matters a bit too. Also when I was running alternative firmware, I couldn't do that without losing that capability.

Of course now that I have said I have had no issues, I am now expecting that this will indeed happen to me at some point in the near future.

Way back in the old days, if you wanted a floppy that could be used to boot up your PC, you had to Format B:/s to put the OS onto it, which overwrote everything with zeros, accounting for why we did it much more often than current times.
My last time of having memory card issues, my wife and I were in France and had visited Mt. St Michel, and although all my previous days photos were already copied to a USB harddrive, I lost my photos from that day
I did a low level format to see if the card would recover usefulness, and it did.