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Several of my friends are having the same problem - that is in allowing
windows to write to a CF card while it is used in a card reader. After
allowing windows to write to the cf card this card gives errors in the
camera and *appears* to be a faulty cf card. I have discovered that these
cf cards are not faulty at all.

I managed to repair mine using an 'initialize' utility supplied with my
sandisk USB, cf card reader. After being re-initialized the faulty card
worked fine in the camera and is now being re-used with no errors.

The problem is that many card readers, particularly the PCMCIA adapters
don't have such an 'initialize' utility.

Does anyone know of a generic format or initialize utility for cf cards that
can be used with USB readers and PCMCIA converters? Or a correct method for
re-formatting cf cards?

P

On Sat, 17 Apr 2004 14:14:54 +1200, "Peter" <>
wrote:

>Does anyone know of a generic format or initialize utility for cf cards that
>can be used with USB readers and PCMCIA converters? Or a correct method for
>re-formatting cf cards?

Why not format it in Windows?
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Peter <> wrote:

> Does anyone know of a generic format or initialize utility for cf cards that
> can be used with USB readers and PCMCIA converters? Or a correct method for
> re-formatting cf cards?

Reformat the cards in the camera in which they will be used.

This doesn't solve the problem. My card gave errors even after being
formatted in the camera. The problems only went away after being
initialised with the Sandisk software, which they say, does the same as the
dos FDISK and FORMAT commands, recreating the partition.

I have several friends with the same problem, however they don't have
Sandisk card readers and therefore can't use this software.

Formatting in windows creates a 32bit fat which is what causes the problems
for the cameras.

P

>
> Reformat the cards in the camera in which they will be used.
>

On Sat, 17 Apr 2004 19:33:11 +1200, "Peter" <>
wrote:

>Formatting in windows creates a 32bit fat which is what causes the problems
>for the cameras.

You can choose to format in standard FAT using the Windows Format
utility.
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"Andrew" <spamtrap@localhost> wrote in message
news:...
> On Sat, 17 Apr 2004 19:33:11 +1200, "Peter" <>
> wrote:
>
> You can choose to format in standard FAT using the Windows Format
> utility.

Thanks. Tried this. Opened a dos window and used the FDISK command to
delete and then again to create a new partition and then formatted it with
the format command at the dos prompt. Seems to have worked ok. Ended up
with a FAT12 partition which is what I need!

Next question, I'm using 98se, will my friends be able to do the same with
XP?

P

On Sat, 17 Apr 2004 20:32:14 +1200, "Peter" <>
wrote:

>Next question, I'm using 98se, will my friends be able to do the same with
>XP?

The XP GUI Format allows you to format as FAT/FAT32/NTFS and select
the cluster size.
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Some cameras, of course, do accept FAT32.


"Andrew" <spamtrap@localhost> wrote in message
news:...
> On Sat, 17 Apr 2004 19:33:11 +1200, "Peter" <>
> wrote:
>
> >Formatting in windows creates a 32bit fat which is what causes the
problems
> >for the cameras.
>
> You can choose to format in standard FAT using the Windows Format
> utility.
> --
> Andrew. To email unscramble & remove spamtrap.
> Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
> please don't top post. Trim messages to quote only relevant text.
> Check groups.google.com before asking a question.

"Peter" <> wrote in message
news:Sj0gc.17408$d%...
> Several of my friends are having the same problem - that is in allowing
> windows to write to a CF card while it is used in a card reader. After
> allowing windows to write to the cf card this card gives errors in the
> camera and *appears* to be a faulty cf card. I have discovered that these
> cf cards are not faulty at all.
>
> I managed to repair mine using an 'initialize' utility supplied with my
> sandisk USB, cf card reader. After being re-initialized the faulty card
> worked fine in the camera and is now being re-used with no errors.
>
> The problem is that many card readers, particularly the PCMCIA adapters
> don't have such an 'initialize' utility.
>
> Does anyone know of a generic format or initialize utility for cf cards
that
> can be used with USB readers and PCMCIA converters? Or a correct method
for
> re-formatting cf cards?

This is why all cameras can format the cards themselves...
Read your manual and discover how to do this with your camera.

"Peter" <> wrote in message
news:b_4gc.17625$d%...
> This doesn't solve the problem. My card gave errors even after being
> formatted in the camera. The problems only went away after being
> initialised with the Sandisk software, which they say, does the same as
the
> dos FDISK and FORMAT commands, recreating the partition.
>
> I have several friends with the same problem, however they don't have
> Sandisk card readers and therefore can't use this software.
>
> Formatting in windows creates a 32bit fat which is what causes the
problems
> for the cameras.

I believe you can tell windows to format with FAT16.
Try that.