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"Denny B" <> wrote in message
news:6Ahwg.158920$771.99539@edtnps89...
>A digital camera CF memory card, Nikon D70s.
> What is correct, after transferring the pictures
> to a CD-R.
> 1)do you just delete the pictures on the card.
> 2)Or do you delete them, then format the card.
> 3)Or just format the card which will automatically
> delete the pictures and format the card.
>
> I have used #3 up to now, but recently was told
> if you format the card often to delete pictures
> you will damage the card.
> I was told don't format just delete the pictures.
>
> Is there a right way to do this?
>

Not sure there's a 'right way'; the only thing I would avoid is formatting
in a card reader. I always delete in the card reader after verifying the
copy went ok, then format in the camera. Never heard that deleting
in-camera will damage the card, nor have I had problems doing this.

Mark

3D wrote:
> "Ron Hunter" <> wrote in message
> news: ...
>> Denny B wrote:
>>> A digital camera CF memory card, Nikon D70s.
>>> What is correct, after transferring the pictures
>>> to a CD-R.
>>> 1)do you just delete the pictures on the card.
>>> 2)Or do you delete them, then format the card.
>>> 3)Or just format the card which will automatically
>>> delete the pictures and format the card.
>>>
>>> I have used #3 up to now, but recently was told
>>> if you format the card often to delete pictures
>>> you will damage the card.
>>> I was told don't format just delete the pictures.
>>>
>>> Is there a right way to do this?
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance.
>>> Denny B
>> Unless you use your flash cards for multiple purposes, such as storing
>> data for other than your camera's pictures (I sometimes do), then
>> formatting is the preferred method for getting rid of all old pictures.
>> In practice, I often download several sessions of pictures before clearing
>> them from the card on my computer. I have never had a problem with this,
>> but don't recommend it for all users as some do report problems with this
>> procedure.
>> Formatting in the camera is the most efficient method recommended for
>> general use.
>
> I agree! Deleting photos only removes that file and not the folder that it
> is stored in. If you constantly delete and not format, there will be many
> empty folders on the card, each taking up a small amount of space.
> Formatting in the camera is a clean and simple method to use and it ensures
> that there is no extra garbage around to confuse the issue.
>
> I always remove the card and use a reader to put the photos in the correct
> folders on the hard drive and have never used any cable to connect the
> camera to the computer, so if the programs that use this method to retrieve
> photos delete the folders, that would work fine also. I am not familiar
> with how these programs work, so I don't know what happens in this case.
>
> Don
>
>
While other cameras may work differently, mine puts all the pictures in
ONE folder, which is created when the card if formatted, or first used,
in the camera. So, when I transfer the pictures, I just delete the
picture FILES leaving the directory structure intact.
And the FAT file system doesn't remove anything of the file but the
first character of the filename (replaced with '?'), and the pointer to
the FAT entry that is the first link in the file. Then the FAT is
updated to reflect that this chain of 'clusters' is available, and
rewritten to the card.

Mark B. wrote:
> "Denny B" <> wrote in message
> news:6Ahwg.158920$771.99539@edtnps89...
>> A digital camera CF memory card, Nikon D70s.
>> What is correct, after transferring the pictures
>> to a CD-R.
>> 1)do you just delete the pictures on the card.
>> 2)Or do you delete them, then format the card.
>> 3)Or just format the card which will automatically
>> delete the pictures and format the card.
>>
>> I have used #3 up to now, but recently was told
>> if you format the card often to delete pictures
>> you will damage the card.
>> I was told don't format just delete the pictures.
>>
>> Is there a right way to do this?
>>
>
> Not sure there's a 'right way'; the only thing I would avoid is formatting
> in a card reader. I always delete in the card reader after verifying the
> copy went ok, then format in the camera. Never heard that deleting
> in-camera will damage the card, nor have I had problems doing this.
>
> Mark
>
>

I haven't heard much about anyone having trouble with deleting in the
camera, but it always much slower than formatting, if one has more than
a few pictures.

Mark B. wrote:
[]
> Not sure there's a 'right way'; the only thing I would avoid is
> formatting in a card reader. I always delete in the card reader
> after verifying the copy went ok, then format in the camera. Never
> heard that deleting in-camera will damage the card, nor have I had
> problems doing this.
> Mark

Why go through the extra step of deleting in the card reader if you are
going to reformat in the camera? It's more work and uses up more of the
card's write cycles.

David

In article <6Ahwg.158920$771.99539@edtnps89>,
Denny B <> wrote:

> A digital camera CF memory card, Nikon D70s.
> What is correct, after transferring the pictures
> to a CD-R.
> 1)do you just delete the pictures on the card.
> 2)Or do you delete them, then format the card.
> 3)Or just format the card which will automatically
> delete the pictures and format the card.
>
> I have used #3 up to now, but recently was told
> if you format the card often to delete pictures
> you will damage the card.
> I was told don't format just delete the pictures.
>
> Is there a right way to do this?
>
> Thanks in advance.
> Denny B

I am not expert in microelectronics, but I have better things to do than
to delete lots of photos off my CF cards. I have had some of the same CF
cards for at least three years and they work fine with me formatting
them each time I reload them into my Digital Rebel. Before I reformat my
cards, I make sure that my photos are backed up. I suggest you do
likewise.

On 7/22/06 1:16 AM, Randy Berbaum wrote:
>
> There is a finite number of times that a particular memory location can be
> written to before it electronically wears out. But in most memory devices
> I have seen stats on, this number is somewhere around 100,000 times or
> more. Erasing an image removes the index from the file allocation table
> (FAT) but does not overwrite the actual memory locations. A Format does.
> So yes, formating instead of erasing will wear out the card faster, but
> unless you are a very prolific photographer the difference between 50,000
> and 100,000 uses is probably not a big problem.

Actually, it's the other way around! But, as you say, academic. I almost
always use format, in part because it takes about 2 or 3 seconds instead
of ten or so.

--
John McWilliams

On 7/22/06 6:54 AM, David J Taylor wrote:
> Mark B. wrote:
> []
>> Not sure there's a 'right way'; the only thing I would avoid is
>> formatting in a card reader. I always delete in the card reader
>> after verifying the copy went ok, then format in the camera. Never
>> heard that deleting in-camera will damage the card, nor have I had
>> problems doing this.
>> Mark
>
> Why go through the extra step of deleting in the card reader if you are
> going to reformat in the camera? It's more work and uses up more of the
> card's write cycles.

David is right. Formatting in camera is also faster than deleting all
via any means.

But what I want to know is why this tiresome topic has to come up every
other month and be so thoroughly rehashed?

--
john mcwilliams

In article <6Ahwg.158920$771.99539@edtnps89>, Denny B
<> wrote:

> I have used #3 up to now, but recently was told
> if you format the card often to delete pictures
> you will damage the card.
> I was told don't format just delete the pictures.

Keep doing it the way you've been doing it. To wear out the card, you'd
have to format it continuously day and night for the rest of your life,
and you still wouldn't hurt it.

On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 09:50:48 +0100, Prometheus wrote:

> A normal format does not. I have recovered data from a card that had
> been formatted after repair damage cause be a battery failure during a
> write. Incidentally, if you want to ensure data is never recovered from
> a card you should incinerate it, overwriting is not adequate.

That's true for magnetic media, where a small percentage of
previously written data can be recovered. Flash cards aren't
compromised by imprecise mechanical alignment, and any recovery of
previous data would be far less successful, would probably require
physically removing the flash memory from its case so that
sophisticated electronics could replace the card's controller, and
what little might be recovered would depend on the data pattern that
was used to overwrite the previously written data. If recovering
overwritten data was a simple as you may (or may not) be implying,
then by overwriting a 1GB card several times (with varying data
patterns), 2GB, 3GB or even many GB's of data could be recovered
from it, which is well beyond the capabilities of even a Poindexter.

On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:54:57 GMT, David J Taylor wrote:

> Why go through the extra step of deleting in the card reader if you are
> going to reformat in the camera? It's more work and uses up more of the
> card's write cycles.

If you always delete files in the card reader, by the time the
card has been worn out, it'll probably be obsolete, and your cameras
will probably be using cards with capacities in excess of 200 GB.
For my first camera I bought a 64MB card, and added a 96MB card
several months later. Used 'em for a good number of years and they
haven't worn out yet. Do you have any old cards of comparable size?
If so, how often do you use them?

I agree, though, that it's usually more practical to format cards
in the camera, but that's not the best approach for everyone. My
cards are occasionally shared between several cameras (different
brands) and some cameras wouldn't give any clues that the card
contains images saved by another camera, and formatting the card
would easily wipe out the other camera's images. The card may
contain other types of data, such as files copied to it from a
computer, or software provided by the card's manufacturer, all of
which would be lost when formatting the card. It might be
relatively safe to format your own cards, but if the cards belong to
someone else . . .