This is regarding formatting the card in the camera vs. erasing images.
A while ago, I've seen recommendations that formatting the card in the camera every so often helps avoiding problems with the file system. I have not seen any arguments about that, and cannot say for sure if it is true or not with the modern flash cards. [speculation on] I do not know the design of the flash memory as intimately as that of some magnetic memories. So I am not sure (and it may depend on the card implementation [?]) - whether there is any type of "toggle-reset" of the cells during the format, one that can decrease probability of the charge leakage from the particular cell, hence improving retaining capabilities. Also, I am not sure if any check of the cells during format is implemented; such that would allow marking bad cells (like bad sectors in HDDs). Probably not... [speculation off] What I've noticed is that once I start seeing any strange or funky behavior with the CF card in my P&S digital camera, usually after deleting of selected images done on many occasions, reformatting takes care of it. (This "strange" behavior includes: longer then normal time to load a picture into the camera while in the review mode; any strangeness of the Canon proprietory software communicating with the camera during the transfer of the pictures from the card in the camera connected to USB.) In any case, I do not see any downside for formating the card every time. HTH, Igor -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
