How often should i format my memory cards?

Discussion in 'Beginner Questions' started by Caladina, Feb 6, 2020.

  1. Caladina

    Caladina Well-Known Member

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    memory cards i use :
    sandisk extreme , 150mb/s , 64gb.

    after a day / session of shooting i transfer the images to my comp via wifi then delete the files on the card while its in the camera via the menu.
    do i need to format the card at all or every so often?
    if there are three or four protected images on the card would they get wiped on a format?
    at present and for the foreseeable future it is just a hobby, nothing as important as paid work where a lost set of images would be a big problem.
    oh and i have never formatted the cards either, just used them straight out the box.
    i did start using raw + jpeg for the first few days but i haven't been editing any pics so i switched to just jpegs for now, i'll probably go back to using raw when i can see a benefit / need.
    Laura
     
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  2. johnsey

    johnsey Site Moderator Staff Member Site Supporter

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    I format before first use to make sure the correct file system and all is in place. It is recommended you format with the camera menu, and I only do it after I have moved a large amount of images and backed them up. I never use the protect image it seemed quicker just to back them up (multiple backups is the only way to ensure it isn't lost or corrupted anway) but yes the understanding is that they remain after erasing images, you may want to test this to make sure after you back up everything,
     
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  3. Caladina

    Caladina Well-Known Member

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    the protected images are just 4 that keep on the card to remind me of what settings i used for certain types of image and worked while i'm still learning, they will go later.
    i don't protect images i'm sending to the comp, they screw with putting them in collections or something, i had an error message in pp4 saying file cant be found, finally worked out it was because it was a protected one from the camera, if it had of said 'this is a protected file' it would have made life easier :p
     
  4. hirussell

    hirussell New Member

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    It's happen to me many time and I think it's genuine Issue, when we had not enough time to take backup we quickly format card without knowing some important data will be lost. But every problems have an solution there are many SD card recovery software in the market who get back the card data such as Recuva, Stellar Photo Recovery, iCare data recovery, ..etc I personally used Stellar software on my SD card and recover my footages without hampering their original quality!
     
  5. johnsey

    johnsey Site Moderator Staff Member Site Supporter

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    Are you saying you do not expect to loose images when you format the card? The whole reason of formatting is to erase the card and make room to shoot more images.

    Use extra cards if you are running out of space and can't backup to the computer. SD cards are cheap. Recovery software should not be a standard part of your workflow.
     
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  6. hirussell

    hirussell New Member

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    I agreed with your suggestion, I'm not saying recovery software is a part of workflow. I know the SD card are cheap but the data not because when I shoot weddings photos due to some reason unable to recover the data then SD card recovery software help us for get back our precious memories! Thanks!
     
  7. johnsey

    johnsey Site Moderator Staff Member Site Supporter

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    Maybe I misunderstood, it sounded like you were formatting before backing up and using recovery software to get those files back.
    To me that sounded like you need larger cards and/or more cards so that you do not need to format the card at all until you have had time to put on a computer and back up to an external drive. To me it all sounded like a workflow issue.

    If you meant that you are randomly getting corrupted files on the card because of bad sectors this is why you should be doing a full format so that the sectors are flagged and skipped. I would probably get a new card if you are having common corruption problems on it. I have never in 16 years of had any issues with corrupted images on my CF cards (I also only buy name brand which helps). ****Knock on wood***
    I keep in camera only format completely, when I have done a full backup of the files on them, and I don't delete one by one off the card, that is also not good a good practice either.
     
  8. Ellinor William

    Ellinor William New Member

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    Speaking of formatting, it is a good idea to format your cards after each shoot. Once you have downloaded your card and have the images in more than one place, you should format that card before its next use. It keeps things cleaner on the card.

    It’s always a wise decision to have a recovery software like Stellar or Easeus in case of data missing. You see sometimes we delete the files unknowingly and these tools are very much helpful for recovering those deleted files from the SD card.
     
  9. Joey Williams

    Joey Williams Member

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    It may seem to be a bit of a hassle but the effective way to use and keep on reusing the SD/Memory Card is after taking the backup into your primary storage hard drive or external backup drive you should format the camera memory card. It is best suited if you can make a backup of those images into the cloud storage that helps in accessing the files from anywhere at times when it is needed. Plus it also acts as a backup to your precious data.

    That doesn't really matter how many times you can format a single memory card. These memory cards already have a life expectancy of wear and tear.
     
  10. telessdwrksn

    telessdwrksn New Member

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    i don't protect images i'm sending to the comp, they screw with putting them in collections or something, i had an error message in pp4 saying file cant be found, finally worked out it was because it was a protected one from the camera, if it had of said 'this is a protected file' it would have made life easier :p
     
  11. telessdwrksn

    telessdwrksn New Member

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    Once you have downloaded your card and have the images in more than one place, you should format that card before its next use. It keeps things cleaner on the card.
    get-mobdro.com/home/
     
  12. Roscoe Primrose

    Roscoe Primrose New Member

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    No, no point, although it’s probably a good idea to format a new one.

    Yes.

    Bits are cheap, if you take a once in a lifetime shot jpg only, you can’t go back and get the raw image for editing later…

    Roscoe
     
  13. johnsey

    johnsey Site Moderator Staff Member Site Supporter

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    I'd agree, raw data files while larger give so much more freedom when it comes to color/shadow/highlight data. If anything I dump the JPGs after getting them into Lightroom. External hard drives for backup are pretty modestly priced. You can easily pick up more as needed, i only have a small portion of my LR library on my laptop at any given time.

    As I mentioned its a good practice to format when you put a new car in the camera, as well as when you need to remove a large portion of images. I don't recommend doing a lot of one of deletes and removes using the camera. If you need space back them up on the computer or a hard drive and wipe the card. But you can surely shoot multiple sessions across different days /weeks whatever and format till your starting to get a full card. Flash memory has a life to its amount of read & write of the bits of data, usually flash memory last about 10 years on average depending on how heavily used, hence some of the suggestions shared.
     

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