pes2013 Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Hello Im wondering if I should use the "official tool" to format my SD card. https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiB3R Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Only if formatting via your OS is causing you some sort of problem. articuno1au 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
articuno1au Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Pretty much dead on. Some times it'll cause the device to be unreadable after moving between devices. If you find this is the case, use the tool :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pes2013 Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 What I ment by the question (sorry that I wasn't clear) is that should I format thru My OS This tool My mobile device ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
articuno1au Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 If you have the official tool, you may as well use it O.o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xendrome Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 a format is a format is a format.... not really sure why anyone thinks one utility over another is formatting it any differently.. FAT32 is FAT32 and NTFS is NTFS... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiB3R Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 a format is a format is a format.... not really sure why anyone thinks one utility over another is formatting it any differently.. FAT32 is FAT32 and NTFS is NTFS... When doing stuff like "soft modding" a Wii, using Windows to format the SD card has been known to cause problems. That's why in most guides, regarding said mod, you will see Panasonic's SD card formatting tool being recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
articuno1au Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Same is true of a lot of top end DSLRs.. There are definitely compatibility issues, although I suspect it's due to the card designs >.> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ingramator Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 a format is a format is a format.... not really sure why anyone thinks one utility over another is formatting it any differently.. FAT32 is FAT32 and NTFS is NTFS... Not entirely true. Different tools can only pickup certain filesystems and so when you go to the format the card it will only format the viewable allocation. Using the official tool will endure the ENTIRE SD card is formatted as opposed to just the viewable section. I highly recommend the official SD card tool for formatting if you are changing filesystems or using it for embedded devices which can sometimes soft corrupt the card! Otherwise if you are just using it on your PC formatting using Windows will work perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pes2013 Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 Not entirely true. Different tools can only pickup certain filesystems and so when you go to the format the card it will only format the viewable allocation. Using the official tool will endure the ENTIRE SD card is formatted as opposed to just the viewable section. I highly recommend the official SD card tool for formatting if you are changing filesystems or using it for embedded devices which can sometimes soft corrupt the card! Otherwise if you are just using it on your PC formatting using Windows will work perfectly. Great post :) Ill use the official SD card tool then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polarman Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 I use several SD cards (lexar) for my Canon camera. I just use the format option inside the camera. Mixing SD cards with several cameras or others would be inadvisable and would lead to errors. I also use the lexar usb3 reader when i have to transfer the pictures. It's much faster than the cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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