When formatting a SD card, should I use the "official tool"?

By pes2013
in Hardware Hangout

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Grand Master

FiB3R

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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.

Community Regular

ingramator

Posted
Posted

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.

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pes2013

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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.

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Polarman

Posted
Posted

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.

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